Overview
I am a Lebanese native, but I have lived on 3 different continents. I grew up in Switzerland, but went back to Lebanon to earn my bachelor’s degree in Physics and a master’s degree in Astrophysics. I then moved to France to earn a Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of Montpellier. After that, I moved to the US as a JINA-CEE postdoctoral fellow and Heising-Simons Physics Fellow at MIT from 2016-2019, before joining UF as an assistant professor as of January 2020.
Educational Background
- Ph.D, University of Montpellier, France 2015
- M.Sc., Notre Dame University, Lebanon 2012
- B.Sc., Lebanese University, Lebanon 2009
Research
My scientific research covers a range of topics in stellar astrophysics. I am primarily interested in observing and interpreting the physical and chemical properties and signatures of first and second generation of stars, to decipher the observational evidence of early star formation, the origin and evolution of stellar populations, and the chemical enrichment events that lead to the present-day abundance distribution of elements via chemical evolution of the Galaxy.
Areas of Expertise
First and Second generation of stars, Origins and evolution of chemical elements, Nucleosynthesis and heavy element production via the r-process, Milky Way assembly and evolution, Stellar spectroscopy and atmospheric modeling