EDUCATION
Ph.D. Sorbonne University (UPMC-Paris VI), France, 2002 (Planetary & Terrestrial Radar Remote Sensing)
M.Sc. Sorbonne University (UPMC-Paris VI), France, 1999 (Planetary & Terrestrial Radar Remote Sensing)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2015-Present Research Scientist, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering & Electrophysics, University of Southern California, CA, USA
2015-Present Affiliate Rosetta Project Office, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, USA
2011-2015 Visiting Associate in Geology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
2008-2015 Research Scientist, Radar Science Group, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CA, USA
2006-2010* Tenure Associate Professor of Geophysics, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France
2003-2006 Postdoctoral Fellow in Planetary Radar, NASA’s Lunar and Planetary Institute, TX, USA
1999-2003 Research Assistant (French National Research Center-CNRS), Bordeaux Observatory, France
* Permanent position, on leave since 2010 (leave ends on September 30th, 2020)
SELECTED HONORS AND AWARDS
– 2023: Hundred Best educational and outreach programs in MENA
– 2021: URSI Best conference paper/mentor for the young scientist award of Dr. Palmer
– 2021: FIFA medal for most influential Arab scientists with major societal impacts
– 2020: Nominated for NASA Exceptional Science Achievement Medal
– 2018: Associate Editor Springer-Nature Applied Sciences
– 2017: Springer-Nature Best Reviewer Award
– 2017: Nature Editor’s Highlights: Dawn BSR Observation paper
– 2017: Rosetta European Space Agency Recognition Award
– 2013: NASA/JPL Mariner Award & NASA/JPL Recognition Award
– 2011-Present: Editorial Board of Geosciences (IF=3) & Remote Sensing (IF=5)
– 2010-Present: Editor Board of the National Geographic Magazine (UAE)
– 2010-2013: United Nations Development Program, UN Observer for MENA Water Studies
– 2009: Outstanding Researcher Award, Department of Education and Research, France (PEDR/PES)
– 2003: Postdoctoral Fellowship at the NASA’s Lunar and Planetary Institute
– 1999: Doctoral Engineering Graduate Fellowship of the French National Research Center (BDI-CNRS)
EXTERNALLY FUNDED PROJECTS (Total $ 6.1 Million of competitively funded opportunities)
NASA Science Mission Directorate Funded Awards (amounts allocated only to Heggy’s effort):
– NASA Planetary Geology and Geophysics Program (2 funded projects, PI, 2006-2018, $610k)
– NASA Mars Analog Program (2 Funded Projects, Co-I, 2003-2006, $60k)
– NASA Moon and Mars Analog Mission Activities (3 funded projects, Co-PI, 2009 and 2016, $150k)
– NASA Rosetta Science Mission US Co-Investigator participation (PI, 2010-2018, $840k)
– NASA/JPL-Fugro GeoSAR mapping campaign for Sea-Ice in the Arctic (PI, 2015-2018, $120k)
– NASA-JPL President Research Fund (PI-2012-2013, $100k)
Other Funded Grants
– Keck Institute for Space Studies (Co-PI, 2011-2012, $100k)
– United State Agency for International Development (PI, 2013-2015, $732k)
– Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Science, 2017-2018 (PI, Heggy, $50k)
– Qatar Foundation, 2019-2022, (Co-PI, Heggy, $ 1.1M)
– NASA-QF OASIS Mission Concept Study (PI, Heggy, total $ 2.9 M)
Selected Invited talks
| 2004 Lunar and Planetary Institute, TX, USA
2005 Southwest Research Institute, TX, USA 2005 European Geophysical Union, Austria 2006 Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France 2008 Ecole Normale Superieure, France 2010 University of Alberta, Canada 2011 University of Bern, Switzerland 2011 USAID Water FABRI Initiative, Oman 2012 United Nation 18th Climate Change Conf., Qatar 2013 California Institute of Technology, CA, USA 2013 Texas A&M University, Qatar 2013 Dubai University, UAE 2014 Chapman University, CA, USA 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MI, USA 2014 Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt 2014 Bursa Museum of Natural History, Turkey 2015 United Nation Knowledge Summit, Dubai 2015 Western Michigan University, MI, USA |
2016 Rutgers University, NJ, USA
2016 Australian Academy of Science, Canberra 2017 University of Copenhagen, Denmark 2017 Iowa State University, IO, USA 2017 United Nations, World Science Forum, Jordan 2017 Microwave Mediterranean Symposium, France 2018 Qatar National Library, Doha, Qatar 2018 University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada 2019 Harvard University, Cambridge, USA 2019 Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany 2020 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, USA 2021 Cambridge University, UK 2021 US National Academies CORF, USA 2021 Geological Society of Africa 2022 Ministry of Environment & Climate Change, Qatar 2022 University of California in Los Angeles, USA 2022 Princeton University, USA 2023 Georgetown University, USA |
Academic Interests in Terrestrial and Planetary Radar Remote Sensing
Teaching and Mentoring: Advanced graduate-level classes on: (1) Electromagnetic methods in geophysics, (2) Radar remote sensing of terrestrial and planetary surfaces, (3) Geophysical field surveys in volcanic and arid environments, (4) Geological processes in planetary surfaces, (5) Sensors and detectors in Earth and Planetary remote sensing, (6) Graduate research formulation & (7) Geoscience Introductory class. Served as advisor for eight Master and nine Ph.D. theses in US universities (e.g., UCLA, Caltech, Columbia, W. Michigan, and the University of Houston) and European universities (Paris Diderot, UPMC, Ecole Normale Superieure, IPGP, University of Grenoble, ENSCPB, University of Torino, Trento University and Gottingen University).
