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AWARDS

2019 Governor's Award for High-Impact Research

Governor's Award for High-Impact Research

The annual Governor's Awards for High-Impact Research celebrates the brilliant groundbreaking discoveries and innovative research from Colorado’s ecosystem of federally-funded laboratories and institutions.

Winner's Name

Ian Coddington, Nathan Newbury, and Greg Rieker (full winners list shown below citation)

Awarded

November 12, 2019

Awarding Organization

CO-LABS

A technology based on innovative laser spectroscopy research at NIST and the University of Colorado has been ruggedized and commercialized here in Colorado for use in the field and can detect methane a quarter of a human breath from over a mile away.

“By working to create collaborations a) among experts in different fields, and b) between researchers and industry, the team produced extraordinary results that has resulted in the spinout company LongPath Technologies,” says Terri Fiez Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation at the University of Colorado – Boulder. “These creative partnerships helped the team do the unthinkable: leverage NobelPrize winning technology into something that the oil and gas industry could use daily to improve its environmental footprint, save lives and save money.” Dr. Marla Dowell, Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Boulder labs says “This pathfinding achievement is a success story that could only have occurred in Colorado because of the nexus of extraordinary government and academic research and entrepreneurship.”

WINNER: 2019 Governor's Awards: Dual Comb Spectroscopy Methane Detection — Nathan Newbury, Ian Coddington, Esther Baumann, Sean Coburn, Kevin Cossel, Fabrizio Giorgetta and Eleanor Waxman of the Fiber Sources and Applications Group within Applied Physics Division are part of a team that won the 2019 CO-LABS Governor's Awards for High Impact Research Award! Dual Comb Spectroscopy Methane Detection Technology based on Nobel Prize-winning research in Colorado can detect methane emissions as small as a quarter of a human breath from over a mile away. Congratulations to the Fiber Sources and Applications Group and all the members on the team!

Full list of winners:

Ian Coddington (PI), Project Leader, Applied Physics Division, NIST
Greg Rieker (PI), Associate Professor, University of Colorado Boulder (NIST & NREL affiliations), CTO, LongPath Technologies, Inc.
Nathan Newbury (PI), Group Leader and Fellow, Applied Physics Division, NIST
Caroline Alden, Research Scientist, CIRES
Esther Baumann, Senior Research Associate, Applied Physics Division, NIST
Sean Coburn, Research Scientist, University of Colorado Boulder
Kevin Cossel, Physicist, Applied Physics Division, NIST
Fabrizio Giorgetta, Senior Research Associate, Applied Physics Division, NIST
Andrew Goldstein, CEO, LongPath Technologies Inc.
Kuldeep Prasad, Engineer, Fire Research Division, NIST
Eleanor Waxman, Chemist, Applied Physics Division, NIST
Ted Weaver, Former CEO, LongPath Technologies, Inc.
Robert Wright, Research Engineer, University of Colorado Boulder

Physics