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Profile

College / Department

College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Physics

Teaching areas

Physics, Astronomy

Research areas

Gamma-Ray Astrophysics: Positron-Electron Annihilation; Nuclear gamma-ray lines; Gamma-Ray Bursts. Crescent Visibility and Islamic Calendar. Science, Religion, Education, and Popularization of Science.

Education

PhD, Physics / Astrophysics, University of California, San Diego, United States, 1988

MS, Physics, University of California, San Diego, United States, 1984

BS, Physics / Theoretical Physics, Université des Sciences et de la Technologie d'Alger, Algeria, 1982

Professional experience

Professor, Physics, College Of Arts & Sciences, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2008 - Present

Associate Dean, College Of Arts & Sciences, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2012 - 2014

Head Of Department, College Of Arts & Sciences, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2011 - 2013

Associate Professor, Physics, College Of Arts & Sciences, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2002 - 2008

Chair Of Department,physics, College Of Arts & Sciences, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2001 - 2004

Assistant Professor, Physics, College Of Arts & Sciences, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2000 - 2002

Assistant Professor, College of Technological Studies, Kuwait, 1994 - 2000

Assistant Professor, University of Blida, Algeria, 1990 - 1994

Post-doctoral Fellow, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Maryland, United States, 1988 - 1990

Memberships

Templeton Religion Trust, July 2024

Templeton World Charity Foundation, July 2024

International Astronomical Union, USA, August 2000

International Society for Science & Religion, Executive Committee Member, September 2011 - December 2024

Board of Trustees, John Templeton Foundation, June 2011 - June 2017

Contact

[email protected]

+971 6 515 2512

Dr. Nidhal Guessoum

Professor

Previous to his appointment at AUS, Nidhal Guessoum spent two years as a post-doctoral researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center then taught in Algeria and Kuwait. His area of expertise is cosmic gamma-ray sources (the galactic center, accretion disks, bursts, etc.), but he has also written many articles and several books on issues related to science, education and Islam, such as 'Islamic Astronomy' (the crescent observation problem, the Islamic calendar, etc.).

Publications

Andrade And Nidhal Guessoum. The Effect of Vera C. Rubin Observatory Cadence Selections on Kilonova Detectability, Publications Of The Astronomical Society Of The Pacific, 31 March 2025

Pillas And Nidhal Guessoum. Limits on the Ejecta Mass During the Search for Kilonovae Associated with Neutron Star-Black Hole Mergers: A case study of S230518h, GW230529, S230627c and the Low-Significance Candidate S240422ed, Physical Review D

Nidhal Guessoum. Science Education, Interdisciplinarity, and Critical Thinking, October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 2024

Nidhal Guessoum. تأمّل معي - أسرار الطبيعة المدهشة, August 2024

Nidhal Guessoum. تأمّل معي - ألغاز السماء والكون, August 2024

Nidhal Guessoum. تأمّل معي - الإنسان، هذا المخلوق العجيب, August 2024

Hussenot-desenonges, Wouters And Nidhal Guessoum. Multiband analyses of the bright GRB 230812B and the associated SN2023pel, Monthly Notices Of The Royal Astronomical Society, 18 March 2024

Tosta E Melo, Ducoin, Vidadi And Nidhal Guessoum. Ready for O4 II: GRANDMA observations of Swift GRBs over eight weeks in spring 2022, Astronomy And Astrophysics, 13 February 2024

Srinivasaragavan, Swain, O'connor And Nidhal Guessoum. Characterizing the Ordinary Broad-line Type Ic SN 2023pel from the Energetic GRB 230812B, The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 9 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2024

Nidhal Guessoum And Stefano Bigliardi. Islam and Science: Past, Present, and Future Debates, March 2023

Nidhal Guessoum. Islamic Bioethics: Nanotechnology, Oxford Research Encyclopedia Of Religion, 22 March 2023

