Shamima K Choudhury

Shamima Karim Choudhury (born February 12, 1951) is a Bangladeshi physicist, academician, researcher, and women-in-science advocate. She retired as a professor from the Department of Physics, University of Dhaka on 30 June 2016 after 44 years of teaching and research. She supervised more than 70 Masters and MPhil students in Physics. She is a Fellow of Bangladesh Physical Society. She is a member of OWSD, IOP and many national science societies. She is the team Leader of WIP in Bangladesh. She worked as the Provost of Rokeya Hall and as director of the Bose Centre for Advanced Study and Research in Natural Sciences (named after Prof. Satyendra Nath Bose) at Dhaka University.

Education Choudhury studied in the Department of Physics at Dhaka University beginning in 1967 She also organized many international workshops, Bose lectures, and birth and death anniversary of S.N.Bose, where many eminent national and international academicians and scientists attended. Prof. M. Zahid Hasan delivered Bose lecture in November 2015, in the Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate building. She was a member of the Dhaka University Senate from 2013- 2016

Research Choudhury worked on various aspects of thin-film properties, solar cells, ferrite and ceramic materials, nano and advanced materials, biophysics, and crystallography throughout her career. She has over 200 peer-reviewed national and international publications and has over 555 citations according to the Google Scholar (as of September 2020) and 456 citations according to ResearchGate.

Advocacy

Women in STEM advocacy Choudhury has been participating as an invited speaker in a number of International conferences, IEEE-WIE, Women in Physics and Gender summit advocating the gender equality in science, engineering and technology. In an interview with the Daily Star, she pointed out that percentage of women in physics and science are disproportionately low compared to the enrollment in medicine or other fields. She actively spoke for gender equality of women in ICT, science, and physics.

Philanthropy Bangladesh Physical Society awards the Shamima Karim Choudhury Trust Fund Scholarship every year since 2015. The Scholarship is awarded to one male and one female student obtaining highest CGPA in their B.Sc. Hons. in Physics exam and one financial disadvantageous student while studying in the Dhaka University Physics Department.

Rokeya Hall Alumni Association also awards one scholarship to a meritorious, financially disadvantageous undergraduate student from the Shamima Karim Choudhury trust fund organized by Rokeya Hall Alumni Association.

Personal life Shamima Choudhury was born in 1951 in Comilla. Her father, Fazlul Karim was the first Muslim professor and the vice-principal of Comilla Victoria College. Her mother, Zohara Karim was a social worker and the vice-president of the then All Pakistan Women's Association (APWA) in Comilla. She was married to Naiyyum Choudhury on March 7, 1976, until his death. They have two children.