Predicting Life Expectancies of Modern Magnetic and Optical Media
Dr. Vivek Navale,Technical Chief, Electronic Records
& Special Media Program National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA)
December 21, 2005
About the Lecture:
This presentation described the findings of recent studies conducted by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, the Library of Congress, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to address stability and life expectancies of higher density magnetic tapes and optical discs. The effect of environmental factors on physical and chemical composition of magnetic tapes and optical media were highlighted. Accelerated aging studies, chemical and error rate dependent models, and statistical approaches for analyzing the experimental data were discussed.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Vivek Navale has been the Technical Chief for the Electronic Records and Special Media program at the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) since 2000. Prior to joining NARA, he served for 10 years as the Principal Scientist for Raytheon Information Technology Services and Hughes Information Technology Corporation working at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on the Cassini-Huygens Space Mission team. While there, he was responsible for the design and development of a sub-system for a miniaturized sensor (a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer) on the Huygens probe. Dr. Navale earned an undergraduate degree in physical sciences, a Masters in Earth and Ocean Sciences, and a doctorate in Chemistry from George Washington University. He has over 20 research publications and was the recipient of the 1998 NASA and the European Space Agency award for outstanding contributions made to the Cassini-Huygens mission and the recipient of the 2005 NARA Archivist Award for outstanding contribution to organizational goals of the agency.
