Dr. Farouk El-Baz is the Director of the Center for Remote Sensing and Research Professor at the Departments of Archaeology and Electrical & Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, U.S.A.

He was born on 2 January 1938 in the Nile Delta town of Zagazig. Twenty years later, he received a B.S. in chemistry and geology from Ain Shams University. In 1961, he received a M.S. degree in geology from the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, Rolla, MO. In 1964 he received a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Missouri-Columbia after conducting research in 1962-1963 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge MA.

El-Baz is known for his work with NASA were he assisted in the planning of scientific exploration of the Moon, including the selection of landing sites for the Apollo missions and the training.