Meyya Meyyappan

Meyya Meyyappan is Chief Scientist for Exploration Technology at the Center for Nanotechnology, NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA. Until June 2006, he served as the Director of the Center for Nanotechnology as well as Senior Scientist. He is a founding member of the Interagency Working Group on Nanotechnology (IWGN) established by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The IWGN is responsible for putting together the National Nanotechnology Initiative.

Dr. Meyyappan has authored or co-authored over 190 articles in peer-reviewed journals and made over 200 Invited/Keynote/Plenary Talks in nanotechnology subjects across the world. His research interests include carbon nanotubes and various inorganic nanowires, their growth
and characterization, and application development in chemical and biosensors, instrumentation, electronics and optoelectronics.

Dr. Meyyappan is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Electrochemical Society (ECS), AVS, the Materials Research Society (MRS) and the California Council of Science and Technology. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). He is currently the IEEE Nanotechnology Council (NTC) Distinguished Lecturer on Nanotechnology, IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS) Distinguished Lecturer, and was ASME's Distinguished Lecturer on Nanotechnology (2004-2006). He served as the President of the IEEE's Nanotechnology Council in 2006-2007.

For his contributions and leadership in nanotechnology, he has received numerous awards including: a Presidential Meritorious Award; NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal; Arthur Flemming Award given by the Arthur Flemming Foundation and the George Washington University; IEEE Judith Resnick Award; IEEE-USA Harry Diamond Award; AIChE Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum Award. For his sustained contributions to
nanotechnology, he was inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Council Hall of Fame in February 2009. For his educational contributions, he has received: Outstanding Recognition Award from the NASA Office of Education; the Engineer of the Year Award (2004) by the
San Francisco Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA); IEEE-EDS Education Award; IEEE-EAB (Educational Activities Board) Meritorious Achievement Award in Continuing Education.

Micro-Nano Scale: Basic Science to Practical Systems and Commercial Applications

M. Meyyappan, Jing Li, Cattien Nguyen, and Jeong-So Lee

NASA Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, CA 94035
m.meyyappan@nasa.gov

IT-Convergence Engineering Division
POSTECH, Pohang, S. Korea

There are strong nanotechnology research programs across the world in the fields of chemical sensors, biosensors, instrumentation, electromechanical devices, actuators, other nanodevices and numerous other applications. Basic discoveries have progressed at an amazing pace and development of practical systems is the next big challenge.

Nanoscale is not a human scale.  In many cases, practical systems demand seamless integration of nano-micro-macro scaled components and processes. This talk will focus on product and system development using nanomaterials and nanotechnology. Examples include a carbon nanotube(CNT) and nanowire based chemical sensor that has been monitoring air quality in the crew cabin in the International Space Station since January 2009 and under development for security applications; a CNT based biosensor for water quality monitoring;

Bio-field effect transistrs; X-ray  tubes for security and other applications; supercapacitors and several other developments we have been working on for the last 5-8 years.

The authors thank all past and present NASA Ames colleagues for their contributions to the application development efforts and colleagues at POSTECH, Pohang.