Laboratory Characterization: Parametric dielectric measurements to characterize the radar properties of rocks, soils, meteorites, and ices in both GPR and Synthetic Aperture Radar frequency ranges using capacitive and reflection methods.
Geophysical Field Surveys: 20 years’ experience in field surveys using Ground Penetrating Radar (GSSI, MALA & Pulsekko), Transient Electromagnetic Method and TDEM (Geonics & Protem), Electromagnetic profiler (GSSI), Vertical Electric Resistivity (AGI) and Lidar profile meter (OPTEC to assess surface roughness). Survey performed on sea ice, permafrost, volcanic & desertic terrains.
Terrestrial and Planetary Data Analysis: Experience in P-L-C-X band Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar image processing and analysis from different orbital and airborne systems. Radiometric, interferometric, and polarimetric analysis, modeling, inversion, and interpretation for hydrogeological, geomorphological, and natural hazard applications. Processing using different SAR software tools: SARSCAPE, ENVI, ROIPAC, and others. Processing, modeling, inversion, and analysis of low-frequency orbital and airborne sounding radar data for both terrestrial and planetary applications.
Radar System Engineering: Lead and participated in the system engineering and concept design of several robotic, orbital and airborne radar systems: SubEx (onboard the NASA 2020 Mars Rover), MARSIS (onboard ESA/NASA Mars Express mission), SHARAD (onboard the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission), Mini-SAR (onboard the Chandrayaan-1 Mission), CONSERT (onboard the Rosetta mission) & RIME (onboard the JUICE mission).
Earth and Planetary Missions Design: Led and participated in terrestrial and planetary radar missions design and concept studies for radar sounding at the Radar Science Group at JPL (334H). For instance, he was the Principal Investigator of the Orbiting Arid Subsurface and Ice Sheet Sounder (OASIS), a NASA Earth Venture mission concept. The mission will be implemented on low-earth sun-synchronous satellites on the Surrey SSTL-150 Bus. Served as a Deputy Principal Investigator for the SubEx proposed polarimetric GPR for the Mars 2020 Rover (selected category 2 proposal). Also participated in the radar performance study and data analysis of several selected planetary radar experiments such as Mini-RF (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter), MARSIS (Mars Express), SHARAD (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter), and RIME (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, JUICE), CONSERT (Rosetta Mission) & WISDOM (ExoMars Rover). Expertise in managing feasibility studies and risk assessment teams with experience in mission costing and programmatic negotiations with international agencies (ESA, ASI, and Qatar Foundation).
Environmental studies: Worked on environmental assessment studies in arid areas, including (1) downstream impacts of damming in the Nile basin and the Mejadra River in Tunisia. (2) Impacts of groundwater abstraction in coastal aquifers on water quality and shoreline retreat in Qatar Peninsula. (3) Impacts of the Salwa canal on groundwater dynamic in the eastern Arabian Peninsula (4) Erosion in sandy beaches in Tunisia, Egypt, downstream impact of Nile damming and Qatar (5) Assessing island disappearance in the Persian Gulf as a function of coastal erosion and sea level rise forecasts and others.
International Partnership: Worked in several collaborative projects and studies with NASA, ESA, ASI, CNES, and JAXA on Earth and Planetary radar missions’ teams as well as other research and academic institutes in the field of Earth sciences, remote sensing, and natural hazards in Europe: ONERA, ESRIN, IPAG, INSU, and IPGP. Formulated joint research agreements, joint projects, and exchange programs and hosted scientists and engineers from the above institutions in extended academic visits to perform joint research.
Editorial Roles: Serving on the editorial board of the SN Applied Sciences (Springer), Journal of Arctic Geosciences: Arktos (Springer), Geosciences (MDPI), and National Geographic. Edited a special volume in the Journal of Geophysical Research (AGU) on Terrestrial and Planetary Radars (JGR-Planets). Chaired the International Conference on Terrestrial and Planetary Radar in 2006 in Houston, Texas, and co-chaired several sessions in international meetings on terrestrial and planetary radar. He is also co-chairing the American Geophysical Union’s Terrestrial and Planetary Radar session from 2004 to 2014 and Subsurface Investigation sessions from 2014 to the present.
Public Services: Heggy served as a panel member in several NASA programs, notably, the Planetary Instrument Definition and Development program, Planetary Geology and Geophysics program, Mars Data Analysis program, Lunar Data Analysis program, Astrobiology program, Planetary Data System review and the Educational and Public Outreach program in addition to being a panel member on groundwater studies for the US National Academy of Engineering (Division 11).
Community Services, Selected Humanitarian and Social and Public Outreach Activities
- Guest speaker at the National Endowment for Democracy, Washington DC, 2016.
- Chair of the United Nations Board on the Knowledge Index, UN General Assembly, New York, USA, 2015.
- United Nations Observer in the UN Conference for Climate Change, 2012, Doha, November 2012.
- Scientific advisor for UNDP Middle East and North African Initiative for Climate Change, 2010-2011, New York, USA.
- Blog writer on educational, environmental, and societal reforms in the Middle East and North Africa (550k+ Facebook & 500k+ Twitter Followers).
- Contributed to several scientific expositions in National Science Museums (New York, Houston, Berlin, Kuwait, Qatar, Tunisia, and Egypt).
- Panel member on the NASA Educational and Public Outreach Program, Washington DC, 2006-2008.
- Member of the science advisory board of National Geographic (Arabic Edition).
- Science Advisor of the Qatar National Library and chair of the Science Book Forum.
- Chief Science Advisor for the president of the Arab Republic of Egypt, 2013-2014
Memberships in Professional Societies
American Geophysical Union (AGU): 2004 to Present
American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS): 2010 to Present
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE): 2010 to Present
Geological Society of America (GSA): 2015 to Present