Faculty

College / Department

Teaching areas

Physics and Astronomy

Research areas

Astronomy: Studying the integrated spectra of Star Clusters to extract their properties and use it to trace the formation and chemical history of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) galaxy.

Education

BS, Jordan University of Science and Technology, 2005

MS, University of Cincinnati, 2008

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2012

Professional experience

Assistant Professor, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE2012 - present

Research Assistant, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA2009 - 2012

Teaching Assistant, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA2006 - 2009

Memberships

American Astronomical Society (AAS), International Astronomical Union (IAU), American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), Arab Astronomical Society (ArAS)

Contact

[email protected]

+971 6 515 4708

Dr. Randa Asa'd

Assistant Professor

PhD in Physics, University of Cincinnati, USA

Randa Asa'd taught physics as a teaching assistant for three years prior to joining AUS. Her area of research is in observational astrophysics, namely obtaining the ages of star clusters in the Large Magelanic Cloud (LMC) galaxy from their integrated spectra. Her research observations are obtained using SOAR and Blanco telescopes in Chile. She is highly interested in teaching physics and astronomy using modern teaching styles.

Publications

Igor V. Chilingarian and Randa S. Asa'd“Using Star Clusters as Tracers of Star Formation and Chemical Evolution: The Chemical Enrichment History of the Large Magellanic Cloud” 2018, ApJ, 858, 63

R. Asad. "Analyzer of Spectra for Age Determination (ASAD) - Algorithm and Applications" Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2014)

R. Asad, M. M. Hanson, and A. V. Ahumada. "An Investigation of the Use of Synthetic Spectra to Find the Ages of Stellar Clusters." Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 125, no. 933 (2013): 1304-1314

R. Asad, and M. M. Hanson. "Investigating ageing methods of Large Magellanic Cloud star clusters using integrated colours." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 419, no. 3 (2012): 2116-2132.

Randa S. Asa'd, A. Vazdekis and S. Zeinalabdin “Ages of LMC Star Clusters using ASAD2”, 2016, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 475, 2151

Randa S. Asa'd, A. Vazdekis, M. Cervino, N. Noel, M. Beasley and M. Kassab “Young LMC clusters: the role of red supergiants and multiple stellar populations in their integrated light and CMDs” 2017, MNRAS, 471, 3599

Conference Presentations

Multiple Populations in Stellar Clusters, Sexten, Italy ? July 2018

International meeting on Future Directions in Heliophysics, NYUAD, UAE ? January 2018

European Week for Astronomy And Space Science, Prague, Czech Republic ? June 2017

Big Questions in Astrophysics, Lund, Sweden ? April 2017

Arab-American Frontiers, Abu Dhabi, UAE ? November 2016

Cosmic - lab conference, Bologna, Italy ? April 2016

American Astronomical Society (AAS) 224th conference, Boston, MA ? June 2014

American Astronomical Society (AAS) 222th conference, Indianapolis, IN ? June 2013

Arab Union of Astronomy and Space Science 10th conference, Oman ? February 2012

American Astronomical Society (AAS) 219th conference, Austin, TX ? January 2012

Romanian Scientific Research and Higher Education Conference, Bucharest, Romania ? September 2010

American Astronomical Society (AAS) 216th conference, Miami, FL ? May 2010

Awards and Honors

Woman of the week, University of Cincinnati, 2012

Poster Competition (first place), University of Cincinnati, 2012

Other creative/research

TELESCOPE OBSERVATION EXPERIENCE •• (P.I)SOAR telescope – La Serena, Chile:3 nights (remotely) – January 2018• Magellan telescope – Chile:2 nights (remotely) – November 2016 • (P.I)SOAR telescope – La Serena, Chile:4 nights – December 2011 • (P.I)Blanco 4-m telescope – La Serena, Chile:6 nights – February 2011 • (P.I)Siding Springs 2.3 Telescope – Siding Spring Observatory, Australia:4 nights –