Educational Background
2001 – Ph. D. in Materials Science, Alabama A&M University, U. S. A.
1997 – M. Sc. in Applied Nuclear Physics (Nuclear Engineering), Bucharest Univ., Romania
1996 – B. Sc. in Applied Nuclear Physics (Nuclear Engineering), Bucharest University, Romania
Employment/Professional Experience
2006
2003 – Present
Facility Manager, Center for Irradiation of Materials
Responsible for coordinating the user access to materials modification and analysis instrumentation available at the Center.
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Responsible for coordinating the up-keeping of the facility (building and instrumentation)
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Helping the Director of the Center in coordinating the acquisition and setup of new scientific instrumentation within the Center.
2002 – Present
Research Associate, Center for Irradiation of Materials
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Conduct and assist other scientists in experiments related to ion beam modification and characterization of materials (optical filters, nanocrystalline materials and hyper-lattices, ultra-light electroformed mirrors for space telescopes, gas sensors, nanolayer coatings, space radiation effects on semiconductors and polymers).
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Research collaborations with various U. S. government agencies, private companies, and universities.
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Conduct undergraduate and graduate student training (15+ students) within the training programs provided by the Center.
1998 - 2001
Ph. D. Student, Physics Dept.
Research Assistant, Center for Irradiation of Materials
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Ph. D. work on silicon carbide based hydrogen sensors. Developed an improved sensor capable of operating for hundreds of hours at high temperatures (100 to 800°C) in oxidizing atmosphere detecting hundreds of ppm of hydrogen in a carrier gas.
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Developed computer-interfaces and controls (Basic, Visual Basic, LabView, C++) for remote equipment control, data acquisition and management.
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Developed double-alignment channeling method for imperfections studies in crystalline materials.
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Certified operator for the 5SDH-2 tandem accelerator at the Center.
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Certified operator for the ion implantation facilities at the Surface Modification And Characterization (SMAC) Group, Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN.
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Guest contributor in the Materials Research Society Bulletin (monthly publication).
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Vice-president, treasurer of the Alabama A&M University Chapter of the Materials Research Society.
1996 - 1998
Research Assistant – Cyclotron Laboratory
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Nano-tribology, automobile engine parts wear studies (research contract, five-person team leader)
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Studied the 27Al(p, n) 27Si reaction and design for a positron source on-line with a U-120 cyclotron for positron spectroscopy applications
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Studied the 56Fe(p, n) 56Co reaction with applications in wear and corrosion studies (M. Sc. thesis topic)
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Monte Carlo simulation programming (FORTRAN, BASIC, C++) for nuclear radiation detectors (CdTe for X and gamma radiation, epitaxial Si for heavy ions, various Si and Ge for gamma radiation, specific applications)
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Environmental (air, vegetation, soil) pollution studies for regions in the outskirts of Bucharest, various industrial and tourist locations across Central and SW Europe (Romania, Hungary, Czech and Slovak Republics, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium Germany, Austria)
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Studied (until end of 1998) the option for the U-120 cyclotron (NIPNE – Bucharest, Romania) conversion for radioisotope (123I, 67Ga, 48V) production for medical applications
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Visiting Scientist (1997 – summer) at the International Laboratory for Semiconductors and Solid State Electronics (LISES – Chişinău, Moldova) of the Moldavian Academy of Science, in an Inter-Academic Scientists Exchange Program with the Romanian Academy of Science and the National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest, Romania
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Supervised undergraduate students in their graduation projects/theses (three students
Accomplishments:
- 10+ contracts (some SBIR type).
- Designed and supervised the networking capability upgrade, maintained and upgraded the computing capability of the Center.
- 15+ graduate and undergraduate students supervised throughout research assignments.
- Re-designed/converted the EATON low energy ion implanter at the Center for Irradiation of Materials, Alabama A&M University, for research/scientific applications.
- authored or co-authored 40+ articles in peer-reviewed journals, co-authored 1 NASA-TM paper.
- 1 patent application (pending review).
Memberships
- American Physical Society
- Materials Research Society |
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