Rate My Professor Hussein Shanak

Hussein Shanak is a distinguished physicist serving as Acting President of Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie (PTUK) since January 2023 and Vice President for Academic Affairs since September 2022. He holds the rank of Full Professor in the Department of Physics, Faculty of Applied Sciences, at PTUK. Shanak earned his Ph.D. in Solid State-Condensed Matter Physics, focusing on Thin Film Nanotechnology, from Saarland University, Germany, in 2005; his thesis addressed the optimization of transition metal oxide films of WO₃ and V₂O₅ for gasochromic applications in smart windows. He received his M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Jordan in 1999 and B.Sc. in Physics from An-Najah National University in 1994.

Throughout his career, Shanak has occupied key leadership roles at PTUK, including Dean of Graduate Studies (2018-2022), Dean of Student Affairs (2016-2018), Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and Arts (2014-2016), Chair of the Physics Department, Associate Professor (2015-2022), and Assistant Professor (2009-2015). He also conducted postdoctoral research at Duesseldorf University (2007-2009) and Saarland University (2005-2007), and served as Senior Scientist and Visiting Professor at Saarland University (2012-2014), coordinating the EU-funded Magnetism Network of the Greater Region project. His research specializes in thin film nanotechnology, gasochromic and electrochromic processes, graphene, scanning tunneling microscopy, gas and bio-sensors, nanoparticles, and crystallographic investigations. Shanak has authored over 45 peer-reviewed publications in prestigious journals. Key works include "Computational Analysis of the Morphological Aspects of Triadic Hybridized Magnetic Nanoparticles Suspended in Liquid Streamed in Coaxially Swirled Disks" (Nanomaterials, 2022), "A Revisit on the Characteristics of Yao-Cheng Non-Linear Oscillator" (Journal of Low Frequency Noise, Vibration and Active Control, 2022), and "Investigation of the Gasochromic Behavior for Nickel Oxide Thin Films Using UV-VIS-NIR Spectroscopy" (Surface Review and Letters, 2014). He has been honored with multiple DAAD scholarships, including for his Ph.D., and an invitation to the 18th Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Physics at Lindau, Germany, in 2004. Shanak has organized international conferences on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and physics, and chaired local and international academic committees.