Michael Cathcart

Dr. Michael Cathcart is a Principal and Founder of Applied Plasma Arc Technologies, LLC and holds an appointment as a Principal Research Scientist in the Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory of the Georgia Tech Research Institute. He has also held a joint research appointment in the School of Physics at Georgia Tech. He earned a PhD degree in Physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1982. He also earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics in 1976 and Master of Science in Physics in 1977 from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has worked at Georgia Tech since 1986 and currently runs the MultiSpectral Image Modeling Group within the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Over the past ten years, he has directed over $15M in research programs for DOD, DOE and DHS sponsors covering both basic and applied research. These programs have led to advances in sensing and data processing technologies. In addition to his research activities, he has authored over 75 technical papers and reports, lectured in five professional education courses, and served as reviewer for several professional research journals. He has also worked as a consultant to several companies over the past twenty years. His research interests cover a wide range of topics including environmental sensing, thermal physics, signature phenomenology, physics-based environmental modeling, directed energy technology, and electro-optical sensor technology. Since 2005, he has worked on applications and technology transition for plasma arc technology. Dr. Cathcart’s interests include the expansion of plasma arc technology and the development of commercial applications of this technology.