Dr. Wissam Helal is an Associate Professor of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Jordan, Amman. He holds a PhD in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry from the University of Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier, France (2009), where he specialized in developing multi-reference quantum chemical methods for quasi-degenerate chemical systems. He also earned a Master’s degree in the same field from Toulouse, and an MSc in Chemistry from Yarmouk University, Jordan.
Dr. Helal’s research lies at the intersection of quantum chemistry, molecular electronics, and computational modeling. His work includes the development of advanced ab initio multireference methods, as well as their applications to complex systems such as mixed-valence compounds, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), nanostructures, and excited-state photochemistry. He is also actively involved in benchmarking DFT and wave function-based methods and in hybrid quantum/classical simulations (QM/MM) of large molecular systems.
Over his academic career, Dr. Helal has published extensively in international peer-reviewed journals, contributing over 30 high-impact articles in journals such as J. Phys. Chem. A, RSC Advances, Int. J. Quantum Chem., and Comput. Theor. Chem. He has supervised numerous MSc and PhD theses in theoretical and computational chemistry and participated in national and international research collaborations.
In addition to his research, Dr. Helal is an experienced academic instructor, having taught a broad range of undergraduate and graduate chemistry courses, including Quantum Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, and Computational Methods. He is also a seasoned user and developer of quantum chemistry software, with expertise in packages such as ORCA, Molpro, Molcas, GAMESS, and Gaussian, as well as programming in FORTRAN and C.
Dr. Helal is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and has received several honors, including a prestigious research scholarship from the University of Toulouse. He has represented his work at various international conferences and workshops and continues to contribute to the advancement of theoretical chemistry in the Arab region and beyond.​
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