El-Khozondar (PhD 1999, New Mexico State U., Postdoc 1999, Max Planck Institute, Germany) is professor, electrical engineering dpt., Islamic U. of Gaza. She got her B.Sc. in Physics and joined the Physics faculty at BirZeit U., Palestinian Territory in 1987. She is recognized for her research on the behaviour of optical fibre grating sensors under different stress effects, magneto-optical isolators, metamaterial devices, electro-optical waveguides, and the microstructural evolution of polycrystalline materials, with relevance to integrated optical devices and the performance of metals and ceramics. Her honours include Fulbright Scholarship, DAAD award; Alexander von Humboldt Scholarship; Erasmus Mundus; senior member at ICTP; Islamic U. Deanery Prize for applied sciences and the Arab U. Union Award, TWAS medal lecture 2015 and ISESCO Prize in Science and Technology 2014.