About
Dr. Moe is a Research Associate at the Center of Astronomy & Planetary Physics at New York University Abu Dhabi and is a science communicator. He got a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy at Heidelberg University, Germany, an M.S. in Astrophysics from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA, and a BS in Physics from the American University of Beirut.
Dr. Moe works on tracing back the formation history of the Milky Way Galaxy by hunting old halo stars using large sky surveys and taught numerous graduate and undergraduate Astronomy and Physics courses at different universities.
Additionally, he creates and shares astronomical content for the general public and likes to combine science with music and art. He delivers a series of public scientific talks were complex astronomical ideas are explained to the public with on-stage experiments and demonstrations. In all of his activities, he adopts Einstein’s famous phrase “If you can’t explain it to a 6-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself”.
RESEARCH AREAS
Dr. Moe works on the origins of Galactic Cannibalism by tracing back the formation history of the Milky Way Galaxy.
He hunts old halo stars and use them as fossils with the aim of reconstructing the origin of the Milky Way. In order to do so, he uses data from large sky surveys located both on Earth and in Space. He is mostly interested in topics like Galactic Cannibalism, Galaxy Evolution, Stellar Evolution, The Milky Way, Variable Stars, RR Lyrae Stars, and Globular Clusters.
Social Media, Presentations & Other Projects
One thing Dr. Moe enjoys doing is sharing and creating astronomical content for the general public. He likes to combine science with music and art. He interviews different scientists and astronauts in an attempt to emerge scientific public awareness. In addition, Dr. Moe continuously does in-person and online presentations.
Public Talks
Dr. Moe delivers a series of public scientific talks were complex astronomical ideas are explained to the general public. These talks attract hundreds of attendees and include on stage experiments about gravity, the nature of time, light, galaxy evolution, and others.
“Hidden Space” is a talk where the audience were guided through the evolution of our understanding of gravity with a focus on space-time and Einstein’s Theory of the Special & General Theories of Relativity using on-stage demonstrations.
‘Spaced Out’ Podcast
Dr. Moe hosts the ‘Spaced Out’ Podcast which is produced by CAP3 at NYUAD. The aim of Spaced Out is to promote scientific ideas, ignite scientific curiosity in the general population, and share the unfathomable beauty of astronomy and space science. Dr. Moe discusses trending current events and various astronomical topics with influential people in Astronomy and Space Science.
Media, TV, & Interviews
Being an expert in the Astronomy field, Dr. Moe gets featured on local and international TV channels, newspapers, radios, and podcasts to discuss different scientific phenomena and to talk about his experience in the field of space & astronomy. Additionally, he was selected to participate in “The Astronauts” TV Series in collaboration with the UAE Space agency and the former commander of the International Space Station, Astronaut Chris Hadfield. He also acted in the Netflix movie “Heaven Without People”.
