MESC-affiliated faculty member Professor Sultana Nahar uses her personal connections, online tools and her STEM background to engage internationally with Middle Eastern scholars and universities. 

For example, Professor Sania F. El-Husseini of Palestine American University of Ramallla, Palestine visited OSU campus last week for possible connections and collaborations with OSU faculty. She and her husband, both professors, are from Gaza, and they have lost 20 members from her side and over 50 from her husband's side by Israeli bombs on Gaza. Israel demolished their houses, along with many original documents. Professor El-Husseini brings a broad experience in the Middle East to her engagement here. After her Ph.D. at Cairo University, she worked for the Ministry of Palestinian Authority (PA) for a time, sometimes acting as an Ambassador of Palestine. Subsequently, she lectured at various universities until she was hired into her current position.  She and Professor Sultana Nahar are exploring virtual, collaborative educational and research programs, such as online courses in STEM. 

Dr. Nahar has extensive experience with such international collaborations, promoting STEM education for young women and academic leadership courses, as she and Professor Anil Pradhan organize with universities in India. Profs. Nahar and Husseini seek opportunities for Professor Husseini to present Palestine history, culture, society to familiarize students, faculty and OSU members about Palestine. 

Another connection in Gaza, Dr. Zher Samak, at Al-Aqsa University, is engaging in science to divert the trauma she experienced from the war. Samak, who was Nahar's student, reached out to her to ask for some work to distract her. Despite working from a tent, Zher could concentrate on the research project, and obtained valuable sample results which she presented at Nahar's working group meeting. Nahar says, "She is brilliant!  We would like to continue to collaborate with her." Dr. Nahar's strong relationship-building skills allow scholarship in Gaza to continue despite what seem like impossible circumstances.

About Professor Nahar:

Prof. Sultana N. Nahar

Fellow of APS, BPS, BAS, TWAS-UNESCO

APS Woman Physicist of the Month

Dept of Astronomy, McPherson Lab, The Ohio State University

140 West 18th Avenue, AST, Columbus, OH 43210, USA

Tel: 1-614-292-1888,  Fax: 1-614-292-2928

Email: nahar.1@osu.edu

Website: http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/nahar.1

OSU Co-Director: Indo-US APJ Abdul Kalam Center for STEM Education & Research of OSU-AMU, 2013 - present

Adjunct Professor of Physics (UGC Scheme), Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

Founder of database: NORAD-Atomic-Data at http://norad.astronomy.ohio-state.edu

Textbook: Atomic Astrophysics and Spectroscopy (A.K. Pradhan and S.N. Nahar, Cambridge U press 2011)

ISMWS:  Founder and President