Martin Andrew Sala

Background

Sala, Martin Andrew was born on September 6, 1957 in Buffalo. Son of Paul and Adrienne (Williams) Zahm.

Education

Bachelor in Biophysics, State University of New York, Buffalo, 1981.

Career

Specializing in Instrument Design, NDE and Measurements, I, by virtue of a comprehensive knowledge of the how and why things work, create, design, prototype, and move to production successful NDE, Reverse Engineering and Failure Analysis systems.

My contributions to the Instrumentation community have enabled to the completion of the National Ignition Facility, port-holes for the Space-Shuttle, a Catalytic Convertor that eliminates Greenhouse Gasses, Semiconductors produced in an atmosphere, Micro-reactors, a $2.5B fiber-optic business escape infringement just to mention a few.

I am a proven Engineering Physicist (interdisciplinary), a patented inventor whose accomplishments are used throughout contemporary society and a Project Manager. It is this competence that makes me an awesome candidate. Additionally I have worked extensively in Europe, Russia and Asia with understanding of both German and French.

Most recently I am an Electronic Engineer at Abbott Point of Care, Princeton, NJ designing/ performing experiments and authoring verification documents for the Darwin Point of Care Analyzer to facilitate acceptance of the instrument by the FDA.

I have been a Consultant to energy corporations, in the US and UK, designing sensor packages for the CISBOT; a robot for repairing leaks in live subterranean gas mains. The initial design of the sensor package utilizes a Scanning LASER Interferometer and EMAT (electromagnetic acoustic [ultrasonic] transducer) to gauge the wall. This sensor package also includes the means to identify material species, and discontinuities such as cracks and voids. Additionally I designed a portable Remote Sensing device for identifying explosive gasses.

At Corning Incorporated, which is first a materials/ chemical producer, I was a member of an elite 3-person Impossible Problem Team wherein, my part being instrumentation, providing global NDE and inspection engineering for various production facilities. As the Corporate expert on all things NDE, I was not limited to any one modality: Ultrasound PAUT, TOFD, LASER-Induced, X-ray (CT, Laminography, and Plane), microscopy (optical, con-focal, SEM, TEM, fluorescence), Magnetic/ eddy-current techniques, optical spectroscopy and remote-sensing to name a few.

This experience at Corning Incorporated has also exposed me to many of the same process measurements required by the Chemical Industry including containment of molten materials, cracking and distillation, hazardous materials handling including highly combustible substances, ceramics design and manufacture and reaction processes.

As an Entrepreneur I founded the MBS Foundry, Inc., the inventor and manufacturer of the Retrospex rear-vision system for large vehicles, operated a Biomedical Instrument Design and Maintenance firm providing services to Hospitals, Physicians, Schools and individual labs. I have also been a Director of Biomedical Engineering at several hospitals with hands-on experience tracking incident reports, PM and Maintenance Schedules while having everything evaluated by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) receiving the highest scores.

Any process control/ measurement system is fair-game from temperature and pressure to on-line optical parameters, to spectrum analysis and remote sensing, NDE-real-time feature analysis to the regulation of entire process-lines. When needed, I design from first concepts, electronic circuits for analog data acquisition, control, power supplies (include alternative power sources), optical systems, radiation-monitors, LASERs, AC, DC, HF, Ultrasound and High Voltage and so on.

Power Supplies are a way of life having designed and built most forms of regulated devices including switching and analog using vacuum tubes, discrete and monolithic devices. Examples are high-current supplies for large magnets as one would find powering Helmholtz-type magnets in an MRI for, high-voltage for various detectors and electron-acceleration, battery and solar for both primary and back-up, mobile-power including diesel power supplies, and even motor-generator (MG) sets. I have worked with DC currents to 1kA and voltages up to 500kV. I have also designed and built AC and multiphase supplies for controlling processes, motors and glass-melting.

To help deliver highest quality, I have become a jack-of-many-trade performing the design, simulations, prototyping and deploying. I can fabricate electronic circuits, weld, EPA Certified, am completely machine-shop competent, expert technical writer (see http://msala.us/root/technical_writing.html ), deliver presentations and deploy a technique anywhere in the field and most importantly, able to gain an understanding what the Customer really needs versus wants. I can fix anything.

Through years of experience as both a multidisciplinary engineer and a people-person I am able to look across the disciplines assisting in identifying the problem and delivering a solution; evolving an idea from the back of the napkin to a finished product. I have a sense for when it better to build in-house and buy a product/ system/ device off-the- shelf.

I seek a situation where I can use my mind to its fullest, use my hands to create, exceed the expectations of the organization and take home a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day. Travel domestically and abroad does not present a problem.

Achievements

• ABBOTT Laboratories, Point of Care – Writing design verifications that defend the production design of the Darwin Dragonfly Point-of-Use hand-held analytical laboratory to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). I had to acquire a complete understanding of the design, layout, software and operation of the system then design and perform the necessary experiments to generate the documentation that satisfies the FDA.
  
  ULC Robotics – Developed initial sensor designs for the CISBOT, a robot designed for the repair of live subterranean natural gas mains. System included Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducers (EMAT), X-Ray Gamma Fluorescence, Eddy Current and various optical-means to determine the integrity of cast-iron conduits.
  
  Fourteen years at Corning incorporated solving the process, measurements, instrumentation and Non Destructive
  
  Evaluation (NDE) across all divisions in any country. Corning is first a materials manufacturer.
  
