Gabor Patonay is a Professor of Analytical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at Georgia State University. He received his M.S. (1973) and Ph.D. (1979) degrees from the Faculty of Chemistry of the Technical University of Budapest, Hungary. After graduation he spent a brief period at the same school mostly developing new analytical instruments and techniques. In 1982, he joined Professor Isiah M. Warner's group at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, as a postdoctoral associate where he pursued research in molecular absorption and luminescence spectroscopy, multidimensional luminescence measurements; and analytical use of cyclodextrins and micelles in luminescence spectroscopy and development of computer applications for chemical analyses. He joined the faculty of Georgia State University (GSU), Atlanta, Georgia in 1987 teaching analytical courses. Since joining GSU Dr. Patonay has been active in several areas of analytical chemistry research including near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence spectroscopy and the development of new NIR optical detection methods. NIR fluorescence has the highest utility in applications where the interference is significant, i.e., in biological samples. During the last several years Dr. Patonay and his research group have developed new bioanalytical and biomedical applications using NIR probes and labels. Lately his research group has been active in developing new forensic analytical tools for presumptive trace evidence detection using visible and NIR dyes.

Dr. Patonay has been active in the scientific peer review process, reviewing manuscripts for numerous journals and grant applications for federal and state granting agencies as well as private foundations. He served on editorial boards for scientific journals and organized several conference symposia. Dr. Patonay has published over 180 papers, is the author of several book chapters and patents, and has presented over 200 conference presentations.