Mounir Laroussi

Mounir Laroussi, is a Tunisian-American scientist. He is known for his work in plasma science, especially low temperature plasmas and their biomedical applications.

Mounir Laroussi was born and raised in Sfax, Tunisia, the son of Habib Laroussi and Manana Jeloul. He is the middle child of three siblings.

Mounir Laroussi attended the Alexander Dumas Elementary School and the Lycee Technique de Sfax (middle school and high school). He received his “Diplome d’Ingenieur” from the Ecole Nationale d’Ingenieurs de Sfax (ENIS) and completed his Master’s equivalent thesis in 1981 at the Ecole Nationale Superieure d’ Electronique et de Radioelectricite de Bordeaux (ENSERB. Since 2009, it is ENSEIRB-MATMECA), Bordeaux, France. In 1998, he received his PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee. After few years of teaching, Dr. Laroussi joined the Microwave & Plasma Laboratory of the University of Tennessee as a Research Assistant Professor from 1995 to 1998. Dr. Laroussi joined Old Dominion University in 1998 as a Research Associate Professor in the Applied Research Center and from 2003 to 2008 held an Associate Professor position at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. He was promoted to the rank of Full Professor in 2008.

Mounir Laroussi is currently a Professor at the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department of Old Dominion University (ODU) and is the Director of ODU’s Laser & Plasma Engineering Institute (LPEI). His research interests are in the Physical Electronics area and particularly in the physics and applications of non-equilibrium gaseous discharges. Amongst these are the generation of large volume low temperature plasmas, the interaction of microwaves with plasmas, and the biomedical applications of cold plasmas, a field known as “Plasma Medicine”. In the latter he published seminal papers on the interaction of low temperature plasmas with biological cells. In plasma medicine research, low temperature plasmas (or simply cold plasmas) are used to inactivate bacteria and proteins, assist in wound healing, destroy some types of cancer cells, and play an active role in various other medical therapies. In 2009 the Institute of Electric and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) elevated Mounir Laroussi to the grade of Fellow for his important contributions to the biomedical applications of plasmas[3]. He was also awarded the inaugural achievement award from the International Society on Plasma Medicine in September 2010. Perhaps Mounir Laroussi’s best known invention is a device called the Plasma Pencil. This device can generate long plumes or jets of cold plasmas that can be used in various biomedical applications, including in dentistry. The Plasma Pencil was the subject of wide media coverage including a mention in an article in National Geographic (February 2006 issue), ABC online news, and was featured in a couple of science/technology shows on the History Channel and the Smithsonian Channel.

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