Influential Woman · Physical Chemistry Research
Bibi A. Khan
Research Candidate and Adjunct Lecturer, Chemistry, The Graduate Center, City University of New York and Lehman College
Bronx, NY 10468
Her Story
About Bibi A.
Bibi A. Khan is a graduate student and Adjunct Lecturer pursuing her doctorate in Physical Chemistry at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, in affiliation with Lehman College and Brooklyn College. Since beginning her doctoral studies in 2023, she has built roughly five years of experience in the field, running computational and quantum mechanical simulations through CUNY's and San Diego's High Performance Computing Centers to study nuclear quantum effects in liquids, bio-nanoparticle systems, and glasses. Her research explores the anomalous thermodynamics of water, its phase transitions and the formation of amorphous glasses at cryogenic temperatures, work that carries real-world implications for cryopreservation, vaccine storage, and problems tied to NASA-related ice research and planetary science. Alongside her research, she teaches Physical and Organic chemistry laboratory courses as an Adjunct Lecturer, guiding pre-health and pre-engineering undergraduates through both the theory and hands-on techniques of the discipline. Originally from Guyana, Khan immigrated to the United States roughly nine and a half years ago and built her academic path from the ground up, earning a TASC high school equivalency before enrolling at Borough of Manhattan Community College and later transferring to Lehman College. There, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Chemistry, concentrating in Biochemistry with a minor in Health Education and Promotion, completing her studies on a pre-med track during the height of the pandemic. Rather than proceeding directly into medical school, she chose a research-focused path, a decision shaped by strong undergraduate research experience and mentorship that ultimately led her to begin her PhD in 2023. Her academic achievements include the Ambuj Mukerji Award from Lehman's Department of Physics and Astronomy, membership in the Golden Key International Honour Society and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, NanoBio NYC Scholar and a first-place oral presentation award at the 2025 Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM as a NSF CREST IDEALS fellow, an experience that also led to her joining the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Beyond the lab and classroom, Khan has a longstanding commitment to mentorship and community service, having served as a volunteer educator with Peer Health Exchange, a site director for Let's Get Ready's summer SAT program, and treasurer of the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students, where she supported underrepresented pre-health students in the Bronx and Westchester. She credits her achievements to persistence, discipline, and a willingness to put in the work needed to see a task through, while crediting a mentor's advice to slow down and avoid burnout as a guiding lesson in her career. Grounded in a strong sense of ethics and research integrity, she is set to be featured in the 2026 edition of Influential Women, representing New York.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Bibi A.
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to being driven, proactive and achieving a balance in the profession-personal lives. I have a strong dislike of leaving work overdue, and I'm willing to work through the night when it's needed. I also make a point of breaking complex goals down into manageable tasks, which keeps me moving forward even during long stretches of research.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I received came from my mentor, who told me to slow down. That meant learning to take a breath, avoid burning myself out chasing perfection, and remember that if my priorities shift, there are always other paths available to me.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I'd tell them to let their work speak for itself — you don't need to put on a tougher persona to be taken seriously. If an environment doesn't respect your contributions, don't be afraid to seek out one that does. Just get out there and do it, while staying mindful of the balance between your goals, your ambitions, and your wellbeing.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges I've faced was reconciling a change in career direction that the pandemic prompted, choosing research over the clinical medicine path I'd originally planned, along with managing the long and sometimes monotonous stretches that come with research work. That said, I don't see many limits in my field — there's always opportunity. The theoretical and computational work I do on water and glassy states has real applications in cryopreservation, vaccine storage logistics, and problems relevant to planetary and space science.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Ethics, principled behavior, discipline, respect, and humanity matter most to me. Research integrity and working with trustworthy collaborators are especially important in the kind of work I do.
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