Nafize Ishtiaque Hossain

Student Spotlight September 2022

Nafize Ishtiaque Hossain

Native from Bangladesh, Nafize Ishtiaque Hossain is a full-time student and aspiring entrepreneur at UT Tyler.
He participated in the 2021 UT Tyler Big Idea Pitch and was the first-place winner of the 2022 Business Model Canvas competitions being awarded a $7,500 cash prize.

Nafize won the Best Student Paper award at the 2022 IEEE NEMS: Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems Conference for his paper titled "Stem-FIT: a microneedle-based multi-parametric sensor for in situ monitoring of salicylic acid and pH levels in live plants.” This award was presented to only one paper out of nearly 50 papers accepted from all over the world.

He also presented his research titled “Leaf-mounted Microneedle-based Multisensory Platform for Multiplexed Monitoring of Phytohormones in Live Plants” at the 2022 Hilton Head Workshop, a top-tier conference in the MEMS and transducers field, with an acceptance rate of less than 40%. 

Nafize also won the Outstanding Graduate Student Award of the year from UT Tyler's Electrical Engineering department for his extraordinary performance in research. He also received the Rising Stars Award from UT Tyler's Office of Career Success. 

A personal note from Dr. Shawana Tabassum, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering: "What makes Nafize stand out in the crowd is that he always goes above and beyond to bring our laboratory to the spotlight. Such a quality is rarely found in master’s level or even Ph.D. level students. I am proud of him and wish him every success in his future endeavors". 

In Fall 2022, Nafize is getting ready to participate in the UT Tyler Big Idea Pitch competition presenting a new idea, and he has also applied to the TechCrunch Student Pitch Competition for a chance to present his idea in San Francisco, CA from October 18 - 20, 2022.