Date: Aug 20, 2009 Source: (
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Gov. Jack Markell joined Alan Levin, director of the Delaware Economic Development Office, to recognize the founders of AlphaSense, Inc. for the company's scientific advancement and technological innovation.
"I am proud to honor and support the founders of AlphaSense for their ingenuity and hard work," said Markell. "They represent the kind of entrepreneurs and small business owners that will help create good jobs for Delawareans and grow our economy."
The Delaware Economic Development Office awarded AlphaSense a Delaware Strategic Fund grant for $50,000 to help the company continue its development of a cavity enhanced terahertz absorption spectrometer, an optical device.
In Nov. 2008, AlphaSense received Phase I of a federal Small Business Innovation Research grant, which provided the initial funding for the research. A competitive program administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Technology, AlphaSense is in the process of applying for Phase II of the federal grant. The state's investment will help bridge the financial gap in the company's research.
"By making an investment in the company's research, we expect AlphaSense will experience continued scientific and economic growth in Delaware," said Alan Levin, director of the Delaware Economic Development Office. "The kind of research performed by technology-based companies like AlphaSense will bring innovative new products, jobs and revenue to the state."
AlphaSense is a woman-owned research and development company, founded in 2007, and located in Newark. The founders are Xin Zhang and Dr. Pengcheng Lv. Zhang is a former DuPont employee with industrial project management and marketing experience. Lv is a graduate from the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Delaware. After working for a defense company in Rockville, Md. for a few years, he decided to stay close to home and start up a company in Delaware.
Current research and developmental efforts at AlphaSense are mainly focused in the following three areas: laser spectroscopy, non- destructive evaluation sensors, and novel materials for sensor applications.
"We would like to thank Governor Markell and the staff at Delaware Economic Development Office for their support," said Dr. Pengcheng Lv. "The development of this technology will improve spectrometer performance in terms of sensitivity and selectivity, and offer a compact, portable, relatively inexpensive and field testable spectrometer product with an application in homeland security and chemical monitoring."
AlphaSense anticipates adding two positions to implement its Phase II project. If the technology is transitioned to market, then additional positions may be created in the next three to five years.
