Dr. Wafaa Khater concludes her visit to International Center for Theoretical Physics, Italy, as visiting professor

Dr. Wafaa Khater, dean of the Faculty of Science and associate professor of physics, concluded her visit to the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy, during the summer as a visiting professor.

During the visit, Dr. Khater worked on her research in the field of High Energy, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (HECAP) and conducted calculations related to the Higgs sector of Models Beyond the Standard Model. She also followed up on her collaborative project with the Physics Without Frontiers’ (PWF) coordinators; namely professor Bobby Acharya, professor Natasa Stojic and professor Kate Shaw. Dr. Khater initiated this collaboration 10 years ago to support students and graduates of the Faculty of Science, who aspire to continue their higher studies in physics. A significant number of Birzeit University’s physics alumni are currently affiliated with ICTP, particularly Dr. Mohammad Faraj, postdoctoral fellow at ICTP who works with the ATLAS experiment group at CERN, and Remah Dahdoul, a distinguished, recent graduate who has just joined the pre-PhD diploma program at ICTP in the field of quantitative life sciences.

As chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Birzeit University, Dr. Khater engaged in discussions with ICTP officials on means to support the activities of the future chair. As part of preparations to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of ICTP next year, Dr. Khater presented a video report on her journey at the center as the first Palestinian physicist to specialize in particle physics. The video touched on her first visit to the center almost 20 years ago as a PhD student, leading to her current visit at an associate professor.