Muhammad Arif, Ph.D

Muhammad Arif joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 1988 as a National Research Council post-doctoral fellow and currently is the leader of the Neutron Physics Group in the Physical Measurement Laboratory’s Radiation and Biomolecular Physics Division. Dr. Arif leads an internationally recognized NIST neutron physics research program that includes a very broad range of basic and applied topics ranging from the study of fundamental symmetries to alternative energy research. His main area of research interest is in neutron interferometry and optics. Dr. Arif pioneered the technique of neutron imaging for hydrogen-based fuel cell research—a technique that greatly accelerated the process of rapid development and commercialization of fuel cells.  Dr. Arif received a Ph.D. degree in physics, specializing in neutron optics, from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1986. He received a Department of Energy hydrogen program R&D Award in 2007, and has received a Department of Commerce Gold Medal and NIST Bronze Medal award for his research.