Principal Investigator  │  Associate Dean of Science  │ Professor of Physics  

Francesco Arneodo is the Principal Investigator for the Astroparticle Lab which was established in 2013 at New York University Abu Dhabi. Francesco is an experimental physicist with a focus on radiation detectors, applied in various domains: astrophysics, environment, and cultural heritage.

He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Rome — La Sapienza and his Master’s degree from the University of Torino, Italy. He started his career at the Gran Sasso Laboratory (Italy) with the EAS-TOP cosmic ray experiment. He also worked on neutrino physics with liquid argon detectors and currently on the search for Dark Matter in the framework of the XENON program.

Postdoctoral Associate

Laura Manenti is a Postdoctoral Associate expert in noble liquid time projection chamber technology, expertise with world leading dark matter and neutrino experiments..

She had published a children's book on the science of an atom called "The Littlest Girl Goes Inside An Atom".

Associate Instructor in Physics

Osama Fawwaz joined the Astroparticle Lab as a Researcher in 2015. Holds masters in Physics and works as a full-time instructor at NYUAD. As a member of Prof. Arneodo research group, he gets involved in various activities, mainly gamma spectroscopy of the environment and NORM samples, also characterizing detectors.

Research Assistant

Hamad graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelors in Physics and Astronomy where he studied high energy physics models (specifically the ABCD method), and cross matched CCD positions for Astrometry of the L.S.S.T. (now known as Vera Rubin Observatory). He then joined the Astroparticle Lab in 2021 where he conducted research, using our High Purity Germanium detector, within the realm of high energy physics and radiation. He is currently interested in space related exploration and instrumentation.

PhD Student 

Isaac is a PhD student who joined the lab in 2020. He received his Bachelors in Physics from Cornell University where he studied Monte Carlo simulations of reionization cosmology  and atmospheric models for climate change, wind turbine optimization, and geoengineering. He is currently interested in dark matter, space exploration, and instrumentation.

Research Assistant

Lolowa joined the lab through the RAAD and Light-1 Project in 2018 where she conducted research on Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes, Lightning, and CubeSat Qualifications. Lolowa then integrated into the Cultural Heritage project, studying archeological samples, as well as lunar samples. 

"Thank you all for this wonderful journey. It was only made special because you were in it. This lab was truly my home away from home. I love you all. "

Research Assistant 

Tengiz became a Research Assistant in 2023 after completing his Bachelor's degree in Physics with a minor in Applied Mathematics from NYU Abu Dhabi in 2022. His studies focused on hydrodynamical galaxy simulations and x-ray binaries. Currently, he is designing and conducting tests on GEANT4 particle simulations for laboratory detectors.