Rate My Professor Yarjan Abdul Samad

Dr. Yarjan Abdul Samad is an Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Khalifa University in the United Arab Emirates. He also serves as a Senior Research Associate and Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on developing graphene and 2D materials-based technologies for space and aerospace applications. He was part of the team of scientists on European Space Agency zero-gravity flights that first tested graphene in microgravity and has tested graphene-based materials using sounding rockets. He is a member of the Science Team of the Rashid Rover mission by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre.

Dr. Samad earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Khalifa University in 2016, an MSc in Materials Science and Engineering from Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in 2012, and a BS in Metallurgy and Materials Engineering from Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute in 2005, where he received two gold medals. He has received awards including the Young Leaders Award 2020 from the UK’s Young Professional Society, Innovator of the Year, the Pakistan foreign affairs award for twenty-five talents under the age of 40 of Pakistani origin abroad, and the Outstanding Research Reviewer of the Year 2017 from the Royal Society of Chemistry UK. He has taught graduate courses on graphene technology at the University of Cambridge and engineering dynamics at Khalifa University.