The primary expertise of El Moutamid is orbital dynamics and celestial mechanics, especially orbital resonances and mechanisms of the capture of satellites and exoplanets into mean motion resonances. Her current research interest is planetary ring dynamics and satellite orbital dynamics and their connections with giant planet interior structure. She completed her Ph.D at Paris Observatory in September 2013 and she is currently a Research Associate at the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences.

Her academic training and postdoctoral experience have prepared her to be an effective researcher and instructor. The focus of her Ph.D degree was developing a better understanding of Mean Motion Resonances (MMR) and exploring in detail capture into these commensurabilities.

During her postdoctoral training, she worked on data from the ISS (Imaging Science System) and VIMS (Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer) instruments onboard the Cassini spacecraft, and she used these data to learn more about ring and moon dynamics and the interior of Saturn.

A different focus of her work has been on multi-chord stellar occultation of stars by solar system bodies, she participated in many observation campaigns tracking celestial objects that characterized their shape, atmosphere and environment. For example, she was involved in the discovery of the ring system around the Centaur Chariklo (Nature; coauthor).

Her future research goals include investigating observed dynamical architectures of exoplanets and understanding concurrent migration of multiple planets within a disk. She will also study the atmosphere and internal structure of giant planets of the Solar System, and work on rings systems around small bodies. She sees this work as having an ultimate goal of creating a link between what we have learned about the Solar system and exoplanetary systems, including the interior of exoplanets, their dynamical evolution, exomoons and exorings.