The Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Social Development has named an award after Egyptian scientist Farouk El Baz. Given in association with the Geological Society of America Foundation the "Farouk El Baz Award for Students, the $5,000 award aims at encourage desert related studies. El Baz said he hoped the award would attract Egyptian students to present their research about Egyptian desert, which according to him, is rich with unused resources. This is the second award to be named after the scientist. In 1999, the Geological Society of America Foundation dedicated $10,000 for the then-new "Farouk El Baz Desert Research Award. El Baz is a Research Professor and Director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University, Boston MA, USA. He is Adjunct Professor of Geology at the Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. He is also a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Geological Society of America Foundation, Boulder Co. Between 1967 and 1972, he was Secretary of the Landing Site Selection Committee for the Apollo missions to the Moon, Principal Investigator of Visual Observations and Photography, and Chairman of the Astronaut Training Group. Boston University website reports that his outstanding teaching abilities were confirmed by the Apollo astronauts. While circling the Moon for the first time during Apollo mission 15, Alfred Worden said, After the King s [Farouk s nickname] training, I feel like I ve been here before.
