Prologue to Greatness: Author, Astrophysicist, and Mentor

SEASON 3 — EPISODE 4

Prologue to Greatness: Author, Astrophysicist, and Mentor

At just 24 years old, Maryam Esmat’s life already reads like a greatest hits album.

Recognized on Forbes Middle East 30 Under 30 for her groundbreaking work in astrophysics, and named the youngest published author in the Middle East, Maryam has achieved what many spend a lifetime pursuing. Yet, if you ask her where we are in her story, she’ll tell you something unexpected:

We’ve only read the prologue.

Born and raised in Giza, Egypt, Maryam grew up in a home filled with books, curiosity, and academic rigor. Her love for science and storytelling emerged from the intersections of history, culture, literature, and the human psyche. Today, she is pursuing her Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University, continuing to push boundaries in both science and narrative.

In this episode, Maryam reflects on identity, intellectual curiosity, mentorship, and the courage to dream beyond geography. She speaks about studying abroad in the United States, challenging misconceptions about international students, and blending astrophysics with creative writing in ways that redefine what it means to be multidimensional.

Her journey reminds us that greatness is not a destination — it’s a mindset.

And her story is only just beginning.

Episode Summary

03:09 – Maryam introduces us to her childhood in Giza, Egypt, and the city that shaped her.
 03:53 – Growing up in a household of readers, academics, and endless books.
 05:06 – How her parents’ interests in history and culture sparked her passion for science.
 06:05 – Why the U.S. liberal arts education model drew her to study abroad.
 07:32 – How her family supported her decision to pursue education in the U.S.
 11:19 – Reflections on how perceptions of her journey have changed over time.
 13:30 – Observations on the geographic and cultural diversity of the United States.
 15:06 – Misconceptions U.S. residents may hold about international students.
 17:49 – An overview of her award-winning novel, The Escaping Flashback, and its inspiration.
20:30 – How she grounds her writing in science, human interaction, and psychology.
22:05 – Looking back on her creative writing thesis at Lycoming College, The Evolution of Storytelling in Egypt.
25:13 – The next story Maryam hopes to tell.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Hello, hi, how are you? Welcome to International Student Stories. I am your host, Simon Hamlin. I had never in my life met a person who could claim to be both a published author and an astrophysicist. But that all changed with our guest today, Merriam Haithum Asmot. Merriam was chosen to be part of the Forbes magazine Middle East 30 under 30 list for her work in astrophysics. And she received the youngest author in the Middle East title by Egyptian TV and media, and Goodreads author recognition for her book called The Escaping Flashback. She graduated from Lycoming College in 2021 and is now working on her PhD at Johns Hopkins University. In this part one episode, Merriam and I talk about her upbringing in Egypt, her journey and adjustment to life in the U.S., and her love for literature and writing. We also recorded a part two episode, so make sure to tune back in in the next month to hear all about Merriam's work in astrophysics and her role as a mentor to fellow international students. Before we start, please help us share these inspiring stories with your friends and family. Take a minute to subscribe to and follow the International Student Stories podcast. You can also rate us, share the podcast with others, and write a review. Go ahead and pause this episode right now so you can take action. We appreciate your help. I'm happy to share with you Merriam Heitham Asmat's International Student Story. Hi Merriam.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Hi.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

How are you?

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Good, good. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 2:06

I'm doing great. I'm doing great and great to have you here. One of our past podcast guests, Valeria Rivera, actually introduced us to you. And Valeria now works for us at Study in the USA and is an integral part of our behind the scenes work on the podcast. And the two of you attended Lycoming together, and she recommended you for the podcast. And when we got your information, it took all of about three seconds to say, yeah, Merriam is an amazing person, and we can't wait to interview her. So we're really excited to have you on the show. And big shout out to Valeria for connecting us and thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Thanks so much for having me. Valeria's a great friend I have from college, and I was thrilled when she approached me about this. And I'm very happy to be here today. Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Awesome. Now you were born in Gisa, Egypt, home of the iconic pyramids. How would you describe life growing up in Giza?

