A few words from the team...

The ENose team has taken many forms over the years and has always been a dynamic group of people with expertise and backgrounds from all parts of the country and world. Over the course of the ENose project several students have entered the lab and devoted their summers, some even staying on to become permanent members of the ENose team. We are devoted to providing quality research and are excited to share our knowledge of the subject with whom ever will listen. Thank you for visiting our site and feel free to contact us with your questions.

Update: As mentioned, many come and go and the ENose team has recently experienced some changes. Core team members have been assinged to other projects and/or seek to expanded their horizons. We wish them all well.

Dr. Margaret A. Ryan

Former Principal Investigator

Margaret Amy Ryan received a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a B.S. in Chemistry from Metropolitan State College in Denver and an A.B. in History from the University of Chicago. Before coming to JPL in 1989 she was a research scientist at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Bellevue, France, and at the Solar Energy Research Institute (now National Renewable Energy Lab) in Golden, Colorado. Her work in both places included modification of metal oxide and semiconductor electrodes for photoelectrochemical energy conversion, photoelectrochemical processing of solids and photochemistry. She came to JPL in 1989, and has worked primarily in the areas of chemical sensing and thermal-to-electric energy conversion. She is the Principal Investigator on the NASA Electronic Nose Technology Development Task. Her work at JPL has concentrated on two primary areas of research: (a) development of chemical sensors and devices for air quality monitoring, including the JPL ENose, silicon carbide hydrocarbon sensors and colorimetric sensors for ozone and other oxidants, and (b) investigations of metals and metal alloys for use in high temperature energy conversion devices, including the Alkali Metal Thermal to Electric Converter (AMTEC) and thermoelectric devices.

Update: Amy is now working at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Dr. Margie Homer

Co-Inivestigator

Physical Chemist Margie Homer is the Co- Investigator of the Electronic Nose project at JPL. She obtained a B.A. in Chemistry from Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania in 1985 and then a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1993. Her research interest includes chemical sensors.

Dr. Carol Lewis

Former Flight Project Manager

Carol R. Lewis received a Ph. D. degree in Inorganic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B. S. degree in Chemistry from Yale University. During 7 years at the Varian Research Center (Palo Alto, CA), she conducted state of the art research on metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) of III-V semiconductor materials and structures for optoelectronic and microwave devices, especially for high efficiency solar cells. She supervised the materials R&D group responsible for numerous record-breaking efficiencies for single-junction and multijunction solar cells in the 1980s.   In 1988 she came to JPL and continued in technical line management. In sequence, she supervised the Photonic Devices Group, the Photovoltaic Systems and Radiation Effects Group, and the Power Materials and Device Technologies Group. The latter two groups, in particular, provided high quality technical and programmatic support to a wide array of JPL flight projects and preprojects, including design, cost estimates, performance projections and analyses, life testing, design and implementation of test equipment, technology recommendations and solutions for industry subcontractors, risk reduction, and hardware deliveries. Concurrently, the groups conducted state of the art advanced semiconductor laser, photovoltaic, and thermal-to-electric research and development, and provided NASA-unique photovoltaic test capabilities. Subsequently she managed the Power and Precision Conversion Systems and Technology Section. Major flight projects supported by the Section with hardware design, development, and testing included MER, MRO, MSL, JIMO, DAWN, and Deep Impact (Power); and TES, SIM and TPF (Lasers and Optical Metrology). The Section also conducted cutting edge R&D over a wide range of technology foci including photovoltaic arrays, thermal to electric power conversion, solid state electrochemistry, advanced bulk and thin film batteries, direct methanol fuel cells, optical metrology sources, and array-based sensing (Gen 1 and Gen 2 ENose).   In 2004 she moved into project/instrument management. For 8 months she was deputy project manager for the Micro-Inspector, a mid-TRL ground technology demonstration of a free flying miniature inspector satellite to monitor host spacecraft for in-space irregularities. In late 2004 she joined the ENose team. As instrument manager, she is responsible for delivering the Gen 3 ENose on schedule, within budget and meeting technical specs.

Kenneth Manatt

Lead Electronics Engineer

Ken Manatt received a B.S. in Earth Sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Since coming to JPL in 1983, Ken has been involved in a number of flight projects as well as independent instrument development efforts. He is currently the Lead Electronics Engineer on the ENose team responsible for electronic design and fabrication. Ken has proved an asset to the project since the beginning of the project where he highly contributed to the electronic design of the first and second generation instruments.

Dr. Abhijit Shevade

Chemical Engineer

Abhijit V. Shevade is currently a Staff member at JPL. He obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University Department of Chemical Technology, University of Bombay, India in 1993 and 1996, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Kansas State University, USA in 2001. He was a Caltech Postdoctoral Scholar resident at JPL from 2001- 2003. His research interests include development and application of molecular/multiphysics modeling and simulation tools in combination with experimental approaches for design and characterization of materials, including: organic (e.g., polymers/polymer composites), inorganic (e.g., heterogeneous catalysts), biomimetic (e.g., self assembly molecules, molecular imprinted materials). Applications include micro/nano chemical/biological sensors and energy generation and storage devices.

Hanying Zhou

Software Engineer

Hanying Zhou is a member of the JPL ENose team. She develops data analysis programs to deconvolute the patterns of ENose distributed response. Hanying Zhou received her M. S. in Optical Engineering from Zhejiang University, China in 1988 and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University in 1995. Between 1988 and 1990, she was a research scientist at Shanghai Institute of Fine Optics and Mechanics, Academia Sinica. Since 1998, she has been with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory where her main research interests include optical pattern recognition and holographic memory.

Adam Kisor

Technical Staff Engineer

Adam Kisor received a B.A. In Cognitive Science and Visual Arts from the University of California, San Diego. Since coming to JPL in 1992, Adam has worked primarily on the Alkali Metal Thermal to Electric Converter (AMTEC) and chemical sensor technology. He is currently an Staff Engineer on the Electronic Nose team in which he helps to design, fabricate and test most of the components.

Liana M. Lara

Technical Associate

Liana M. Lara has been working on the ENose project since 2001. Starting her career at JPL as a co-op intern working with the Alkali Metal Thermal to Electric Converter (AMTEC) group, she transferred to the ENose group to help modify the gas delivery system, manage the ENose website and assist with the LabView program. She has also worked with the thermoelectric's group. She received her Bachelors of Science at the University of Washington, Seattle in fisheries and MBA from Calstate LA.