Consulting and Advising Services
FemtoSci provides on a consulting basis, from its experienced Leadership expertise for addressing unique issues in the semiconductor and particularly diamond-related electronics field. This includes consulting regarding design, analysis, prototype fabrication, testing and manufacturing of diamond-based nanodiamond and CVD diamond device products. These relationships are typically individually negotiated and tailored to the specific needs of the customer. For further information in this regard, please contact the President of FemtoSci, Dr. Jim Davidson, at 615-530-0750,
Leadership Personnel
Dr. David V. Kerns, Jr. david.kerns@femtosci.com
David V. Kerns, Jr., is CEO of International FemtoScience, Inc. (FemtoSciSM) and Principal Engineer;
David V. Kerns, Jr., is CEO of International FemtoScience, Inc., and Principal Engineer. Dr. Kerns previously served as a Distinguished Professor at Vanderbilt University and as Electrical Engineering Department Chair, Associate Dean and Acting Dean of Engineering. He also served in administrative and faculty positions at several other universities. In 1984 Dr. Kerns was the Founding Department Chair of ECE at the Florida State University – FAMU College of Engineering. More recently he served as the Founding Provost, Chief Academic Officer and Distinguished Professor of the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering from 1999 to 2007; Dr. Kerns continues an appointment as Adjoint Professor of Electrical Engineering at Vanderbilt University. He was a co-founder and President of InSouth Microsystems, a company later sold to Fairchild Industries which developed the first commercial MEMS accelerometer. Dr. Kerns was a member of the technical staff at Bell Laboratories and has co-founded several successful technology-based companies.
He has received recent awards such as the National Academy of Engineering Gordon Prize in 2013, the IEEE Third Millennium Medal, the IEEE Educational Activities Board Major Educational Innovation Award in 2005, and the ASEE ECE Meritorious Service Award in 2010. He holds 13 patents, is a Fellow of the IEEE, has authored or co-authored numerous publications and two textbooks, and served two terms as President of the IEEE Education Society. Dr. Kerns has served as PI or Co=PI on over $30M in funded research. His lifelong interest has been in microelectronics research and development, advancing engineering education, and engineering entrepreneurship.
Dr. Jim L. Davidson jim.davidson@femtosci.com
Dr. Davidson is currently President, Principal Engineer, International FemtoScience, Inc. (FemtoSciSM) Nashville, TN. He was Professor and Director of Vanderbilt Microelectronics Laboratory, and now is Professor Emeritus, Vanderbilt University.
Formerly, he was Manager of Advanced Process Development and Director of Product Assurance at Harris Semiconductor, Inc., and Vice President of Operations at InSouth Microsystems Corp. He has led over $100M in applied research programs for government and industry in advanced electronic materials and microelectronic microsensors with development programs in synthetic diamond and other rugged advanced wide bandgap semiconductors for electronic, biological and mechanical applications. He has over 250 publications and Proceedings papers, over 10 seminal patents, including device isolation, original MEMS and diamond vacuum FET technologies. His innovations have advanced electronic materials, devices and processes ranging from ICBM radiation-hardened guidance and control integrated circuits, to the first MEMs devices, to the technology for the airbag deployment sensor, to junctionless electron emission cold-cathode diamond switches for next generation electronics. He is a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society and was an invited speaker for the Role of Carbon in Future Electronics, The Hooke Committee, Royal Society at the Royal Society, London.
Dr. Glenn Hess glenn@femtosci.com
Dr. Glenn Hess currently Vice President of Government Programs and Operations and has over 25 years of semiconductor and radiation hardening experience. Prior to joining FemtoSci, he was the Chief Technical Officer for Advanced Engineering Technology (AET), where he was responsible for AET's technology development as well as managing AET's research contracts and subcontractors.
Dr. Hess has been Principal Investigator on over 20 SBIR and STTR programs and has served on proposal peer review panels for the National Science Foundation. He led the team that designed, fabricated and productized the United States’ most advanced Nuclear Event Detector (NED) into a fully qualified part marketed by Aeroflex Microelectronic Solutions and has presented technology to offices of United States Congress in support of passing legislation aimed at protection from an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) event in space.
His technical background is in semiconductor device physics, semiconductor process and device simulation, radiation hardening and statistics. Dr. Hess received his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Florida and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Florida Institute of Technology. He has many publications to his credit, one U.S. Patent, and holds memberships in Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, Phi Kappa Phi, and Sigma Xi.
Dr Travis Wade travis.wade@femtosci.com
Dr. Travis Wade is currently the Vice President of Engineering for FemtoSci, and is PI on a FemtoSci diamond project for DARPA. Dr. Wade is a CVD diamond growth specialist with a published history of high-performance deliverables including the recent establishment of a diamond deposition and processing laboratory containing 3 FemtoSci diamond machines. Previously he created an entirely new CVD diamond growth capability for the MIT Lincoln Laboratory with a focus on best-in-class performance in support of the delivery of world-record performance figures. Dr. Wade has directly supported millions of dollars in research funded by the US Government and Fortune 100 companies, increasing yields, growth rates, quality and purity of diamond growth for startups and established companies.
Since his PhD dissertation on diamond field emission in 2011, he has published 6 articles on diamond electronics, including the cover article of the Nov 2018 issue of Phys. Status Solidi (a). He has also published a book chapter titled "Electron Field Emission from Diamond" in Nanodiamond (ISBN 978-1-84973-639-8). He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Ms. Patricia “PJ” Ellison patricia.ellison@femtosci.com
Ms. Ellison is currently the Director of Finance and Accounting for FemtoScience, Inc. She brings over twenty years of experience acquired through leadership positions in corporate, financial, and personnel management. Prior to International FemtoScience, Ms. Ellison headed up the Human Resources and Administration teams at Space Micro Inc.
Ms. Ellison has substantial experience with DCAA and DCMA compliance and other government contracting issues. Ms. Ellison received her Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire with a comprehensive major in Economics.
Dr. Sherra E. Kerns sherra.kerns@femtosci.com
Sherra E. Kerns is the Chief Scientist of International FemtoScience, Inc. (FemtoSciSM) and Principal Engineer; she served as the Founding Vice President for Innovation and Research of the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering from 1999 to 2007; she also was and continues to serve as the F. W. Olin Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Prior to 1999, S. Kerns was Department Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Vanderbilt University and Director of the University Consortium for Research on Electronics in Space, a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary national capability for solving wide-ranging engineering and science problems. At Vanderbilt and other institutions, she served as PI on a wide variety of research projects and has published and presented over 200 refereed papers. She provided seminal contributions to the design for the first single-event immune SRAMs, greatly enhanced system dose-rate “operate through” levels and holds patents on electronic improvements for hazardous and extreme environments. She has received recent awards such as the National Academy of Engineering Gordon Prize in 2013, the IEEE Third Millennium Medal, the Harriett B. Rigas Outstanding Woman Engineering Educator Award and numerous other recognitions for both her technical and educational contributions. She is a Fellow of the IEEE and of the ASEE.