Associate Professor of Physics Dave Russell is the current Head of the Physics Program at NYUAD. He is also PI of the Galaxy Components Cluster in the Center for Astro, Particle, and Planetary Physics (CAP3) at NYUAD. He has a BSc and MSc from the University of Hertfordshire, UK, and a PhD from the University of Southampton, UK. Previously he was a Veni Fellow at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, and a Marie Curie IEF Fellow based at the Instituto de Astrofı́sica de Canarias (IAC), Tenerife, Spain.

Most research interests for a scientist

His research interests concern accreting compact objects - black holes and neutron stars - and their energetic output in the form of radiation and jets. His work, analyzing a wealth of broadband (radio-infrared-optical-ultraviolet-X-ray) observations of X-ray binaries, has led to a deeper understanding of the accretion process in the extreme gravitational fields near compact objects.

Specialization

His current projects include investigating how outbursts start, how relativistic jets are launched and accelerated, how fast relativistic jets are in black holes in our galaxy, and how universal accretion and jet properties are, from small black holes to supermassive black holes.