Cofounder and CTO of Arometrix, which provided process control tools for the essential oil extraction and distillation industry. During the company’s inception, carried out critical proof-of-concept work that led to the development of an initial prototype system. Subsequently, both led and directly developed the first commercial Fraction Finder system; an embedded Linux-based process monitoring tool that informs processors about when the distillation or extraction process is complete. This patented tool provides customers with an estimated 13% on processing efficiency, and an estimated 33% ROI on training and process scaleup.Within the CTO role, leads product and technology development to fulfill Arometrix goal of providing advanced process control technology to the essential oil extraction industry.• Establish the company’s technical vision and leads all aspects of the company’s technological development.• Directs the company’s strategic direction, development, and future growth as it pertains to technology and market expansion.• Works in a consultative fashion with other department, such as marketing, production, and operations as an advisor of technologies that may improve their efficiency and effectiveness.• Provides leadership to department heads in a fashion that supports the company’s culture, mission and values.• Conducts and advise on research and case studies on leading edge technologies and makes determinations on the probability of implementation.• Acts as a good steward of Companies resources and ensures control of Research and Development budgets.

As AccuStrata grew, a new need to reduce the company’s dependencies on grants lead to a promotion the Vice President of Operations. In this role, a mandate of increase commercial revenue was given, along with the continued management and development within existing SBIR grants as well as actively pursuing new grant opportunities.

The contract post-doctoral work transitioned into full-time employment as Director of Operations. Within the first year of this role, authored several sections in a new DoE Phase I grant that; “Fiber-Optic Based Distributed Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy for Film Growth Monitoring”, that resulted in subsequent Phase II and Phase IIB awards as well as a flagship product that is currently commercialized and sold by the company. Developed and executed the Go-to-Market strategy for the resulting product (AtOMS) that led to the first commercial sale.Furthered the main objectives of the company by authoring and managing as principal investigator two successful SBIR grants. The first; “Field Deployable in Situ Excitation Emission Matrix Spectroscopy System for Subsurface Monitoring” was a novel method of monitoring environment heal at DoE Superfund sites. The second; “Combinatorial Discovery of Heterogeneous Catalysts Utilizing Emission Spectroscopy and Advanced Machine Learning” provided a technology that facilitates a new, low-cost method for catalyst synthesis. The masterful leadership, management, and research skills lead to a Phase II award.Through diligent commercial outreach and business development efforts, the company saw substantial growth in industry revenue and resulted in the creation of a spin-off company; Arometrix.

Through ASEE and NSF, this contract position focused on completing development work for developing a real time process control system for improving manufacturing of thin film products such as thin film solar panels, solid state lighting, touch screen displays, optics and telecommunications. The research role quickly expanded into leadership responsibilities with the award of DoE SBIR Phase I "Monitoring and control of chemical composition of InGaN layers during MOCVD". The technical insight and leadership during this grant not only resulted in a Phase II extension, but also validated the unique capability to transition from academia to industry, resulting in a full time hire as Director of Operations at AccuStrata.

As a member of the chemical engineering department, managed and executed several cutting edge research projects for the development of high throughput methodologies. Managed graduate and undergraduate students as well as provided guidance on experimental design.• Developed methodologies for high-throughput development of novel bond coats for improved adhesion of thermal barrier coatings resulting in publication.• Carried out high-throughput, non-destructive characterization of thin film materials for hot corrosion failure mechanisms resulting in publication.• Developed methodologies for high- throughput processing of thin film materials• Developed thin film deposition modeling software• Synthesized and characterized of metal hydride hydrogen storage materials.• Developed methodologies for non-destructive characterization of thin film materials.• Developed a novel high temperature chemical cell for the high-throughput screening of NOx sensor materials.

As a member of the Data Analysis for Neutron Scattering Experiments (DANSE) reflectometry group, led development of an off-specular neutron reflectometry modeling package. This discrete element modeling package is used for interpreting off-specular neutron scattering data.• Designed and fabricated thin film devices in cleanroom facilities.• Fabricated precision-critical lithographic standards.• Characterized lithographically fabricated devices utilizing a variety of techniques • Developed software for scattering physics, optical physics, and scattering characterization.• Autonomously designed and produced a new modeling package and software infrastructure which allows for a variety of model representations and scattering algorithms.• Preformed modularized, optimized and object-oriented programming for easy software extendibility and usability.• Developed parallelized scattering algorithms on a graphics processing unit for improved calculation speeds.

As a member of the materials engineering polymers group, designed and fabricated devices for the study of phase separated diblock copolymer characterization and analysis.• Designed masks and processes for the fabrication of devices to align the microphase structure in diblock copolymer systems with electric fields.• Fabricated a variety of chemically patterned surfaces to study the effects of surface affinity on diblock copolymer phase separation. • Characterized samples using SEM and AFM techniques.• Developed cheap processing methods for anti-reflective coating fabrication.

As an undergraduate chemist in the department of physics magnetism laboratory, I gained experience in synthesis and characterization both thin film and bulk magnetic samples.• Synthesized and characterized a variety of inorganic compounds via sol gel.• Examined the thermal breakdown of dilute ferromagnetic semiconductors via TGA/DSC.• Examined natural spin-valve systems for use in modern electronics applications.• Carried out second harmonic generation studies in a state-of-the-art laser lab.• Measured the magnetic properties of a variety of magnetic systems using vibrating sample magnetometers.• Pinpointed the source of false signals from a thermocouple in a commercial magnetometer using a variety of quantitative analysis techniques.• Collaborated on a chemical engineering project to develop improved rhodium electroplating processes where I developed a reflectometry characterization technique.• Collaborated on a mechanical engineering project where we worked to fabricate a dynamic shock absorber system.