Faculty Profiles: Ghassan Antar

Professor Ghassan Antar

Had it not been for the Israeli aggression against Lebanon in the summer of 2006, the Physics Department at AUB would have welcomed Assistant Professor Ghassan Antar to the University a year earlier. However, circumstance dictated that he spend that year as a visiting scientist in Germany before joining AUB in September 2007.

Antar is pleased with his new post and says AUB "has a general favorable attitude towards development and a proclivity for high levels of research." The physics lab contains a good amount of equipment for basic work, and much more has been added in the past two years to push research far ahead, according to Antar, who spent six and a half years conducting research at the University of California, San Diego (2000-06), where he did his postgraduate studies after completing his PhD in physics in France in 1996.

Because his work on his master's in fundamental physics at the Lebanese University was interrupted owing to the war in Lebanon in the late 1980s, Antar decided to attend classes in Paris. There, he stayed on as a research assistant and acquired a diploma of advanced studies in laser-matter interactions in 1993 before pursuing his PhD.

Although Antar never taught before coming to AUB, he enjoys the connection he feels with the students. He finds AUB students to be highly-motivated, enthusiastic, and hard-working.

Antar's research work focuses on complex dynamics in fluids and plasma. Looking forward to building his lab at AUB, he hopes to establish a linear tokomak simulator that uses a strong magnetic field to enhance thermonuclear fusion, a process that can provide a safer and more abundant alternative fuel to power plants.

In spite of his busy schedule, Antar still finds time to spend with his four children, play sports, and read philosophical essays in French.