Two Diploma Students Share 2025 Shafi Prize

Two of this year’s Postgraduate Diploma Programme’s top students have been chosen as recipients of the Qaisar and Monika Shafi Prize, an annual award given to the most outstanding scholars in the programme. William Hendarto of Indonesia, who completed a Diploma in mathematics, and Komal Rubab, a Diploma graduate in condensed matter physics from Pakistan, shared the 2025 prize.

Hendarto did his Diploma project under the supervision of ICTP mathematician Lothar Göttsche. Discussing mathematics with Göttsche was one of the highlights of his year in Trieste: “It has been an incredible honour to be able to talk with him. Whenever I talk to mathematicians, I am always surprised by how kind everyone is.” In his final project, he explored a well-established framework that connects geometric problems with tools from commutative algebra and category theory. “You can think of it as a language that unifies these areas, translating problems from one to the other,” explained Hendarto, “If you combine all of these together, it is a very powerful combination”.

Powerful combinations were also at the core of Rubab’s Diploma project, supervised by ICTP scientist Rosario Fazio and postdoctoral fellow Emanuele Tirrito. “We worked on entanglement and magic, which are two quantum resources that allow you to obtain quantum advantage,” Rubab explained. “If you only have entanglement in the system, you can still simulate it on a classical computer. If you only have magic, you can also still simulate it on a classical computer. But if you have both, you need quantum computing.”

Their hard work and dedication earned them this year’s Qaisar and Monika Shafi Prize, generously funded by Qaisar Shafi, a Pakistani-American theoretical physicist who was a student of Abdus Salam’s and is now a professor of physics at the University of Delaware, and his wife Monika Shafi, a professor of German literature at the same institution. The Prize, which aims to to recognize and encourage the next generation of young scientists, was established in 2023.

Now that their Diploma experience has ended on a high note, both Rubab and Hendarto look forward to their futures. “I am very excited to stay here in Trieste and start my PhD at SISSA,” said Rubab, “I am grateful for choosing to come to ICTP.” At the end of her bachelor’s in physics at COMSATS University Islamabad, she had two options in front of her: coming to ICTP for the Diploma programme or joining the Erasmus Mundus programme. She had almost chosen the Erasmus option when Sadia Manzoor, a professor of physics at her university, stepped in. “She almost forced me to choose ICTP,” laughed Rubab. “In the end, she was right that it was the right place.” 

Hendarto’s choice of the Diploma programme was also thanks to the influence of some mentors. Before coming to Trieste, he was a bachelor’s student in mathematics at the Bandung Institute of Technology. “I came to ICTP based on the recommendation of my supervisor, Aleams Barra, who was a Diploma student in mathematics in 2004,” said Hendarto, “And it was the right choice. I believe that wherever I go, in the end all that matters is the people. And the people here were great.” Hendarto will move to Germany in the fall, to pursue a master’s degree in mathematics at the University of Münster. “When I came to ICTP, my background was mostly in number theory,” he recalled, “And then I moved to algebraic and arithmetic geometry. I hope to continue working in this area in Münster.”

When asked again about the Shafi prize, both winners emphasized the gratitude they felt for it: “The programme is very intense, and the prize makes it feel like your hard work is recognized,” explained Rubab. “I think this prize is also a great recognition of all the people who have helped me and supported me,” added Hendarto.