21/12/2009

In an event held recently in Athens, Friends of AIT awarded the first Niki Award to Dr. Thanasis Ekonomou, a professor of Astrophysics at the University of Chicago and a scientific researcher at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Dr. Economou has been building robotics and measurement instruments for interplanetary spacecraft since the mid-1960s being associated with NASA's major space missions.

A native of Ziakas, Greece, Dr. Thanasis (Tom) Economou is a role model in space exploration since 1964, creating exploratory equipment for almost all space missions. Currently he is associated with three of NASA's robotic missions: the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Cassini mission to Saturn, and the now-complete Stardust mission to Comet Wild-2, which has been redirected and will arrive to another comet in 2011. Economou also built the Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer that successfully performed the first chemical analysis of Martian rocks aboard the Mars Pathfinder rover in 1997.

Working at the Laboratory for Astrophysics and Space Research with Professor Anthony Turkevich, he contributed to the alpha backscattering experiment of three robotic Surveyor space probes that landed on the moon in 1967-68. With Turkevich during the 1970s and 1980s, he also conducted basic nuclear physics research on the subatomic structure of matter using the most advanced particle accelerators at Los Alamos, Argonne and Fermi National Accelerator laboratories. During the 1990s they together performed an important double beta decay experiment of Uranium-238 to Plutonium-238, suggesting for the first time that neutrinos consists of a small quantity of mass.

The award was presented on behalf of Friends of AIT by the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, HB Hieronymos B'. Present were the Vice President of the Greek government Mr. Theodoros Pangalos, the president of Carnegie Mellon University Dr. Jared L. Cohon, the president of AIT's Board of Directors Mr Socrates Kokkalis, the president of the Board of Directors of Friends of AIT Mr Theodoros Venetsanos. Messages were sent by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew through his representative and Queen Rabnia Al Abdullah of Jordan. The Master of Ceremonies was Olympic bronze medalist at the Sidney Olympic in Rhythmic Gymnastics Ms. Maria Georgatou.

The president of the AIT Board of Directors, Mr Socrates Kokkalis, stressed that the implementation of the vision for innovation and distinction in today's knowledge society is a gamble for its development and requires continual effort and collaborations between the nation and its civic society in order to create opportunities and role models for the young generation.

The president of Friends of AIT's Board of Directors, Mr. Theodoros Venetsanos, elaborated on the mission of Friends of AIT, stating that apart from promoting awareness and raising funds for scholarships for deserving students, each year the "Niki" award will be presented to an internationally-recognized person of Greek heritage who lives and works abroad. Friends of AIT has established the annual "Niki" Award to honor Greek scientists, and scientists of Greek descent, who are recognized by the international community for their contribution to the world of science and technology and who inspire new scientists to follow in their footsteps.

Dr. Thanasis Economou, following the award presentation, said "Throughout my life I have tried to satisfy my thirst for our close and distant atmosphere. For me all these thrilling space journeys of which I was a part were an unbelievable dream. My wish is that a welcoming environment would be created in Greece to provide opportunities for scientists to contribute to our country".

Athens Information Technology (AIT) is an internationally-renowned education and research center founded in 2002 by the INTRACOM group of companies and boasts exclusive cooperation in education and research with Carnegie Mellon University and Harvard in the USA and with Aalborg University in Denmark. AIT represents the largest private sector investment in education and research in Southeastern Europe and the Middle East in the fields of information technology, telecommunications, and innovation management. Over 2500 middle- and upper-level management from the public and private sectors of Southeastern Europe and the Middle East have completed AIT's executive training programs.

The Scholarship, Awards and Financial Aid Fund was established by Friends of AIT and is supervised by AIT?s Board of Directors. The sole goal of the Fund is to procure the necessary funds for funding talented and financially deserving students. To date, the Fund has financed 323 scholarships of students from 22 countries, equivalent to a total of 4,5 million Euros.

Source: Athens Information Technology, Kokkalis Foundation