  One of the most rewarding projects was leading the team as an individual contributor that invented the hardware and process to manufacture High Purity Fused Silica (HPFS) to the level of clarity required to allow completion of the National Ignition Facility. The process takes Octylmethylsilane, and through pyrolization and reconsolidation, produces HPFS that was optically perfect in a 9’ x 9” boule of glass. Using a scanning LASER spectrometer and interferometer of my design the process was reduced from weeks of “manual mining” to hours. Our work allowed the project to be completed on-time. Please see: http://msala.us/msalaus_in-progress/NIF/nif_continued.html
  
  Catalytic Converter for Collecting and Eliminating nano-particulates and Greenhouse Gases US Patent 7,959,883. This was an invention designed to augment the collection requirements of gasoline engines producing soot particulates <10μ; the device also
  
  eliminates NOx and CO2.
  
  In 2008, Corning Incorporated was faced with patent infringement of their $2B SMF-28 fiber business because someone had overlooked a step in the original patent application. Fiber is produced via pyrolysis, like HPFS, is reconsolidated and then pulled from a gob into a 125μ fiber, not unlike taffy (but hotter). I was assigned to a three-man team to make the fiber process better so a new patent application could be filed eliminating infringement. By adding a deuterium pressure step, we not only made the fiber faster (optically) we allowed for more tension on the fiber during coiling which enabled the fiber to wound nearly 3X faster!
  
  Micro-Reactors – are tiny chemical factories measuring about six2” comprised of several layers of glass/ ceramic. I designed both the instrumentation to measure the process in situ and the NDE that determined if each reactor was perfect.
  
  
  
  DNA Print-Head Reservoir – In 2005 Corning entered the genomics business with the ability to print 1024 x
  
  1024 species of DNA on a 1” x 3” microscope slide 16X. My task was to automate the analysis process that determined if the print-head had any defects. (Please see: http://msala.us/root/Homepage/Successes/Successes_Working.html towards the middle). The channels were 100μ across with 20μ fenestrations. Using an X-ray CT controlled by a DEC Alpha and an analysis program running on a Silicon Graphics O2, we were able to test one every shift. Since DNA could not be removed from a damaged filled reservoir, I saved Corning about $3M/ good-verified device.
  
  
  
  Nano – Particulates – I developed processes and received six US Patents (please see:
  
  http://msala.us/root/inventions_1.html) the important aspects of these are:
  
  Devised a means of making ultrapure Silicon, Germanium and Gallium in an atmosphere from waste silicon tetrachloride; everybody else requires a vacuum
  
  Making semiconductors above to any size particulate down to 20nm
  
  Making Titanium Dioxide nanoparticles and the production of rutile, anatase and brookite by turning a dial!
  
  Manufacture of Silicon Dioxide nano-particulates
  
  Manufacture of scaffolds of silicon dioxides to enhance the growth of cell-cultures in 3-D
  
  Designed and developed the mean to electrostatically pattern nano-particulates (like for making electronic components)
  
  Ultra-Capacitor and Fuel Cells – Provided instrumentation to reverse-engineer including NDE. This is a 3-D CAT scan of an Ultra-Capacitor:
  
  Computer Systems – Expert
  
  PC based desk-top, server and instrument controllers (like National Instruments and LabView)
  
  Microsoft Office, Word Perfect, IE and Firefox, Adobe Professional, PaintShop Pro, DreamWeaver, OmniPage, FrameMaker 9, and Skype; NT Administrator certification
  
  Engineering/ Scientific Tools – COMSOL, MathCAD, SolidWorks (7), ORCAD, Matlab 5.3, Ultiboard
  
  PLCs and remote process controllers, Wi-Fi, Optical Communications, Relay, pneumatic and valve interfaces
  
  VMS and Unix based platforms (DEC Alpha and Silicon Graphics O2)
  
  

Works

• Other Work

  • Author: Theory & Design of Core Memory, 1979, Purely Natural Causes, 1999. Editor various periodicals, since 1970. Inventor, developer Retrospex Systems for large vehicles.

Membership

With United States Navy, 1976-1981. Member American Institute Physics, Instrument Society of America, American Association for the Advancement of Science, International Society Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Society for Advancement Medical Instrument Design, International Society for Optical Engineering.

Personality

A loyal friend; a feared enemy. . .

See: http://msala.us

Extremely energetic, a gift for solving complex problems in a fast-paced R and D environment that includes the invention of systems and detectors for nucleons, electrons, x-rays, ultrasound, photons, atom-specific and gamma-rays for NDE applications in both industry and medicine; exceptional interpersonal skills, committed to excellence, I have an innovative and challenging spirit, new innovations and products are always in the offing; a cross-functional/multi-disciplined geek-with-personality that is able to communicate at all levels; most importantly are abilities to define what the Customer really needs versus wants. Even though profoundly effective in a leadership role, I prefer the thrill of hands-on creativity in the shop, lab and field; the key to my success is an ability to do-it-all and do it well.

Physical Characteristics: Three feet tall, 4.5 feet wide, generally spherical in appearance. Please go to http://msala.us for a color image. Thank you.

Quotes from others about the person

• Mart's the guy you want to have with you on a deserted island or at the end of the World. Technologically brilliant and what a sense of humor!

Interests

• Flying.

• Philosophers & Thinkers

  Nietzsche.

• Writers

  Dean Koontz

• Artists

  DiVinci

• Sport & Clubs

  Tennis.

• Athletes

  Self.

• Music & Bands

  JS Bach Pipe Organ; Boston, Transsiberian Orchestra, Zeppelin,

Connections

Married Erie Anne Wagner-Sala, November 23, 1986. 1 child, Rebeckah.

Father:

Paul Zahm

Mother:

Adrienne (Williams) Zahm

Spouse:

Erie Anne Wagner-Sala

child:

Rebeckah Sala