Before coming to Purdue in 2007, he was a senior scientist, group leader and director of the Fusion Power Program at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. He has more than 30 years of experience in research and development in the fields of nuclear engineering and materials science.

His research interests include the fields of modeling material responses to different radiation sources. He has developed models and comprehensive computer packages to predict material behavior, lifetime issues, plasma evolution and fluid hydrodynamics under various irradiation conditions.

Hassanein is a fellow of six professional societies including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the international society for optics and photonics, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Nuclear Society, the Optical Society of America and the American Physical Society. He received the IEEE Merit Award in 2013.

He received his bachelor's degree from Alexandria University in Egypt in 1974. He earned master's degrees in nuclear engineering and physics, as well as his doctorate, from the University of Wisconsin.

Paul Wattelet (PhD NE ’67) and his wife, Madeline, of Oak Brook, Illinois, provide funds for the Paul Wattelet Chair in Nuclear Engineering. Wattelet retired as chair, president and CEO of Sargent & Lundy in 2004.

Hassanein has more than 30 years of experience in research and development in nuclear and plasma physics, computational physics, and material science. He is internationally recognized as one of the world’s foremost leaders in the area of modeling and benchmarking materials evolution to different radiation and plasma/particle sources. He developed unique models and comprehensive computer packages as well as state-of–the art experimental facilities to predict materials behavior, lifetime issues, plasma evolution, and fluid hydrodynamics under various irradiation conditions. These models and results are being used in several national and international research fields.

Hassanein is the author of more than 500 journal publications and technical reports in more than 30 different journals in many fundamental science areas including radiation damage and materials’ lifetime, laser, and discharge produced plasmas, hydrodynamics, heat transfer, particle diffusion and transport, atomic and plasma physics, photon and radiation transport, thermal hydraulics, molecular dynamics, and biomedical. He is a frequent keynote speaker at university departmental seminars, world-class institutions, and international conferences; frequent reviewer of more than 25 journals and professional organizations.