Text-Only Version
Brian Ninness: Senior Research Scientist, LASST Lab, V.P. Orono Spectral Solutions:
"The rationale and the purpose for forming the company came out of Dr. Carl Tripp's laboratory at University of Maine at the Laboratory for Surface Science and Technology."
Luke Doucette: Senior Research Scientist, LASST Lab, V.P. Orono Spectral Solutions:
"The applications for what we're doing are numerous. We're constantly looking in terms of where else could we be applying our technology and in particular, what commercial setting and what industries we would fit in."
Brian Ninness:
"Our main customer right now is the Department of Defense through the United States Army. They're interested in looking at detection of chemical warfare agents or biological agents such as anthrax. In the commercial aspect, there's also a lot of applications with regard to the use of pesticides in food products, contamination of water sources in agriculture. So, it really opens up a lot of avenues in terms of detection of trace amounts of toxic materials. What we're doing is very cutting-edge. We are one of the few organizations that are at least going after this technique for trace detection of toxic materials in water and air."
Luke Doucette:
"The sensor industry is immense in the U.S., as well as globally. We hope to tap into this market. There are a lot of players in this market; however, we feel that we have an edge over a lot of the existing methods that are used."
Brian Ninness:
"I'd say within five years, our goal is to be a stand-alone company. Have our own laboratory, have our own office space, our own staff. We're taking steps in that direction right now."
Luke Doucette:
"I think we can be a world leader in trace-level detection of both bio and chem agents in water and air backgrounds. I feel that we have demonstrated, at a research level, that our technology is an excellent way to accomplish this. We just now need to take those next steps in forming a company."
Brian Ninness:
"One of my paramount goals was to raise my family in the state of Maine. We came here 10 years ago and had to leave because there wasn't the jobs, there wasn't the technical profession that I was educated here at the university in. By creating this company, we're able to stay here. And what we're planning on doing is growing in size so that we're able to hire talented scientists and engineers from the university who would also like to stay in the state and grow the technical base of Maine's economy."
