Rabia Salihu Sa'id (born on April 21, 1963) is a Nigerian physicist, professor of atmospheric and space-weather physics, and a researcher at Bayero University Kano. She conducts research in atmospheric and space weather physics, particle physics, and electronics. Sa'id is an advocate and mentor for young women in science with the Visiola Foundation and Peace Corps; she co-founded Nigeria's Association of Women Physicists. She is an advocate and mentor of Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and is a facilitator for the British Council's Active Citizens' Programme.
Sai'd has received fellowships from Institute of Applied Physics in Bern, Switzerland and the Ford Foundation and made a fellow of African Scientific Institute (ASI). In 2015, she received an Elsevier Foundation Award for Women Scientists in the Developing World. She was also recognised in 2015 by the British Council for her community work, and by the BBC as part of their 100 Women series.
Personal life
Rabia Sa'id was born in the year 1963 in Wangara, a town in Gezawa local government area of Kano State, Northern Nigeria, where girls have few education opportunities, many marry in their teens, and women are expected to stay at home. Her father, however, wanted her to become a doctor. He was an officer in the Nigerian Army who had two wives and fathered ten children.
Sa'id attended an Army school at the top of her class. She chose to marry at the age of 18, once she graduated from a secondary school. She is a mother of six. Two of her children needed medical care (one of them was born with club foot and another with sickle-cell anemia), which added to her personal challenge to obtain higher education degrees.
Career
Education and early career
Sa'id began her university education at the age of 29 and ran a nursery school to pay for her education. She holds Bachelor of Science, Masters of Science and Ph.D degrees in Physics from Bayero University Kano. In September 1999, she commenced work as a Graduate Assistant at Bayero University. In 2002, on the International Fellowships Program (IFP) of the Ford Foundation, she studied for an M.Sc degree in Environment and Development from the University of Reading, United Kingdom.
Educator
She began working in 1999 for the Bayero University and is now a professor of undergraduate and graduate level courses in atmospheric and space-weather physics. By 2015, she was Deputy Dean at the Student Affairs Division of the university.
Research
She received a research post at the university, where she conducts research in atmospheric and space weather physics, particle physics, and electronics. Her research is conducted to solve Nigerian environmental challenges. To reduce the number of trees cut down for firewood, for instance, one of her study was about use scraps of wood from carpentry projects for briquettes that could be used as a fuel, thereby reducing the rate at which the country's forests are diminished. She also gathers atmospheric data and studies the effects of deforestation and dust aerosols on climate temperatures. Her goal is to encourage greater reliance in Nigeria on renewable energy sources—like wind power, solar energy, and hydropower—that are less harmful to the environment than fossil fuels.
In 2010, she worked with Dr. C. Matzler, a scientist in terrestrial and atmospheric remote sensing, at the Institute of Applied Physics, University of Bern, Switzerland as a visiting research scientist for four months. In January 2013, she was made an African Scientific Institute (ASI) Fellow in Physics, which is an honorary association and think tank of academics, researchers, and business people.
STEM outreach
Sa'id is active in Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach. She is a co-founder of Nigeria's Association of Women Physicists in 2011, which encourages women to become physicists, seeks to improve physics education in schools, and gives prizes to young women. Sa'id also encourages participation of young people by mentoring them in local and national science projects, volunteering for the Peace Corps Nigeria Alumni Foundation and Visiola Foundation. According to Rabia Salihu, she is active in STEM outreach because there is group pressure and obstacles that girls, particularly those in northern Nigeria, must overcome to pursue degrees and careers in these fields. In addition, "more girls in science will mean that the solutions that science provides are not just tailored to the needs of a single gender." In addition, there is greater appreciation for careers where there are practical applications, like banking and medicine.