Walking into the grand atrium of the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, visitors are immediately struck by towering sauropod fossils. For Sara Almarzooqi, the 25-year-old Emirati alumna of NYU Abu Dhabi and assistant curator at the museum, helping bring one of these sauropod fossils to Abu Dhabi was among her first tasks on the job.
We tried to make the entire space feel very immersive, and the first thing you see when you walk in is the largest living thing to walk on Earth.
A sauropod fossil would not be the only thing Almarzooqi helped bring to the museum.
Flying with Lucy
A few days before the museum's official opening in November 2025, Almarzooqi travelled to Ethiopia to collect Lucy, the 3.2-million-year-old fossilized skeleton of an early hominin.
Lucy is considered one of the most significant discoveries in early hominin evolution so "it's very, very crazy to have the real Lucy here (on loan) in Abu Dhabi, because you never really see these things,” Almarzooqi said.
A big part of Almarzooqi’s job is to identify what the museum wants to acquire and start building a research collection.
The role has seen Almarzooqi travel to Scotland's Orkney Islands to see fossils, spend a month in the US visiting quarries and fossil sites to learn how they are collected, and attend international conferences in the Netherlands and beyond.
A pathway to NYUAD
As a high school student in Abu Dhabi, Almarzooqi was introduced to NYUAD through the Summer Academy, a program designed to prepare students for university-level studies. "The Summer Academy was a very big help and was kind of my introduction to NYUAD," she explained
Almarzooqi’s path at NYUAD was anything but linear as she worked to understand what subjects she wanted to study. Initially declaring physics as her major, she switched to biology just before the end of her second year.
Two specific courses at NYUAD impacted her decisions.
One was a first year class called The Art of Narrative Science with Professor Charles Siebert. "This course was my first time encountering science being told through just normal words, not very academic scientific words," she said.
The second was a J-term course called Age of Warhol with Professor Bryan Waterman, which took students into the world of museums through the lens of a single artist. "That was kind of my introduction to this world," she said.
“I knew I wanted to do something with science, but not necessarily pursue academic research in depth," said Almarzooqi. The museum becomes a nice medium about taking the sciences and sharing it with people and making it more accessible to others.
Making science accessible
Almarzooqi graduated with a major in biology and a minor in heritage studies in 2022 before joining the museum in 2023. At the time, she was only the second full-time member of staff at the museum.
Now three years later, she is the first member of the museum's community science team working to bring the science of fossils and biodiversity to the widest possible audience.
Her focus is making sure the specialist science that fills the museum's galleries is understandable to everyone who walks through the door.
Taking scientific concepts to students, children, and the public is a core part of her goal.
Some of her favorite moments were seeing children excited to see dinosaurs and joyfully running around the galleries. “We get to see the impact that we have very much right in our face and are able to see how we can impact people, inspire them, make them want to do what we do, or learn about the things we do,” she said.
Looking ahead, while continuing to grow the community science program, Almarzooqi is also exploring postgraduate study.
One thing she’s certain about: "In the long term, I definitely want to be in a museum space… I think it aligns a lot with my larger goals, and is the best way for me to connect with people.”
