Ajay Nahata is Vice President of Hardware Engineering at Picarro, where he leads the development and delivery of advanced optical sensing platforms and integrated hardware systems. He oversees cross-functional engineering efforts spanning spectrometer design, system integration, and productization, driving the company’s next generation of high-performance gas analysis solutions and enabling scalable, data-driven offerings for environmental monitoring and industrial applications. Ajay has more than 30 years of experience in optical spectroscopy, optoelectronics, and advanced data analytics. Since 2003, he has led Picarro’s Integrated System group, which designed and built the Fenceline, Workplace Monitor, and (VOC) Mobile systems. Ajay has published extensively in various areas of optical physics, with more than 100 journal publications, numerous invited talks, and multiple patents. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.