Ashok Vaseashta

Ashok Vaseashta currently serves as the Chief Research Officer, Executive Director of Research and Chair of Institution Review Board and Office of Research Integrity at NJCU. Concurrently, he serves as Chaired Professor of Nanotechnology at the Academy of Sciences, Academician at Euro-Mediterranean Academy of Arts and Sciences and Senior Strategic Research Advisor for government and non-government organizations.. He is a scholar and thought leader who provides strategic leadership to promote and advance research initiatives and priorities in support of international defense, safety and security. Prior to joining NJCU, he served as Vice Provost for Research at the Molecular Science Research Center in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He also served as the Director of Research at the Institute for Advanced Sciences Convergence (IASC) and International Clean Water Institute (ICWI) for Norwich University’s Applied Research Institutes and currently serves as strategic advisor. Prior to his appointment at NUARI, he served as a Professor of Physics and Physical Sciences and Director of Research at the Nanomaterials Processing and Characterization Laboratories, Graduate Program in Physical Sciences at Marshall University. Concurrently, he held Visiting Professorship at the 3 Nano-SAE Research Centre, University of Bucharest, Romania and visiting scientist at the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center of Nanoscale Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. In 2007-08, he was detailed as a William C. Foster fellow to the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation at the US Department of State working with the Office of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism and Foreign Consequence Management program. He also served (2009-13) as a Franklin Fellow and strategic S&T advisor in the office of Verification and Transparency Technologies/Arms Verification and Control at the U.S. Department of State. His research interests span nanotechnology, environmental/ecological science and safety and security. Much of his work in nanotechnology has been on improving the understanding, design, and performance of nanofibers and sensors/detectors, mainly for applications such as wearable electronics, target drug delivery, detection of biomarkers and toxicity of nano and xenobiotic materials. In the security arena, he has worked on counterterrorism, countering unconventional warfare and hybrid threats, critical-Infrastructure protection, biosecurity, dual-use research concerns, and mitigating hybrid threats including fake-news. In addition, he has made numerous contributions in environmental/ecological science including directing research for International Clean Water Institute, pollution monitoring, contamination detection and remediation, and sustainability through green nanotechnology. He has authored over 250 research publications, edited/authored seven books on nanotechnology, and presented many keynote and invited lectures worldwide. Two books and a special edition of an international journal are currently under contract. He serves on the editorial board of Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, Digest Journal of Nano-bio structures, International Journal of Green Nanotechnology. He received PhD from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA in 1990 followed by Kobe post-doctoral fellowship. Since 2003. he served as the Director of several NATO Advanced Study Institutes (ASI)/Advanced Research workshops (ARW) supported by Emerging Security Challenges Division of the Science for Peace and Security. In 2008, he served as co-chair of an International Symposium on Nanotechnology and Environmental Pollution Prevention (ISNEPP). In 2009, he led the U.S. position on Nanotechnology in High Technology Coordination Group (HTCG) to joint US and India delegation. In addition, he served as a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce, NIST, and ANSI delegation to the U.K. representing the U.S. position on Standards in Nanotechnologies in the ISO/TAG to TC-229. He is a member of NATO-SET-040, an exploratory team panel investigating security and surveillance applications of nanotechnology. He serves as an expert counsel to the UNESCO, ObservatoryNANO, COSENT – south-east consortium on Nanotechnologies on NANO-Science and Technologies, and S&T advisor to NATO. He is an active member of several national and international professional organizations. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society (FAPS), Institute of Nanotechnology (FIoN), and the New York Academy of Sciences (FNYAS). He was awarded a Gold medal by the State Engineering University of Armenia for his contribution to Nanotechnology. In addition, he has earned several other fellowships and awards for his meritorious service including 2004/2005 Distinguished Artist and Scholar award.

Publications

Handbook of Research on Emerging Developments and Environmental Impacts of Ecological Chemistry
Gheorghe Duca, Ashok Vaseashta. © 2020. 649 pages.
Pollution has been a developing problem for quite some time in the modern world, and it is no secret how these chemicals negatively affect the environment. With these...