Bodossaki Distinguished Young Scientist Awards 2025
Science: Physics
“The Bodossaki Distinguished Young Scientist Awards are a deep,
honorary recognition of my many hours of work, dedication and
perseverance in research. It is a source of moral satisfaction and
at the same time a strong motivation to continue my research work
with the same passion. Engaging in research has given me moments
of genuine excitement-from the joy of solving a problem
that had been bothering me for months, to the exciting moment when
a new idea for the interpretation of a phenomenon was formed. I am drawn to the freedom of thought and the creativity that science demands, as well as the constant pursuit of new knowledge.“
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Maria Petropoulou was born on May 27, 1985, and grew up in Athens.
She received her Bachelor’s degree in Physics in 2008, a Master’s degree in “Astrophysics” in 2010, and a Ph.D. in Physical Sciences in 2013 with distinction from the Department of Physics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). She then conducted postdoctoral research at Purdue University (USA) as an Einstein Fellow (2013-2016) and a postdoctoral associate (2016-2017), and at Princeton University (USA) as a Lyman Spitzer Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-2020).
Since 2020, she has been an Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics (NKUA).
She was awarded by the Hellenic Astronomical Society in 2015 and by the Swiss MERAC Foundation in 2016 for her doctoral dissertation on the study of radiative instabilities and particle acceleration in astrophysical plasmas, with applications to active galactic jets and gamma-ray bursts. In 2021, she received the Greek L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science.
In 2021, she received funding of €100,000 from the MERAC Foundation, and in 2022, she was awarded funding of approximately €199,000 from the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation for conducting research in the field of Multi-Messenger Astronomy.
She has published 97 peer-reviewed articles, with approximately 3,700 citations and an h-index of 33. She has given more than 30 invited talks at international conferences and universities.
She is currently supervising two Ph.D. dissertations and five Master’s theses (one in progress). She has also supervised three Ph.D. students and four Master’s students from European universities during two- and three-month research internships.
Since 2022, she has been an elected member of the Council Board of the Hellenic Astronomical Society (Hel.A.S.) and currently serves as Secretary.
Her research interests lie in the field of High-Energy and Multi-Messenger Astrophysics. She studies radiation processes in astrophysical plasmas, high-energy particle acceleration mechanisms, and neutrino production.
She lives in Athens, Greece with her husband, Georgios Vasilopoulos, also an astrophysicist and assistant professor at NKUA.