I received my Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I now hold a Professor position at the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department of Old Dominion University (ODU) and I am the Director of ODU’s Plasma Engineering & Medicine Institute (PEMI). My research interests are in the physics and applications of non-equilibrium gaseous discharges including the biomedical applications of low temperature plasma (LTP). In 1994 I conducted my first experiment on using cold plasma to inactivate bacteria. This led to a research program (funded by AFOSR) to use cold plasma for the disinfection of wounds. This early work eventually led to the establishment of new applications of cold plasma in biology and medicine, a field known today as “Plasma Medicine”. In 2004 the plasma pencil, the first cold plasma jet designed specifically for biomedical applications was developed in my lab, the ODU Applied Plasma Technology Laboratory. The plasma pencil was featured on the cover of Applied Physics Letters in September 2005. Below is a recent image of me holding the plasma pencil.

 I have authored/co-authored two books, edited two e-books, and co-authored more than 200 papers in journals and conference proceedings. I am a Fellow of IEEE (2009), IPCS (2023), and APS (2023). Some of my awards are the IEEE Millennium Medal (2000), the ODU Excellence in Research Award (2009), the Inaugural Award of the International Society of Plasma Medicine (2010), and the 2012 IEEE-NPSS Merit Award.