In Pakistan he initially dreamed of becoming a pilot. However, when that turned out to be impossible, he studied aerospace engineering. After graduating, he worked in industry for 3 years. During this time he discovered that his real interest was studying complex physical phenomena using computational tools. His Master in Smart Mechanics at université de Franche-Comté, France, followed by an internship at Michelin, further fueled this interest to develop real world smart solutions leveraging exotic behavior of architectured materials.