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Crowded, busy, loud, full of life, very diverse. There is always something going on. The Greater Cairo area, which is Giza and Cairo together, and a little bit of the borders surrounding them, is definitely a very, very interesting experience in terms of, in my opinion, it is the city that truly never sleeps. You can have a traffic jam at three or four in the morning, just like you would have one at 3 or 4 p.m. It was very beautiful growing up there and very busy and full of life.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

And what was your family life like? I know you grew up in a family of avid readers. How would you describe your family?

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Avid readers is a pretty good uh way to describe it. My parents are both very big on knowledge and reading and philosophy. We have a lot of very deep conversations about psychology and religion and politics growing up, like during the time we'd be having dinner. My parents are both fellow academics as well. So I didn't fall too far from the tree. And in a lot of ways, I would say that our entire household was based around books. So we had a huge, huge bookshelf, like floor to ceiling in the hallway of the apartment I grew up in. And in the middle of the apartment, you see it everywhere you go, like whether you have to go to the kitchen or the bathroom or the living room. If I want to go to my parents' room from my room. So books were very present and they still very much are.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Were there any particular ones that you continued to go back to or that kind of served as like the go-to books or philosophies for you and your family?

SPEAKER_00 5:06

I would say, so my mom, she is very, very heavy on English literature. She loves Jane Austen and Shakespeare and Dickens. And I could go on and on about my mom's love for literature. My dad, on the other hand, is very big on religion and history and culture. And so between the both of them, I always had a variety of topics to like learn about and read and discuss with them. And the intersections of history and culture from my dad's side and literature from my mom's side gave rise to a lot of psychology and I would say philosophy that later led on to a very huge interest in science.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

It sounds like you got a pretty amazing education just living with your family. What first motivated you to pursue an education in the United States?

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Well, I grew up reading a lot of American books, just like a lot of Egyptian and Arab books. But I would say the major reason is because I wanted to study astrophysics and English creative writing, as well as pursue my passion for theater. And liberal arts schools in the United States and abroad, both liberal arts schools in general, follow the tradition of pursuing multiple disciplines at the same time. And so this is why I focused more on an American college or higher education to be able to not choose.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Would that not have been the case in the Middle East if you'd stayed in Egypt or gone someplace else in the Middle East? Was that not an option to study multiple things at once?

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Correct. And not only in the Middle East. I mean, even in Europe, in Russia, in China, if I were to go elsewhere in Africa, even in the US or in North America in general, there are a lot of institutions that do not follow the liberal arts style. The liberal arts style is one type of education or one type of school of thought for institutions, but there are a lot of other types that are also amazing and great. But liberal arts was the one that I wanted that would fit me personally. And that's why I chose it.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

And how did your family support you in that journey to come to study in the US?

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Oh my God. That was a very long, I would say, road. Less traveled for sure. As a Middle Eastern woman, culturally, it's not very supportive to let your daughter go somewhere alone as a minor. And so there was definitely a lot of backlash from the surrounding community. However, my parents were extremely supportive. I mean, I can start by how supportive they were when I was home, and then how supportive they were afterwards when I left. When I was home, I had to, so I was doing my high school diploma following the British education system, but I was also doing my high school diploma following the Egyptian like secondary system. And at the same time, I was taking SATs in TOEFL, like standardized tests that every international student has to take. So at that time, I was doing two diplomas, two high school diplomas, and taking standardized tests as well as applying to universities in the US or colleges. And it was a very stressful time. And I needed to secure a scholarship because I would not have been able to afford to go for a full four-year, full-time student position. And so working on all of these academically challenging aspects was one thing, but living in a community that wasn't necessarily super supportive of nor astrophysics or creative writing, and not very supportive of me leaving and living on my own as a Middle Eastern woman without some type of a guardian, whether it be a mother or a father or a significant other. My parents always reminded me that I needed to do what I thought was best. And they never told me this explicitly. They just always asked me, what do you want to do? And how can we help? I've seen my father specifically having conversations with people who were trying to convince him otherwise. And it's definitely a stretch to say that he was extremely convinced at first. He was very worried. I am the first in my family and extended family and anyone we know, well, at the time, to have been going for something like this to having like to leave. And thankfully, now a lot of our relatives and people in the extended family, and even my sister, that's now an option for everyone, which is great. But to say that my dad was 100% on board is a little bit of a stretch because he was worried and there were so many uncharted territories to say. But having said that, he always, always, always told me to pursue the things that he may not have necessarily looked far enough to see. And he always asked me whenever he needed reassurance, and he always told me about the things that people would tell him so that I can avoid making the mistakes that people were afraid that I would make. So, in a lot of ways, us having these conversations back and forth gave me a lot of experience in navigating all of the hardships that I did eventually get to in the US, that I would have no way of actually finding out about, like before having them happen to me.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

