Isay L. Krainsky received a M.S. degree in Physics and Electronics from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, Leningrad, U.S.S.R., in 1968; completed all the requirements for Ph.D. in Physics from the Leningrad Pedagogic Institute in 1976, and received his Ph.D. in Physics from the Case Western Reserve University in 1981.

In 1984 he joined the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC), Cleveland, Ohio, where he is now a senior research scientist. While at NASA he has been involved in:

1. Studies of Electronic structure, work function, electronic and thermionic emission of model cathodes and cathode materials including various combinations of W, O, Ba, Sc and others using various surface sensitive techniques such as Auger Spectroscopy, and Direct and Inverse Angular Resolved Photo Electron Spectroscopy;
2. Studies of Secondary Electron Emission properties of various materials for the purpose of electron suppression or amplification;
3. Studies of angular distributions of secondary electrons with the purpose of improving the performance of TWT’s;
4. Studies of electronic properties of materials with Negative Electron Affinity including diamond, and AlGaN;
5. Studies of Thermionic and Field Emission properties of carbon nano-tubes. Isay L. Krainsky has authored over 60 publications in refereed journals and gave over 50 presentations at various conferences.