Eman Ghoneim


Eman Ghoneim is an Egyptian/American geomorphologist. In March 2006, Dr. Ghoneim, together with Farouk El-Baz, discovered the Kebira Crater, a possible impact crater in the Sahara. In 2007, while processing microwave space data, she discovered an ancient Mega-Lake buried beneath the sand of the Great Sahara in Northern Darfur, Sudan.

Career and research

Eman Ghoneim graduated with an honor degree and received her master's degree from the Geography Department at Tanta University, Egypt in 1997. She was awarded her Ph.D. degree in Geography from the Geography Department at the University of Southampton, UK in 2002. In 2003, she held a postdoctoral position at the Center for Remote Sensing, Boston University, United States. It was during this time that she helped discover the Kebira Crater. In 2010, she joined the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and became the director of the Space and Drone Remote Sensing Lab.
She has a primary focus on the application of geographic information system, remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicle and the use of hydrologic modeling in flash flood hazard, sea level rise, drought and groundwater exploration in arid and coastal environments.
Ghoneim is an expert in image processing and uses a wide array of satellite/space data including multi-spectral, hyper-spectral, thermal infrared, microwave and digital elevation model. Ghoneim has published more than 27 peer-reviewed papers. She has published more than 48 conference articles and delivered a number of workshops, seminar lectures and training courses for multidisciplinary delegates.
Ghomein was invited as an expert in her field, along with 30 other Egyptian expatriate women, to participate in the Taa Marbouta conference in 2017. The conference, which focused on the importance of Egyptian women in social, political and economic fields, was organised by the Ministry of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates’ Affairs and the National Council for Women.
In addition to her research work, Ghoneim has been teaching in higher education since 1990. In recognition of her teaching work, she has been awarded multiple prizes, including the Board of Trustees Teaching Excellence Award at the University of North Carolina Wilmington in 2018.

Awards and honours