All those people in your community who were questioning that decision to come to study in the US, now that they've seen you, the accomplishments that you've achieved and all of your successes, have you seen a change? And if so, how have they changed in terms of their outlook on your decision to come to the US?

SPEAKER_00 11:20

100%. It has definitely changed, uh, 180 degrees, which is awesome. And I want to emphasize that they weren't questioning like out of a malicious reason or so. They were questioning because they were concerned, you know, leaving your kid who is 17 completely on her own in a completely different continent, in a completely different time zone, a different culture and different language, and even different ways of expression is concerning. So when people were questioning, they meant it in the most loving way possible. That was their way of expressing that they were worried. And so I did my absolute best to reassure them afterwards, after having left specifically when I would go home and visit. And I made sure that whenever anyone had any questions, that I was there for them and to support them in a lot of ways. And so these things didn't necessarily affect my relationships with people in the community, I would say, at all. There was definitely times where we didn't necessarily see eye to eye, but the love was always there. And so they were already on my team and on board before things kind of like blew up. So having them be with me before that happened was great. And so having them be with me while the fame part kind of came in and the successes came in was even better. But I would also like to say that I'm still a very, very, very young scientist. And I hope that the things I do accomplish are a lot bigger than what I have accomplished so far.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Well, you're already off to a great start. Thank you. And you've traveled since you've gotten here. You've already traveled to 30 states in the US. Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Mm-hmm. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Which I think is it might be more than I have. And I was born and raised here, so I've got some work to do. What surprised you most when you first came to the US?

SPEAKER_00 13:30

Well, I didn't expect it all to be Hollywood because I had read a lot, but I definitely expected some level of homogeneity and culture, and that was something that is not present in the US. There are a lot of pocketed communities and a lot of diversity that isn't just in specific areas, but it shows in a lot of American culture. Like you can see diversity in areas where you wouldn't expect to see. And that was very, very surprising to me, especially as a 17, 18-year-old. And the geography. The geography is my absolute favorite part about the United States of America. I'd say my favorite states geographically are Colorado and Utah. They are always racing to who's best based on the season. And it's just being in a place where I can hike in different areas and see different forms of life in terms of the animal world and going to a place and camping in the snow. But a few months later, I would go to the same place and camp in lush green in the lush green rainforest, or jumping in a waterfall, or jumping into a cold creek on my birthday, or stuff like these. The geography has been exceptionally breathtaking and extraordinarily grounding, especially with a lot of I would say, stresses that come with being an academic.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

What are the biggest misconceptions or stereotypes US citizens have about international students that you've experienced?