Sebnem Agayeva And Nidhal Guessoum. The GRANDMA network in preparation for the fourth gravitational-wave observing run, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, And Systems, 25 August 2022

Zitouni, Nidhal Guessoum And Azzam. Testing the Amati and Yonetoku correlations for short gamma-ray bursts, Astrophysics & Space Science, 5 August 2022

Nidhal Guessoum. Randomness in the Cosmos, January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2022

Petrov, Singer, Coughlin And Nidhal Guessoum. Data-driven expectations for electromagnetic counterpart searches based on LIGO/Virgo public alerts, The Astrophysical Journal, 12 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2022

Mouza Almualla And Nidhal Guessoum. Optimizing serendipitous detections of kilonovae: cadence and filter selection, Monthly Notices Of The Royal Astronomical Society, 19 April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2021

Shreya Anand And Nidhal Guessoum. Optical follow-up of the neutron star–black hole mergers S200105ae and S200115j, Nature Astronomy, September 2020

Hannachi Zitouni And Nidhal Guessoum. GRB luminosity function synthesized from Swift/BAT, Fermi/GBM and Konus-Wind data, Astrophysics And Space Science, 17 November 2020

Nidhal Guessoum. Let Arab space programmes create more space for Arab scientists and students, Nature, 20 July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2020

Michael Coughlin And Nidhal Guessoum. Implications of the search for optical counterparts during the second part of the Advanced LIGO’s and Advanced Virgo’s third observing run: lessons learned for future follow-up observations, Monthly Notices Of The Royal Astronomical Society, 6 July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2020

Mouza Almualla And Nidhal Guessoum. Dynamic Scheduling: Target of Opportunity Observations of Gravitational Wave Events, Monthly Notices Of The Royal Astronomical Society, 1 June 2020

Marwan Abukhaled And Nidhal Guessoum. Mathematical modeling of light curves of RHESSI and AGILE terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, Astrophysics And Space Science, October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 2019

Michael Coughlin And Nidhal Guessoum. Optimizing multitelescope observations of gravitational-wave counterparts, Monthly Notices Of The Royal Astronomical Society, September 2019

And Nidhal Guessoum. Optimizing multitelescope observations of gravitational-wave counterparts, Monthly Notices Of The Royal Astronomical Society, 7 September 2019

Nidhal Guessoum. A Short History of Islamic Science, January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2019

Nidhal Guessoum, H. Zitouni And R. Mochkovitch. Detecting the imprint of a kilonova or supernova in short gamma-ray burst afterglows, Astronomy And Astrophysics, 1 December 2018

H. Zitouni, Nidhal Guessoum, K. Alqassimi And O. Alaryani. Distributions of pseudo-redshifts and durations (observed and intrinsic) of Fermi GRBs, Astrophysics And Space Science, 1 November 2018

W. Azzam, H. Zitouni And Nidhal Guessoum. Gamma-Ray Bursts: Characteristics and Prospects, 11 July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2017

Nidhal Guessoum, O. Alarayani, K. Al-qassimi, M. Alshamsi, N. Sherif, H. Hamidani, H. Zitouni And W. Azzam. Investigating the Gamma-Ray Burst - Supernova Connection, 11 July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2017

G. Abdelaziz, R. Guebsi, Nidhal Guessoum And C. Flamant. Search for Best Astronomical Observatory Sites in the MENA Region using Satellite Measurements, 11 July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2017

Ali Alnaser, Shahin Abdel Naby, Raza Syed, Said Sakhi, Yousef Salamin, Mehmet Egilmez, Sami El-khatib, Nasser Hamdan, Nidhal Guessoum And Tariq Majeed. Preface, 11 July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2017

Ali Alnaser, Shahin Abdel-naby, Raza Syed, Said Sakhi, Yousef Salamin, Mehmet Egilmez, Sami El-khatib, Nasser Hamdan, Nidhal Guessoum And Tariq Majeed. Preface, 11 July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2017

