Hakeem Oluseyi

Hakeem Muata Oluseyi (born James Edward Plummer Jr., March 13, 1967) is an American physicist, astrophysicist, cosmologist, inventor, educator, science communicator, and author. Raised in challenging neighborhoods—from New Orleans's 9th Ward and Watts in Los Angeles to Houston's Third Ward—his early life was marked by adversity. Serving in the U.S. Navy, he later earned dual B.S. degrees in physics and mathematics from Tougaloo College and went on to receive his M.S. (1995) and Ph.D. (1999) in physics from Stanford University under solar physicist Arthur B. C. Walker Jr. In 1996, he adopted the name Hakeem Muata Oluseyi to reflect his personal evolution. At Stanford, he contributed to pioneering extreme ultraviolet imaging of the Sun via the MSSTA mission. After earning his doctorate, Oluseyi transitioned to industry at Applied Materials, securing eight U.S. and four European patents in semiconductor research. From 2001 to 2004, he worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on projects including the Dark Energy Camera and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory—key facilities in astrophysics and cosmology. A distinguished research professor at the Florida Institute of Technology (2007–2019), Oluseyi then served at NASA Headquarters (2016–2019) as Space Science Education Lead, overseeing roughly $40 million in STEM investments. In 2021, George Mason University named him a Visiting Robinson Professor. His scholarly record spans astrophysics and cosmology—ranging from solar and plasma physics to dark energy research—and includes more than 100 scientific publications and over a dozen patents. Oluseyi's memoir, A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars (2021), chronicles his rise from hardship to international recognition. He's served as president of the National Society of Black Physicists since 2022 and, in November 2024, became CEO of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. A passionate science communicator, he's appeared on Science Channel and Discovery shows like How the Universe Works and Strip the Cosmos, judged Netflix's Baking Impossible, and was selected as a TED Global Fellow. Currently, he is Robinson Professor of Physics & Astronomy at George Mason University, where he advances public engagement, high-impact research, and undergraduate teaching.