Ata Sarajedini

Ata Sarajedini is a Professor and holder of the Bjorn Lamborn Endowed Chair in Astrophysics at Florida Atlantic University's Department of Physics within the College of Science. He joined FAU in 2017 and holds a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Yale University (1992), preceded by an M.S. (1988) and B.S. (1986) in Astronomy and Physics from the same institution.

His research focuses on resolved stellar populations, star clusters, galactic structure/evolution, stellar evolution, and dwarf galaxies. Key projects include the Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters, analyzing RR Lyrae variables, and studying the Large Magellanic Cloud's globular clusters. He has contributed to instrumental advancements like MEGARA (GTC's optical spectrograph) and CIRCE (Gran Telescopio Canarias' infrared camera).

Recent work emphasizes multi-population dynamics in star clusters, chemical abundance patterns in dwarf galaxies, and leveraging Gaia DR3 and HST data for precision astrophysics. His publications span 40+ years, with a focus on extragalactic star clusters, galaxy formation, and variable star standardization.

He collaborates internationally on projects like the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) and has pioneered techniques for calibrating RR Lyrae distance indicators. His work bridges observational astronomy with theoretical models of galaxy assembly and stellar evolution.