SPEAKER_00 15:08

I can pinpoint the biggest ones. I would say there is an expectation that an international student has to be quiet and in a corner and not as expressive. And I can understand that that could be the case for a lot of international students, considering that you're in a new place and you're trying to be observant and understand what's going on. And also there is an expectation to have an accent. So if you don't have an accent, then you're not an international student. I personally grew up watching Hannah Montana and Disney Channel and Wizards of Waverly Place. And so it is a bit harder to pinpoint my accent, even though I do have one. But I do remember having first moved here. People are always like, Oh, where are you from? I go like, Oh, I'm from Egypt. They go like, No, I mean, like, where did you grow up? I'm like, Egypt. And they're like, okay, so like when did you move to the US? I'm like, oh, a year ago, or six months ago, or two years ago. And they would be like, but you don't sound Egyptian. And I'm like, but I am, you know, that was one thing. And also because I'm very talkative and loud in a lot of ways, and I'm very opinionated. Also, for a woman, that's not necessarily something that is very supported. And so a lot of people would see me in gatherings or parties or events, and they would be very surprised that I'm outgoing and loud and talkative and opinionated. And I have all of these aspects that I think a lot of my international friends have. I would say that it's definitely a stereotype to think that an international student would speak a certain way or act a certain way or be quiet or shy. And if that is the case, that is totally fine too. You know, the most important thing is to be yourself. But it is important to always not stereotype that because if you are that kind of person, then that stereotype kind of makes people like shy away from you as well. And so if that were to be removed, that would create a very supportive way of dealing with newcomers, which is which is, I think, all immigration is about, and to kind of like diversify an area and use more of the differences to create a better community and therefore a better place to be.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Miriam, writing is an integral part of your life. In 2017, at age 18, you published your first novel, which you wrote two years earlier. It's called The Escaping Flashback. The novel was published in Egypt. It sold out in the same year. Can you describe what the novel is about?

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Yeah, it is a mystery fiction genre, young adults novel written in American English. If I were to summarize it in a sentence, I would say that the protagonist is trying to understand and uncover her past to have a future.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

And what motivated you to write The Escaping Flashback?

SPEAKER_00 18:16

That's an exciting story. So back when I was 13, there was a competition at school. Um, it was middle school at the time, that my English teacher had nominated me to partake in. And so I wrote a short story, it was about 14, 15 pages, and it went really well. I did well in the competition. I got first place, yada, yada, yada. And then I got a lot of confidence in my writing ability. Like I had already been writing since I was maybe six or seven, but also to say I was also writing at the level of a six or seven-year-old, right? And so I never truly had confidence to show people my stuff or the things I wrote, besides my mom, of course. And she was always very supportive, but she's my mom. She hacked, like, you know, she didn't have many options. So winning the first place at this competition, and it was with a lot of schools in the area, so it wasn't just our middle school, gave me a lot of confidence to actually continue writing more seriously and take myself more seriously. And so I continued writing a few stories after that first story, a few short stories, and they always related to the first story as if they were extensions of it, different parts of it, different scenes. No matter how much I tried to change the characters or change the setting or anything, it would always go back. So it took me about a year and some to realize, like maybe up until I was 14 and some to realize that okay, this has to be a bigger work because I can't seem to write anything else besides journaling, of course. And so I ended up finishing the novel when I was 16. So it took me about two years after having realized that I'm writing the same thing over and over from different perspectives and different angles. Yeah, so it took me three years in total to write that novel. And that's how it started. It was uh all of the support I had from my middle school teacher.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Where do you typically find inspiration for your writing? Now that you've gotten that piece of you out there and it's published, and for your next projects, your other writing in the future, where do you typically find inspiration?

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Science is a pretty big part where I find my inspiration because especially as you go in deeper and deeper and you understand new things, you probe new environments that you've never been able to probe before. And that becomes very important with creativity. But also interacting with people, as I've gotten older, I've understood the human psyche a lot better than I was at 16. And so there is definitely a lot more depth to my characters now than there was before. My plots are a little bit more realistic and more time realistic as well. They're not as fast or slow as they used to be. You can see as you read different writings of mine that, like how much I have grown and changed as a person, how much my brain has, I would say, evolved over time. But I would say one of the biggest inspirations to me writing today, besides science and all of these cool things and my readings, et cetera, would be number one, dealing with people, like through relationships and at work and people in general, strangers, or people I meet on my travels, as well as the places I go. So nature and the animal kingdom are very prominent themes in my stories.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

For your creative writing thesis at Lycum in College, your topic was the evolution of storytelling. In Egypt. Can you talk about that thesis paper a little bit and what inspired that?

