Tripoli-born researcher Elias Aydi, age 33, made a prominent scientific achievement adopted by the U.S. Space Agency (NASA) and was awarded the NASA Hubble Fellowship.
This prestigious fellowship will help Aydi develop the research he has proposed to NASA, and he will be the first Lebanese researcher from Tripoli to qualify for this grant worldwide.
The NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) helps scientists pursue research to contribute to NASA Astrophysics while using theory and experimentation.
Elias Aydi, who is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University, is one of a select group of 24 young scientists internationally.
In addition to earning a salary and benefits for up to three years, the NASA Hubble Fellows are then assigned to one of three subcategories, revolving around “NASA’s big questions”:
- How Does the Universe Work? (Einstein Fellows),
- How Did We Get Here? (Hubble Fellows),
- Are We Alone? (Sagan Fellows).
As a Fellow, the Lebanese researcher is planning to adopt multi-wavelength observations from different NASA space facilities, ground-based observatories, and 3D radiation-hydro simulations, and solve puzzles in high-energy astrophysics.
Elias Aydi has recently led a study combining observations from different NASA missions and discovered how shocks and their power caused a large fraction of the luminosity of a stellar explosion.
In addition to his research, he also organizes outreach activities in his local community and gives talks to school kids and their families, and to the public. He created online astronomy content in Arabic for the MENA region, which now has more than 5,000 followers.
