News Release

An interdisciplinary research team from Boise State University’s Center for Environmental Sensing within the College of Engineering received an Innovation of the Year award in early-stage technology at the third annual Idaho Innovation Awards Oct. 29.

Presented by Stoel Rives and sponsored by the Idaho Business Review and accounting firm Cooper Norman, the Idaho Innovation Awards program recognizes innovation in a range of industries. The Boise State team shared first place honors with BookLamp.org, a Web site that matches readers to literature developed by Novel Projects, Inc. Last year, the same Boise State team was the first university entity to be a finalist in the competition, and this year marks the first win by such a group.

Both times, the innovation being honored was a subsurface Ion Mobility Spectrometer (IMS) probe that detects and quantifies volatile organic compounds trapped underground. The Environmental Protection Agency has sponsored the project over the last five years, providing research funds to develop a potentially powerful tool for identifying and addressing subsurface contamination issues. In 2006, it became the first IMS-based sensor system to be deployed below the surface.

Led by civil engineering professor Molly Gribb, the team that deserves credit for the IMS probe and the Idaho Innovation Award includes collaborator Herb Hill from Washington State University, Boise State research staffers Ray Carter, Dick Sevier and Daniella Morgos and Boise State engineering students Ayaka Nukui, Kyle Schwab, Ashley Zumwalt, Jesse Dillon and Ivan Geroy, just to name a few.

“There have been so many faculty, students and staff from every department in the College of Engineering who contributed to this project. It has been very comprehensive in its impact,” Gribb said. “It’s exciting that our work can compete with local industry in terms of innovation.”

Finalists and winners for the 2008 Idaho Innovation Awards were selected by a committee of business and technology leaders and honored at a luncheon at Boise Center on The Grove. Several IMS team members attended, including chemistry researcher Ray Carter, who accepted the award.

Photo Cutline: Members of an interdisciplinary, multi-generational research team from Boise State University's Center for Environmental Sensing within the College of Engineering won an Idaho Innovation Award in the early-stage technology category for an Ion Mobility Spectrometer probe. From top left: research scientist Daniella Morgos, civil engineering graduate student and researcher Ivan Geroy, Civil Engineering Department chair Robert Hamilton, College of Engineering dean Cheryl Schrader and assistant dean Rex Oxford. From bottom left: research associate Ray Carter and sensor project manager Dick Sevier.

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Media Contact: Erin Ryan, University Communications, (208) 426-4910, erinryan@boisestate.edu

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Last reviewed on Tuesday, November 04, 2008