Thursday, December 8, 2011

Dynasil unit wins $3.65M Homeland Security research award

By Michelle Lang

The RMD Research subsidiary of Watertown-based Dynasil Corp. of America will be investing more in developing gamma and neutron radiation detectors now that the company has landed $3.65 million in contracts from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO).

The research contracts consist of $2.15 million, awarded through the DNDO’s Exploratory Research Program, intended for nuclear detection concepts, while the remaining $1.5 million, awarded through the Small Business Innovation Research program, is geared toward research and commercialization of nuclear threat detection programs.

Dynasil (Nasdaq: DYSL) operates wholly owned subsidiaries in New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. It serves the medical, industrial and homeland security/defense industries. The company announced in April that it had named Steven Ruggieri as president, to lead the photonics manufacturing of instruments, optical materials, coatings and components.

RMD Research, also based in Watertown, has research groups in the following areas: X-ray and nuclear sensor research; materials science research; laser optics and optical sensor research; biochemical sensor research; and instrumentation development.