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Absolutely. Wow, you're taking me back a few years now. Um, so I started off the thesis talking about storytelling in ancient Egypt. So we're talking about Izis and Uzuriz or Isis and Osiris and Horas, Horus, and all of these, like they were stories that at some point were blurred between having them be mythology or like children's stories to teach them about how the world is supposed to be. And so I wanted to take that from the perspective of how does storytelling affect communities over time. And so it started off with these mythologies or these stories and how they affected the overall politics of the time that we know so little about in comparison to what we know in modern-day Egypt or contemporary Egypt. And so what happened was I tried to draw parallels between how science and art generally, or art specifically in this way storytelling was influencing the politics and the way that people think. So the entire research thesis was based around the concept of the more stories you tell and the type of stories you tell at different ages over time change the way that the country, specifically Egypt, perceives how they should be ruled. And so as these new people evolve and change over time and learn how to decide what they deserve and not deserve, they also keep expressing that through stories and art in the sense that they also teach the upcoming generations about these things. And the more you see art and storytelling in Egypt, the more you end up with a lot of uprisings and political unrest. And having lived through two revolutions myself, or I would say a revolution and some type of another political unrest, I would say that this was all when you look at the last 30 or 40 years before these kind of like political upheavals, you can see how much poetry and writing, prose and stories and genres have affected or have actually laid the ground for these things to truly happen. And so I took it from ancient Egypt and all the way into like the Arab Empire or the golden age of the Arab Empire, and then all the way through like the 18th century, the 19th century, and all the way into the 20th century as well, because that was when Egypt gained its independence from the British Empire, and then all the way into 2011 and the Arab Spring.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

What is the next story that you want to tell?

SPEAKER_00 25:13

So I have a couple of stories right now. So I have two novels after the first one that are still an extension of that. So as you can tell, I'm still writing the exact same story. I've been for the last 11 years, but I've also been writing a lot of short stories, and they are very, very, very diverse. I would say some of them are, like I said, very much based in the animal kingdom or the psyche of a person. And some of them are political, and some of them are romantic, and some of them are very heavy on identity. And so a lot of them definitely are very, I would say, they're taken from a different perspective. Like you could feel like the character who is in a certain story looking at things in a certain way that would not at all relate to a character who is in a different story or living a different life. And I think I rely on these storytelling skills of like I rely on my two cultures at this point because I am Egyptian, 100% Egyptian, but having immigrated, I have definitely gained a lot of things from the American culture that now I am this blend of the two. And so there are things that I'm extremely Egyptian about, and things that I'm extremely American about, and things that I am right smacked right in the middle between them. And so you can tell through my writings, or I reflect through my writings, that there are definitely a lot of different voices and a lot of different people in my stories.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

And it sounds like that's continuing to evolve, even though you said it's an extension of the same story. It sounds like you're also bringing in a lot of new knowledge and characters and experiences to that writing.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Correct. Correct. The novels are pretty much the same because they're an extension of the original series, but the short stories are very, very, very different. So my short stories are more or less literary. They're not a genre type of fiction. I've written non-fiction as well. So the short works are literary, but the long ones are very genre-like.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

Miriam, thank you so much for joining us. Can we have you come back for a second interview to talk about your astrophysics work and your mentoring work?

SPEAKER_00 27:33

Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me. It's been an absolute pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

Thank you again for listening to International Student Stories. And thank you to our team for putting together this episode. Stories are meant to be shared, so please pass the story on to a friend or family member who needs to hear a good story. A few other quick notes. I invite you to check out the show notes if you want more details on some of the topics discussed in this episode. For all the latest podcast news, stop by our website, study in the USA Global.com forward slash podcast. That's S-T-U-D-Y in the USA Global.com forward slash podcast. Subscribe to the International Student Stories Podcast to be alerted on new episodes. And contact us if you know of a current or former international student whose story needs to be shared with the world. Goodbye for now, be well, and much love to each and every one of you.