News Release

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April 11, 2005

LECTURE APRIL 19 AT BOISE STATE FOCUSES ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES USED TO COMBAT WAR ON TERRORISM
 

An inventor of technologies used to detect explosives, narcotics and concealed weapons will speak at noon Tuesday, April 19, at Boise State University in the Student Union Building Barnwell Room.
 

Lowell J. Burnett, who has led pioneering research in magnetic sensing technologies used in airport screening devices and for explosive, illegal drug and land mine screening, will speak on “New Tools in the War Against Terrorism.” He will focus on ways to counter terrorism by quickly and accurately screening people and their belongings for the presence of weapons and explosives.

Burnett’s free lecture is presented by Boise State’s College of Engineering. Free parking is available for attendees in the Student Union Building parking lot. Refreshments will be served.

Burnett is an emeritus professor of physics at San Diego State University and the founder and former CEO of Quantum Magnetics Inc. The San Diego-based company produces high-speed conveyor systems for luggage and cargo inspection, as well as smaller scanners used for detecting explosives and illegal drugs in mail, packages, and carry-on baggage and briefcases.
 

Burnett will discuss new magnetic sensing technologies including magnetic gradiometer arrays, magnetic tensor tracking, low-field magnetic resonance and zero-field magnetic resonance, often called quadrupole resonance. He will describe applications of these technologies including weapons detection, bomb detection and mine detection.
 

Burnett is the author or co-author of more than 150 articles and reports focusing on the areas of measurement and detection. He serves on the board of directors of MagneSensors, a superconducting magnetic sensor company and as a consultant and adviser to Allied-Signal, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and the McGraw-Hill magazine, “Electronics.”
 

Burnett received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Wyoming in 1970. Following appointment as a Presidential Fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, he joined the faculty at San Diego State University in 1972.
 

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Contact: Gary Erickson, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, (208) 426-4401, gerickson@boisestate.edu

Media Contact: Janelle Brown, communications and marketing, (208) 426-1790, jbrown2@boisestate.edu

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Last reviewed on Thursday, December 22, 2005