Avi Loeb, physicist at Harvard University, poses for a portrait in the observatory near his office in Cambridge, Massachusetts on January 29, 2019.
(Image credit: Adam Glanzman/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has been appointed as the head of a new White House group to study unidentified anomalous phenomena or UAP, a new catch-all term for UFOs that might appear not just in the air but also in space or underwater. Loeb says the group is focused on evidence, instrumentation, data analysis and collection standards.The move follows recent Trump administration initiatives to bring more transparency to the topic of UFOs, or UAP. The UAP Science Advisory Council, Loeb explains, was established by the White House, the Pentagon's All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other members of the Intelligence Community.Loeb co-founded and leads the Galileo Project, designed to bring the search for extraterrestrial technological signatures of extraterrestrial technological civilizations "from accidental or anecdotal observations and legends to the mainstream of transparent, validated and systematic scientific research."As chair of the just-formed UAP Science Advisory Council, Loeb has built a team of researchers that he describes as "an amazing A-team of exceptional scientists and experts."Members of the group come from a wide range of disciplines from data science and instrumentation to biology, oceanography, anthropology and psychology.The council's stated purpose is to help government agencies study the nature of UAP through rigorous scientific methods, with an emphasis on collecting and analyzing higher-quality data rather than relitigating older material that cannot be independently verified.Meet the teamBut first things first.What is the current membership makeup of Loeb's Council? It's quite a mix of talent to undertake a new look at UAP:Liberty Capito is a professor of practice in data science at the Olin Business School at the Washington University in St. Louis.Carol Cleland is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Colorado Boulder.Richard Cloete is a computer scientist at Harvard University and a member of Loeb's Galileo Project.Omer Eldadi is in the department of psychology at Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel.Tim Gallaudet is a retired Navy admiral and oceanographer.Robin Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University statistics and economics.Ross Howard is producer of John Michael Godier's Event Horizon podcast that explores the technosignatures of alien technology. He is also with the Sol Foundation aimed at addressing the UAP issue and preparing society for its social implications.Kevin Knuth is a professor of physics at the University at Albany.Ravi Kopparapu is a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center expert having research interests in extrasolar planet habitability, atmosphere modeling and characterization.Ben Lamm is the co-founder and CEO Of Colossal Biosciences, the world's first de-extinction company.Jacob Haqq Misra, of Blue Marble Space, is a meteorology and astrobiology specialist.Devesh Nandal is a Swiss National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard and Smithsonian.Garry Nolan is professor in the Department of Pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine and is executive director of the board of the Sol Foundation.Michael Shermer is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine and an educator on critical thinking.Peter Skafish is a sociocultural anthropologist and secretary of the Sol Foundation.Matthew Szydagis is an associate professor in the Department of Physics at the University at Albany.Jennice Vilhauer is a clinical psychologist with expertise in quantitative psychology and the psychological dimensions of potential disclosure.Data-driven, physics-basedSpace.com reached out to several of the UAP Council members to get their personal views on this new study approach."I expect the council and myself to follow methods and techniques deeply rooted in the scientific principles," said Devesh Nandal."The UAP Science council in particular is focused on a data-driven and physics-based approach on the topic of UAP," said Nandal. "We approach this topic with the same rigor we apply in our respective scientific fields and we hope to provide an unbiased analysis on this topic."Nandal said his role is to help with quantitative data analysis and apply his expertise in astrophysics to help the council decipher the origin of UAPs.
