Page 14 - Sensor100 Jan '13

Who’sWho in Sensors?
In the first of this new series, Jiri Janata agreed to be a guinea pig
CV Snapshot
Current
Position
Professor and GRA Eminent Scholar in Sensors and Instrumenta-
tion, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Former
Positions
Associate Director, Environmental Molecular Science Labora-
tory, PNNL, Richland,WA (1992-1997); Professor, Bioengineer-
ing/Materials Science & Engineering, Univ. of Utah, (1976-1992);
Research Scientist, ICI Ltd., (1968-1976)
Education PhDThe Charles University, Prague 1965
Publication Principles of Chemical Sensors, 2nd edition 2009
Web site http://www.chemistry.gatech.edu/faculty/Janata/
S100:What’s happening?
JJ: I am still breathing – that is most important! Our present, most intriguing
project is preparation of atomic metals.They have variety of applications, including
new materials for chemical sensing
S100: From Prague to Georgia Tech, with some stops on the way – an interesting career
JJ:Yes, and I do not regret even one day. I met some very kind and interesting peo-
ple along the way, as well as plenty of idiots to fight with
S100:You are probably best known for your work on ChemFets – how did that start?
JJ: By teaching electrical engineers electrochemical thermodynamics. I still do that.
S100: You once told me when you were at Utah that using a microscope to develop the
first ISFET ruined your eyes – are there better ways of
doing it now?
JJ: Buy a better microscope and hire a young col-
laborator
S100: Have there been commercial applications?
JJ: I understand that pH-ISFETS are quite successful
in a number of applications. However, the full poten-
tial of ISFETs and CHEMFETs (for gases) has not yet
been fully realized.Actually, very far from it.