Widad Ibrahim Elmahboub
Sudanese astrophysicist and engineer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Widad Ibrahim Elmahboub is a Sudanese applied mathematician, astrophysicist and aerospace engineer. She has worked at Hampton University and NASA in the United States.[when?]
Langley Research Center, NASA
Widad Ibrahim Elmahboub | |
|---|---|
وداد المحبوب | |
| Born | Omdurman, Khartoum State, Sudan |
| Citizenship | United States of America |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Hampton University Langley Research Center, NASA |
| Thesis | An integrated atmospheric correction and classification system for remote sensing data to improve correction and classification accuracy (2000) |
Biography
Elmahboub's hometown is Omdurman, Khartoum State, Sudan.[1] She was educated to college level in Sudan and Egypt.[2][3] As a schoolgirl, she would read scientific books and journals at the American Cultural Center in Khartoum.[4]
In 1988, Elmahboub was granted an academic scholarship by the Sudanese National Council for Research for further study in the Netherlands for a year.[1][4] She then studied a master's degree in Engineering Physics and a PhD in Space Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States.[4] Her thesis was titled "An integrated atmospheric correction and classification system for remote sensing data to improve correction and classification accuracy."[5][6]
After graduating, Elmahboub was an Assistant Professor of Astrophysics and Remote Sensing Systems in the Department of Mathematics at Hampton University (HU), Virginia, United States.[3][7][8] Whilst at this institution, she was Chair of the HU Research Center of Earth, Space and GIS Analysis (RCESG) Mathematics,[8][9] analyzing hyper-spectral data on super-computers. She co-authored research on "Modeling and Simulation on Signatures of Mars Minerals."[10]
Elmahboub was then employed as the first Sudanese woman to work as an aerospace scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center for Atmospheric Science.[3][4][11] At NASA, has worked on the research and analysis of planetary components.[2] She has also introduced a computer-simulated mathematical model and algorithm and atmospheric correction method which has enabled scientists to obtain more accurate and refined satellite images of the surface of the planet Mars.[2]
Elmahboub is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society[4][dubious – discuss] and holds American citizenship.[12]