ASN Executives

Augustine E. Chukwude obtained a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc, Hons) in Physics in 1994, a Master of Science (M.Sc in Astrophysics and Space Science) in 1997 and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D in Radio Astronomy and Cosmology) in 2002 ; all from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His Ph.D thesis is on the investigation of the phenomenology of timing noise in radio pulsars. He commenced his teaching career in 1998 as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and rose to the rank of a Professor in 2011

Augustine Chukwude is an alumus of the prestigious Vatican Observatory Summer School (VOSS) in Castle Gandolfo, Rome. He was a visiting doctoral student at Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) in South Africa (1999 – 2001), where he worked on timing observations of radio pulsars. He was a junior associate follow of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste Italy (2003 – 2009), and a visiting post-doctoral research fellow at HartRAO, South Africa (2005). Prof. Chukwude was the pioneer Head of Department of Science Laboratory Technology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (2014 – 2018). He is currently the Head of Department of Physics and Astronomy in the same University (2020 – Date).   

Augustine, through his works over the years, has made significant contributions in the area of observational and theoretical Astrophysics and Astronomy with over 70 research publications in reputable high impact factor-indexed national and international journals. Some of his works cover radio pulsar timing observations with emphasis on long-term rotational stability of pulsars, neutron star internal stucture and dynamics, the phenomenology of pulsar timing irregularity and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). He has recently expanded his research interest  to include the study of transient variations in galactic cosmic ray intensity (Forbush decreases and solar energetic particle emissions) and solar events (e.g. coronal mass ejection, solar flares and corotating interacting regions, etc).  

Prof. Chukwude is a fellow of the Astronomical Society of Nigeria. He is  member of some national and international professional bodies: Astronomical Society of Nigeria (ASN), Nigeria Institute of Physics (NIP), National Union of Radio Sciences (NURS) and International Astronomical Union (IAU). He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Nigeria (PASN).