Molecular imaging collaboration: Advanced Research Technologies (ART; Montreal, QC, Canada), a medical device company and a provider of optical molecular imaging products for the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, signed a collaboration agreement with the National Research Council of Canada’s Institute for Biological Sciences (NRC-IBS) for the development of client-oriented diagnostic applications using ART’s proprietary time domain technology. “The NRC-IBS is very pleased to collaborate with ART for the development of better diagnostics using molecular imaging, which can help identify and characterize brain-specific targets, and develop improved therapies for neurodegenerative diseases affecting the aging population. Optical imaging-based approaches also promise to accelerate drug evaluation and shorten the time to their clinical application”, said Abedelnasser Abulrob, research officer at the NRC-IBS.
New Communications VP: JDSU (Milpitas, CA), provider of broadband and optical solutions, appointed Keith Lambert to the role of senior VP of Optical Communications Operations at JDSU. Reporting to David Gudmundson, president of Optical Communications at JDSU, Lambert will focus on driving efforts in the areas of lean manufacturing, cost leadership, and operational excellence for the group. Prior to JDSU, Lambert served as VP of Global Operations of RadiSys Corporation from 2001 to 2007, a leading provider of embedded electronics solutions for telecom service, medical equipment, test and measurement equipment, and industrial automation. Lambert holds an electronics degree from University College in Dublin, Ireland.
Software donation: ITT Visual Information Solutions (Boulder, CO), a wholly owned subsidiary of ITT Corporation, announced a recent donation of licenses of its ENVI and IDL software packages to the Rochester Institute of Technology’s (RIT; Rochester, NY) Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science in support of the center’s new cluster computing environment. The new licenses now allow every student in the program to access ENVI and IDL to analyze the images and data used for class projects, theses, and public service contributions. In addition, the licenses allow students to distribute computationally intensive processing tasks among hundreds of idle computers located throughout the RIT campus. In the past, students were limited to the processing capabilities of their individual desktop computers.
Senior scientists hired: Laser manufacturer Aculight Corporation (Bothell, WA) hired two new scientists: Shawn Redmond joined the company as senior scientist specializing in high-power laser technology; Dan Hu joined as senior scientist/project manager to support the company’s product line of high-power fiber laser modules.
Shawn Redmond joins Aculight from Northrop Grumman, where he was a staff engineer specializing in multi-kW solid-state lasers. He has also been a research assistant at the University of Michigan and at Oregon State University. Prior to Aculight, Dan Hu was a senior optical engineer/project manager for Spectra Physics where he was responsible for diode laser technology and product development. He has also been a senior optical engineer for NP Photonics and a senior engineer for Ciena Corporation.
Monolithic optics program: Agilent Technologies (Santa Clara, CA) announced its Complex Monolithic Optics (CMO) Development Program for OEM customers. CMOs are stand-alone optical assemblies that are created when multiple discrete optics are bonded together into a single, pre-aligned optical structure that streamlines an optical system by reducing the individual part count and improving performance and reliability. The result is reduced overall cost of ownership, size and weight. “The future of cost-effective optical system design will depend on smaller, lighter, more reliable optical assemblies,” said Vince Barich, Agilent Precision Optics operations manager. “The very nature of a CMO lowers the cost of ownership because system installation becomes easier and downtime caused by alignment or contamination issues is greatly reduced or even eliminated.”
Supplier award: Judson Technologies (Montgomeryville, PA), a privately held infrared detector supplier, received Raytheon Missile Systems’ 2007 Supplier Excellence Four-Star Award for outstanding quality and delivery performance during the past twelve months. Judson has developed, qualified, and is in full-rate production of a multi-element indium antimonide (InSb) array integrated with a custom housing for a guided missile application. With a history of innovation spanning 40 years, Judson Technologies offers state-of-the-art infrared detectors, focal plane arrays, and IR camera engine products for a wide range of military, industrial, and space applications.
LED cross license: OSRAM has granted to Seoul Semiconductors (Seoul, Korea) against compensation a license to manufacture and sell white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with conversion technology using patents owned by the OSRAM subsidiary OSRAM Opto Semiconductors (Regensburg, Germany). In return Seoul Semiconductors granted to OSRAM a license to use housing patents of Seoul Semiconductors. This agreement paves the way for a closer cooperation between the two companies. Conversion technology enables the production of white LEDs using blue emitting indium-gallium-nitride-based chips and suitable fluorescent converter. With the agreement signed, Seoul Semiconductors is granted the right to use this OSRAM intellectual property in white LEDs of all sizes, in all output categories, and for all areas of application.
Fluorescence award: The MFF or Multi Frequency Fluorometer, the latest instrument from the Fluorescence Group at Horiba Jobin Yvon (Edison, NJ), has been named a winner of the 2007 R&D 100 Award, sponsored each year by R&D Magazine. With this award, MFF joins such prestigious products as anti-lock brakes, the fax machine, and liquid crystal displays. The MFF is an instrument that uses patented technology to instantaneously acquire data on the molecular behavior of substances such as cells, nanodevices, and research materials. It is orders of magnitude faster than the nearest competing device and opens up new frontiers in research science.
Imaging seminars: Photron (San Diego, CA), providers of ultra-high-speed camera systems and slow-motion imaging solutions, and Electrophysics (Fairfield, NJ), manufacturer of infrared (IR) cameras, announce a series of educational seminars focusing on the latest advancements in high-speed visible and thermal imaging systems for R&D, testing applications, and production. This series of nationwide seminars will include a “hands-on” lab to demonstrate Photron’s camera systems and Electrophysics’ thermal imagers and instrumentation. The first event will be held on September 18, 2007 in Rosemont, IL, and the second in the series is scheduled for September 20, 2007 in Southfield, MI. For more information on the Imaging Seminars and to register online, go to: www.elec trophysics.com/nl/photron-chicil/ index.html or call 973-882-0211.
Nano research initiative: Computing researchers at Rice University (Houston, TX) have joined electronics specialists at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to form a new $2.6-million Institute for Sustainable Nanoelectronics (ISNE). The joint research initiative aims to slash design and production costs for embedded microchips-special-purpose computer chips that power everything from cell phones and digital cameras to jet airplanes and MRI machines. ISNE is funded by and based at NTU. ISNE hopes to evolve a design methodology that will be applicable not only to today’s complementary metal-oxide semiconductors, or CMOS, but also to emerging computing platforms based on photonics and nanotechnology. Rice researcher Krishna Palem, architect of the multinational initiative, will also head the ISNE.