Maha Ashour-Abdalla

Maha Ashour-Abdalla (, 1943 – May 1, 2016) was an Egyptian-born physics and astronomy professor. She was named a fellow of the American Physical Society in 1986 and of the American Geophysical Union in 1993.

She was born Maha Ashour in Alexandria and completed a BSc degree at Alexandria University. She received a PhD from the Imperial College London in 1971. She was subsequently employed at the Centre national d'études des télécommunications in France. Ashour-Abdalla next moved to Los Angeles; from 1976 to 1985, she was a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In 1985, she became a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA. In 1999, she founded and became first director of UCLA's Center for Digital Innovation.

She was named a fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in 1984. She received the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal from the American army in 2004. In 2005, she received an award from the European Space Agency for her contributions to the exploration of geospace using Cluster.

A scholarship was established in her name to support women wishing to pursue graduate studies in space physics.