Dr. Joseph R. Stetter’s interests span analytical, physical, and environmental chemistry with particular emphasis on chemical sensors, sensor arrays, biosensors, and electroanalytical chemistry. Dr. Stetter, now president of KWJ Engineering Inc and Professor of Chemistry at IIT, has held positions of VP Engineering, Senior Research Chemist, Product Manager, Director of Chemical Research, Section Manager, and Group Leader in industry, academia, and research institutions. In the 1970s, Dr. Stetter was Director of Chemical Research at the Energetics Sciences Division of Becton, Dickinson, and Company (A Fortune 500 company) and was responsible for the corporate direction and expansion of the research department. While at Becton, Dickinson, and Company in the late 1970s, he developed the first diffusion sampled electrochemical CO sensors and introduced the earliest diffusion CO dosimeters in 1979. Since then, diffusion sampling for electrochemical sensors has become the industry standard for CO sensors and instruments. In addition, he developed a solid-state gas sensor for carbon monoxide and an electrochemical SO2 sensor and interfaced them to a GC. The electrochemical sensor for hydrazine determination, developed by Dr. Stetter, is yet used today by USAF/SAC and NASA.

While at the Argonne National Lab in suburban Chicago, Dr. Stetter led the interdisciplinary team to develop the first operational "sensor-array-based" instrument with pattern recognition. This technology, developed during 1981-1984, received the IR-100 Award (1984) for the construction of the advanced "CPS-100" Hazardous Gas Monitor, and is the world’s first “electronic nose” instrument contained in a camera bag complete with sensor array, pattern recognition algorithm, and instrument system for sampling and readout.

Stetter founded and was president of Transducer Research, Inc. [TRI] from 1983-1996 where he and co-workers continued to advance chemical sensors, incorporating new sensor technology to produce micro-amperometric sensors. Stetter’s innovative and tiny sensor designs used less than 300 uL of electrolyte and were introduced by TRI in 1993. These first miniature low-volume sensors then became standard in the electrochemical sensor industry with other companies introducing small electrochemical sensors about three year later. This TRI sensor innovation also allowed TRI, TSI, and others to make diminutive sensor probe designs, first introduced by TRI for real-time ppb-level NO2 measurement for human exposure monitoring (SONY Walkman size). Since the early 1990several other sensor products have been commercialized and are still in use today.

At Illinois Institute of Technology [IIT] since 1997, Dr. Stetter has continued his interest in advanced sensor technology. He founded TTI in 1999 to explore the use of a new nanotechnology enabled sensor improvement. This has led to an additional new generation for electrochemical sensors with long lifetime, high performance, miniaturized designs, and low cost. This unique combination of sensor features, available at a cost effective price, is sure to become another industry standard in years to come, but for now is only available through Transducer Technology, Inc.Commercial products based on Dr. Stetter’s more than 25 years of sensor research and development work are in use today, and more, based on nanotechnology and MEMS, are now emerging.

Dr. Stetter is professionally active having more than 200 publications, 25 patents, and various member services to the sensor community. He has been Chairman of the Electrochemical Society Sensor Division, a member of Sigma Xi since 1980, and members of the American Chemical Society since 1969 and many other organizations. He has won awards for his work, including three IR-100 Awards; the Federal Laboratory Consortium Special Award for Excellence in Technology; Transfer, the Argonne National Laboratory Inventor’s award; the 2002 TMAC [Technology Management Association of Chicago] “Entrepreneur-of-the-Year” award, and two NASA New Technology Awards. Dr. Stetter has served on the Board of Directors of four U.S. Corporations, has been a worldwide invited lecturer and speaker, and has served on the National and International Science Advisory boards. He has also served as an editor for several scientific peer review journals, has been a guest international editor for “Sensors and Actuators”, and has been Chairman of the Electronic Nose Symposium and Chair of the On-site Analytical Conference. Currently, he continues his commitment to protection of human health and the environment by the incorporation of cutting-edge science and nanotechnology into improved sensors, analytical methods, and instruments for toxic gases and biological agents that cause disease.

For more information about Dr. Stetter, please visit: www.iit.edu/~stetter