Pierre Jean, Nidhal Guessoum And Katia Ferrière. Sgr A∗ as source of the positrons observed in the Galactic center region, 1 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2016

Nidhal Guessoum And Athar Osama. Institutions: Revive universities of the Muslim world, Nature, 28 October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 2015

H. Zitouni, Nidhal Guessoum, W. Azzam And R. Mochkovitch. Statistical study of observed and intrinsic durations among BATSE and Swift/BAT GRBs, Astrophysics And Space Science, 10 April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2015

Nidhal Guessoum. Islam and science, 1 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2014

Marwan Abukhaled, Edward Allen And Nidhal Guessoum. Testing pulse density distribution for terrestrial gamma ray flashes, Journal Of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 1 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2014

Lutfi Albasha And Nidhal Guessoum. Setting up a Student Satellite Receiving System in the UAE, 2011

Conference Presentations

3. Infra-red light curves of GRB afterglows observed at Al Khatim Observatory, 45th Scientific Assembly Of The Committee On Space Research (cospar), July 2024

Modeling of Long-Lasting GRB Afterglows, 45th Scientific Assembly Of The Committee On Space Research (cospar), 15 July 2024

Recent Supernovae - Observations and Type-Model Fitting, 45th Scientific Assembly Of The Committee On Space Research (cospar), 15 July 2024

Islamic Astronomy in the 21st century, Saras 2021, Malaysia, 22 September 2022

Optimization Simulations for Kilonova Detections in Optical and Near Infrared, Multi-messenger Astronomy With Gws And Neutrinos, 31 May 2022

Dynamic Scheduling: Target-of-Opportunity Observations of Gravitational Wave Events, Cospar 43rd Assembly, January 2021

Efficiency of Electromagnetic Observations of Merger Counterparts, Cospar 43rd Assembly, January 2021

Physical Characteristics of Short GRB from Afterglow Observational Light Curves, Cospar 43rd Assembly, January 2021

Analysis of Fermi GRB durations in the observed and intrinsic reference frames, Cospar 42nd Scientific Assembly, July 2018

Analysis of Recent Short GRB Afterglow Light Curves, Cospar 42nd Scientific Assembly, July 2018

Grants and sponsorships

Grant, Building more efficient search systems for multi-messenger astronomical transients, American University of Sharjah, May 2025 - May 2027

Grant, Islam & Science in Translation, Templeton Religion Trust, June 2025

Grant, Search for Kilonovae with the GRANDMA network, 1 June 2022 - 31 May 2024

Grant, Optimizing searches for optical counterparts to gravitational wave signals, KAUST, February 2021

Grant, YouTube series of weekly or biweekly science-culture videos, Templeton Religion Trust, December 2018 - December 2019

Awards and Honors

Endowed Chair for Education Across Disciplines, AUS, This endowed chair aims to develop education and knowledge in an interdisciplinary, broad-based approach, bridging the sciences and the humanities, for a cross-cultured generation and a globalized era. It provides a wide and active platform for students, alumni, educators, scholars, and opinion makers to share and create broad knowledge that helps develop a generation that is fully comfortable with science, technology, history, arts and culture in all their manifestations., 1 April 2022

Judge on MENA Innovators Under 35 of MIT Technology Review, Haykal Media - MIT Technology Review Arabia, Invited to serve as a judge for the Innovators Under 35 of the MENA region for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021. The goal is to review folder nominations and submissions to select 10 young innovators from from the region that have developed solutions to one or more important and challenging problem(s)., 4 October 2021

Member of Advisory Board for Center for Astro Particle and Planetary Physics at NYU Abu Dhabi, NYU Abu Dhabi, The main purpose of CAP3 Advisory Board is to keep track of the big picture of the Center, address issues of concern and possibly develop strategies to address these concerns. To review the research activities and output and how the Center is reaching its expectations and goals. CAP3 is a dynamic Center and would like the support and input of international scholars with your experience and insight. Advisory board meetings will be held with two onsite visits (January 2021 and ...