Dr. Fatima Abdurrahman (she/her/hers)

Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Physics

Email: fatima18@umd.edu

About Me:

The central thread of my education over the past decade has been physics and astronomy; I earned undergraduate degrees in both at the University of Maryland, followed by a Masters and PhD in astrophysics at UC Berkeley. In that time, I published original research in a range of sub-disciplines, including instrumentation of adaptive optics systems for ground-based telescopes, and the detection of isolated, stellar mass black holes. For my doctoral thesis, I conducted a study on the experiences non-white, non-male PhD candidates in astronomy across the US to understand the relationship between the culture of academic astronomy and the persistence of identity-based inequity in graduate programs. This work (which was inspired by my own experiences as a graduate student in astronomy) built upon my background in physics education research from my undergraduate days, when I began working as a Learning Assistant (LA) with Dr. Chandra Turpen. My experience as an LA introduced me to PER, and gave me the opportunity to get involved in curriculum design and research as an undergraduate.  After my PhD, I returned to Dr. Turpen’s group as a postdoctoral researcher, and have since redirected my focus to the study of ethics and institutional change in STEM higher education.

Research Interests:

• The ways in which STEM students develop macro-ethical reasoning
• The challenges of and strategies for facilitating change in physics departments
• Issues of social justice in the STEM education sphere 

Currently Working On:

• Cultural Practices for Cultivating Ethical Engineering (STS)
• Propagating effective practices for assessment and educational change (EP3)