Jhabvala, Murzy - Biography

Dr. Murzy Jhabvala has been with the Goddard Space Flight Center since 1974. During this time has worked on a wide range projects spanning the technology spectrum of integrated circuit design and fabrication to managing international detector development projects for NASA science missions. In the early years he designed, fabricated, flight qualified and delivered, radiation hard PMOS and CMOS integrated circuits to numerous projects (ISEE, IUE, HEAO, ISPM, OSO); was the co-inventor of the polysilicon micro- filament IR sources used on the SIRTF project; lead the team for the design, fabrication and delivery of the Gravity Probe B (GP-B) low noise cryogenic JFETS and the GP-B detector assembly build; he managed the development and delivery of both the anode array and the cross delay line detector assembly for Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO); he developed the internal reference source and scatterometer instruments for the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE); he lead the custom CCD/photodiode imager development for the MODIS-T project; he co-developed the first GaAs long wave Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector array (128x128) and camera development and was the Principal Investigator for the development of the 640x512 GaAs QWIP Hyperspectral (4-15µm) Imaging System and; lead the team for the development of the worldÕs first 1,024x1,024 (1K x1K) GaAs QWIP. He is leading the development of the micro-shutter arrays for the James Webb Space Telescope project and co-lead for the detector development for the Pluto-Kuiper mission.

In 1986, Dr. Jhabvala was requested by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Dept. of Commerce to serve as the Technical Advisor for the administration of the US-Japan Semiconductor Trade Agreement and has continues in that advisory role in the investigation of dumping of memory chips from Taiwan and Korea. This assignment was, and continues to be, performed in conjunction with his NASA duties. He served as the NASA-wide representative to the Steering Committee of the Government Microelectronics and Applications Conference (GOMAC) from 1984-1997.

Dr. Jhabvala received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1989, the Federal Laboratory Consortium "Excellence in Technology Transfer" Award in 1991, the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal in 1995, selected for the annual Moe Schneebaum Award for Engineering in 1995, received the Distinguished Service Award from the GOMAC Committee in 1997 and was inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame in 2001 for his contribution to the development of QWIP technology. Dr. Jhabvala was appointed (by the Director) a Goddard Senior Fellow in 1992 and continues to serve as a Senior Fellow. He is the author or co-author of more than 60 technical publications and the author of policy papers on the cost allocation of research and development in the Semiconductor Industry for the Dept. of Commerce. Dr. Jhabvala holds patents for unique semiconductor and medical devices he has invented.

Dr. Jhabvala was born in Manhattan, NY in 1951. He received his BS in Engineering Science from the University of Rhode Island in 1973, his MS in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University in 1974 and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland in 1980. He currently resides in Clarksville, Maryland and is very active in competitive handball. In 1997 he was elected to the Board of Directors of the US Handball Association representing the Mid-Atlantic region and served a 3-year term.