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60 under 60 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES

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“I will never forget flying in a helicopter over the volcano in Montserrat, filming for a documentary with the stench of sulphurous gases stinging our nostrils! Nor can I forget being told that I would never get any grants for Astronomy in the Caribbean, or be able to get a job here in this area. Not getting into Engineering as an undergraduate was the best thing that ever happened to me. I have always seen failure as navigating a person to the future they really belong to and where their major contributions are likely to be. At the University of Virginia, working toward my PhD in Astronomy, I realized that there were thousands in the developed world doing what I could do. In the Caribbean, I could make a difference. Ten years later, this has turned out to be true.”

Dr. Shirin Haque

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT, SENIOR LECTURER AND ASTRONOMER
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE
ST. AUGUSTINE CAMPUS, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Tel: (868) 662-2002 ext 2051 • Email: Shirin.Haque@sta.uwi.edu

PROFILE

For Dr. Shirin Haque, singling out the milestones in her academic career proves difficult. Was it at age 5, looking up wondering about the sky dome over her village in India? Or perhaps it was the tough decision to pursue PhD work in Astronomy, a field with few job prospects. Or was it her passion for learning and teaching which led to UWI Guardian Life Premium Teaching Award in 2002, the Distinguished Teacher Award from the Association of Atlantic Universities in 2004 and the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2005. Dr. Haque is the Head of Physics Department and co-founder of Caribbean Institute of Astronomy (CARINA) and is currently pursuing an MPhil degree in Psychology at UWI. She is involved in cutting-edge research with an international team in Astrobiology at the pitch lake and mud volcanoes in Trinidad. This project caught the attention of the international scientific community and was featured in BBC “Science in Action” segment in January 2008 and is to be featured in News Scientist. Science popularization is Dr. Haque’s forte with over 40 public lectures and numerous local and foreign popular science articles and television appearances. SUNY, Stony Brook dedicated a web page to her demo in Physics. She is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. Her newest passion is science documentaries and she produced the first Caribbean Science documentary in High Definition “Adventures in Discovery”.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Haque’s research began in theoretical Astronomy in Cosmology and Quasars with modeling and statistical studies. It developed into observational Astronomy with the monitoring programme of quasar OJ287 and the establishment of the first research Astronomy observatory at UWI, St Augustine. Interest in teaching, in Women in Science issues and studying Psychology led to publications in these fields as well. She is also currently involved in the multidisciplinary cutting-edge field of Astrobiology along with several foreign institutes.