Renowned physicist Hussein H. Hamdeh, Ph.D., has joined the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) as a visiting scholar.

Hamdeh, a professor and former chair of the Department of Physics at Wichita State University (WSU), will help commission a Mössbauer spectrometer he is generously donating to UK and will train researchers in CAER’s Sustainable and Alternative Fuels (SAF) Research Group to use it.

Hamdeh has spent much of his career working to understand the Mössbauer effect, helping to develop models of hyperfine interactions for analysis of Mössbauer spectra with Brent Fultz, a professor at the California Institute of Technology. Over the past decade, Hamdeh’s focus has shifted to include magnetism and catalytic activities of nanostructures, and most recently to iron-based superconductors. 

“We are delighted and honored to host Professor Hamdeh at CAER during his sabbatical leave from WSU, which will allow him to share his knowledge with our team,” said Eduardo Santillan-Jimenez, associate director of CAER’s SAF Research Group. “He is a long-time collaborator to several colleagues here at the center, and we look forward to learning from his expertise in Mössbauer spectroscopy. Given the unique ability of this technique to study in detail the chemical environment of iron atoms, the instrumentation and know-how Professor Hamdeh is gifting UK will be a great asset for the study of iron-based catalysts, including those used by CAER researchers for the conversion of synthesis gas to liquid fuels.”

Hamdeh began his academic career at Lebanese University. After earning his bachelor’s degree, he moved to the United States and received his master’s and Ph.D. from Northeastern University in Boston. He was a postdoctoral scholar at Northeastern University and the California Institute of Technology, before he joined the faculty at WSU in 1989. He has served in variety of capacities at WSU’s Department of Physics over the past 35 years, including serving as department chair.

His relationship with CAER started alongside legendary CAER researcher Burt Davis, where they collaborated on the center’s Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis research program.

“It is an honor and privilege to be here alongside the talented team at CAER,” said Hamdeh. “I have long considered Burt Davis as a titan in our field, and I am thrilled to be working with his team here at CAER and building upon the proud scientific legacy that he built during his remarkable career.”

In addition to many national and international academic partnerships, Hamdeh has consulted with a variety of industrial partners in cryogenic and gas-to-liquid fuel conversion technologies, including Chevron-Texaco, Rentech Inc., EXPORTech Inc., Eltron Inc. and Cryo Industries.