Prof. Ilias Fernini received a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (USA), in 1991. He has about 40 years of research and academic experience in Algeria, the USA, and the UAE. Prof. Ilias is now the Director of the Space Sciences Department at the Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology (SAASST), which is part of the University of Sharjah. He runs several space sciences laboratories with 25 researchers and engineers under his supervision.
Recently, he succeeded in sending a satellite into space, the Sharjah-Sat-1, to observe the Sun in the X-ray domain as part of a space weather program.
Prof. Ilias has published more than 100 research papers in international journals and attended numerous national and international conferences. His vision is to put SAASST at the top of research institutions in the world. The next big project of SAASST is to send a new satellite, Sharjah-Sat-2, an Earth observation satellite with a 5-meter camera resolution. This satellite will provide a constant stream of reliable data that will be utilized to improve the UAE’s remote sensing applications, including environmental monitoring, resource mapping, and agriculture.