On Monday, 18^th of January 2010, the University President, Prof. Rami Hamdallah, met with Professor Jeff Hoffman and Professor Bob Williams from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Attending the meeting was Prof. Maher Abu Eid, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Sulaiman Khalil, Faculty of Science Dean, and Dr. Kamal Rasheed, Professor of Astrophysics at the University. The Public Relations Department at the University organized a tour to the different parts of the University in which the guests were introduced to the University's faculties, programs and laboratories.

Prof. Hamdallah welcomed the experts, and thanked them for their visit to the University and the lecture they delivered. He also emphasized the importance of science in the life of people and societies, and presented a brief description of the Palestinian people and their continuous quest for knowledge and science. Moreover, he described the different developments that the University has witnessed and its quest to develop teaching techniques such as e-learning. Professor Hoffman, in return, expressed his happiness to visit the University and to meet with the students there. He also stressed the importance of encouraging students to study science, especially astronomy, and that it should be made available to more students. Professor Williams, meanwhile, talked about his experience in the field of astronomy and gave a brief description of NASA and its projects.
However, earlier on Sunday, 17^th of January 2010, the Public Relations Department organized a scientific lecture in the Faculty of Science auditoriums at the New Campus. The overcrowded hall witnessed an exciting and informative scientific lecture in which both Prof. Hoffman and Prof. Williams delivered presentations about astronomy and their space missions. They also spoke about Hubble Space Telescope and the many servicing missions that have been accomplished so far. Other topics included: the problems that astronomers and astronauts faced during their space missions, their researches on the possibility of life on other planets, and astronomy theories and practices. The experts were also introduced to the Faculty of Science and its different labs, and were admired by the efforts that the Faculty exerts in the field of scientific research. They also met with the Faculty of Science Dean, Dr. Sulaiman Khalil, the Director of Earth Sciences and Seismic Engineering Center, Dr. Jalal Dabeek, and the Faculty of Engineering Dean, Dr. Nabil Dmaidi.
After the lecture, the Public Relations Department organized a tour to the old city of Nablus during which the guests were introduced to the historical heritage of the city. It is worth mentioning that Prof. Jeff Hoffman has accomplished five space missions, such as the 1963 mission to fix the optic system in Hubble Space Telescope and has spent more than 1200 hours in space. While Prof. Bob Williams is a research scholar in the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore who made a number of studies about stars, galaxies and other space phenomena.