Ved Chirayath

National Geographic Explorer Ved Chirayath is the director of the Aircraft Center for Earth Studies (ACES) and Vetlesen Professor of Earth Sciences, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Miami. Formerly, Chirayath directed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lab for Advanced Sensing for 10 years and continues developing several NASA technologies. His research focuses on inventing, developing and testing next-generation sensing technologies for studying the natural world. Chirayath leads a multi-disciplinary team developing new instrumentation through scientific field campaigns around the world, often in extreme environments that serve as analogs for planetary science and ocean worlds applications. Chirayath grew up in Southern California with a passion for NASA’s mission and space exploration. In 2003, as a sophomore in high school, he modified a consumer digital camera and telescope to successfully detect an extra-solar planet, 150 light years away and roughly twice the size of Jupiter. In 2021, he was one of 30 finalists of 12,000 applicants for the NASA Astronaut Candidate Class of 2021. He is the inventor of FluidCam, fluid lensing, MiDAR, NeMO-Net, and a plasma-actuated drone. Chirayath’s MiDAR invention was awarded a NASA Invention of the Year in 2019. Ultimately, his aim is to extend our capabilities for studying and protecting life on Earth as well as to aid in the search for life elsewhere in the universe.