Hakeem M. Oluseyi

Hakeem Muata Oluseyi (born James Edward Plummer, Jr. ) is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, inventor, educator, science communicator, author, actor, and humanitarian. Since 2007, he has been a professor of Physics & Space Sciences at the Florida Institute of Technology, currently holding the highest academic rank of Distinguished Research Professor. He is temporarily stationed at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC where he is the Space Sciences Education Manager for NASA's Science Mission Directorate via the Intergovernmental Personnel Act Mobility Program.

Oluseyi is best known for hosting popular science television shows including Outrageous Acts of Science, How the Universe Works, and Strip the Cosmos, which all appear on Science Channel. He lent his voice and scientific expertise to the award-winning science education video game ExoTrex: A Space Science Adventure Game in collaboration with Dig-It! Games. He co-authored the children's popular science book Discovery Spaceopedia: The Complete Guide to Everything Space. His best known scientific contributions are research on the transfer of mass and energy through the Sun's atmosphere, the development of space-borne observatories for studying astrophysical plasmas and dark energy, and the development of transformative technologies in ultraviolet optics,   detectors,    computer chips,    and ion propulsion.

Early life and education
Oluseyi was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. After his parents divorced when he was four years old, young Oluseyi and his mother moved to a different state along the southern border of the US every year. He lived in some of the country's toughest neighborhoods including the 9th Ward of New Orleans; Watts, Los Angeles; Inglewood, California; South Park, Houston; and Third Ward, Houston before settling in rural Mississippi a month before Oluseyi turned 13 years old. He completed middle school and high school in the East Jasper School District graduating as his high school's valedictorian in 1985. Oluseyi served in the U.S. Navy from 1984 to 1986. He credits the Navy with teaching him algebra.

After leaving the Navy with an Honorable Discharge, Oluseyi enrolled in Tougaloo College where he earned Bachelor of Science degrees in physics and mathematics. He earned MS and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Stanford University under the mentorship of the late Professor Arthur B. C. Walker Jr. from whom he learned experimental space research. Under Walker's tutelage, Oluseyi helped to design, build, calibrate, and launch the Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array, which pioneered normal incidence extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray imaging of the Sun's transition region and corona.