Portfolio and staff grows as non-profit group helps solve issues critical to government

FAIRMONT, WV – With a growing research staff of eight full-time Ph.D.s and four staff engineers – and an expanding portfolio of national significance – the West Virginia High Technology Consortium (WVHTC) Foundation’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) has emerged as a regional leader in physical sciences and engineering.

The Advanced Technologies Group’s projects span the spectrum from basic research to advanced development, but the group’s core is “applied research,” which bridges the gap between the fundamental science typically engaged in by university researchers and the product development going on in industry.

The Advanced Technologies Group’s research projects fall into four focus areas:

• Optics & Photonics
• Data Analysis & Signal Processing
• Power Electronics & Electromagnetics
• Space Weather Prediction

Since 2007, the group’s researchers have competed for and won 14 new research contracts and grants worth approximately $15 million for projects covering all four of these research focus areas. The group’s government customers include multiple agencies within the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the National Science Foundation.

Excluding university and government labs, the Advanced Technologies Group now boasts one of the the largest team of Ph.D. physicists and electrical engineers in West Virginia. The group’s expertise is now at work helping to solve challenging technological problems critical to national interests.

“The Advanced Technologies Group has become one of the premier science and engineering research organizations in West Virginia,” said WVHTC Foundation President & CEO James L. Estep. “I commend the group on its many accomplishments and its growing portfolio of leading-edge research projects.”

The Advanced Technologies Group dedicates its competencies in physics, electrical engineering, algorithms, and related fields to directly addressing the needs of its customers, who often face scenarios critical to the nation’s well-being.

Some examples of ongoing ATG research projects include:

• Tactical Imager for Night/Day Extended-Range Surveillance (TINDERS) – ATG researchers are developing an imaging system that can track and zoom in on a person’s face – from hundreds of meters away, in the light of day or dark of night – and identify the person through computer face recognition.




• Tactical Analysis of Video Imagery (TAVI) – ATG researchers are developing an automated system that uses an array of surveillance cameras to detect potential terrorists. Then, using computer face recognition and social network analysis algorithms, the system can identify the individuals and determine how the people are connected with one another.



• Portable Community Infrastructure Resiliency System (PCIRS) – In this important project, ATG researchers are developing a portable lightweight backup power system, deployable by aircraft, to serve the nation’s electrical energy infrastructure in the event of terrorist attack or act of nature.



• Solar Atmospheric Modeling – ATG Researchers are developing advanced theoretical models of the dynamics of the sun’s atmosphere. These models will lead to a better understanding of how the sun emits the solar wind, solar flares, and other activities that have profound effects on our planet.

The group is led by Dr. Brian Lemoff, Vice President for Advanced Technologies.

A Caltech graduate with a Stanford Ph.D. in physics, Lemoff worked for 11 years at Hewlett Packard and Agilent Laboratories in Palo Alto, California, prior to joining the WVHTC Foundation in 2005.

“I’m proud of the fact that across all four of our focus areas, we have been able to win multiple highly-competitive awards over the past three years,” said Dr. Lemoff. “Our growing portfolio is the result of a talented, dedicated staff that is busy researching, building prototypes, and applying them to issues of national significance.”

Located in the I-79 Technology Park Research Center, the Advanced Technologies Group features several laboratories under its roof, including specially designed labs for optics and lasers, pulsed power, electromagnetics, chemistry, and wide area surveillance, as well as an electronics shop and a machine shop.

For more information on the Advanced Technologies Group, please visit www.wvhtf.org/departments.

ABOUT THE WVHTC FOUNDATION

The WVHTC Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Fairmont, West Virginia, functioning as an engine of economic change for growing a statewide and regional high tech business sector. The Foundation has established a multi-faceted approach to maximize economic development, including infrastructure development, research and development, commercialization and workforce development.

Media contact: Scott Gillespie / 304.333.6856 / sgillespie@wvhtf.org