UAE woman scientist on list left on Mars
'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 US,' she said.
'This mission was in 2003 and in 2004 January I got a letter saying 'Congratulations your name will be there forever.' There were names from all parts of the world of those who were associated with NASA. It was not a matter you could apply for and your name would be there.' Soft-spoken, friendly and self-effacing, Dr Meshgan's job at the Police Academy is to narrow the gap between pure science and its application.
Dr Meshgan has participated in many international conferences, several of them because she happens to wear the 'other hat,' that of a passionate environmentalist. 'I am the secretary general of the Zayed International Prize for Environment and I was head of the Festivals Committee, a scientific committee of the Festival of Deserts. We arranged ministerial conferences and Arab region round-table on initiative of science and technology. It was an opportunity... When I am talking of science I am talking about applied science, science that can be implemented. All my research and studies abroad, is it applicable to my system' Whether it could be implemented... Luckily in Dubai we have the infrastructure for any new application.' Proof of her commitment to applied science is seen in her work at the Dubai Police Academy where she working on the use of satellite imagery in analysing criminal data that could then come in handy for law enforcement officers to demarcate hostile neighbourhoods and take the appropriate action.
'...Applications within our research and service centre regarding new technologies in Dubai Police but this is not just technologies that we have brought to be implemented. No, it is how much I can develop within the system that is existing already.? And while she is 'cooking' for the Dubai Police, Dr Meshgan is not unaware of the other hats she wears. Especially that of the environmentalist.
She is the managing editor of 'Society and Environment', a magazine brought out by the Zayed Environment Prize and DNRD, and is always trying to clear the air of pollution.' 'I have been part of research in air pollution and vehicle emissions, research that I have managed to get implemented. That was the good part of it. When the UAE made switch-over to unleaded petrol.
It came as an initiative that was launched.' But no matter what, there seems to be no ignoring Mars when it comes to Dr Meshgan.
At the recent Festival of Deserts, she initiated a number of workshops and one of them had scientists and astronauts from France engaged in a lively debate on similarities between the deserts of Mars and those on Earth. There were live demonstrations and 3-D images to highlight the similarities.
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