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UAE-SCIENCE
National woman scientist on list left on Mars

Att.Editors: The following item is from the Emirates News Agency (WAM)



ABU DHABI, Apr. 30 (WAM) - A United Arab Emirates (UAE) national woman scientist, who figures on a list of people burnt on a CD-ROM on the surface of Mars by NASA to honour those associated with its Rover explorer mission, considers it her "lifetime achievement award". The name of Dr Meshgan Al Awar, who is director, Research and Studies Centre, Dubai Police Academy, was "electronically set down by the U.S. space agency's mission in January 2003.

"It was a privilege given to some exceptional people who were working with NASA and, to be honest, I was a bit surprised, but I consider this as a lifetime achievement award, the result of work at the Centre for Remote Sensing, and my association with NASA," Dr Meshgan said, according to the 'Khaleej Times'.

The squat, crab-like twin Rover explorers took off for Mars in January 2003. By then Dr Al Awar, who was the first national woman chemistry teacher in the UAE, had authored several papers in the company of Dr Faroukh El Baz, the director of the Centre of Remote Sensing, Boston.

"Of course, I would say that this recommendation wouldn't have come without my research and work in this field of satellite imaging. I was working with the Centre for Remote Sensing, Boston University, USA, one of the six centres of excellence approved by NASA in the U.S.," she said. (WAM)

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