A Missoula company, called Sunburst Sensors, has won a $2.5 million contract to manufacture special sensors that were invented by the owner of the company, chemistry professor Mike DeGranpre of the University of Montana. The National Science Foundation announced that the sensors will be used to monitor the oceans.
Jim Beck, the mechanical engineer who is also Mike DeGranpre’s business partner said that it was a big deal. “It was nice that they came through with it. They had really made a lot of progress over the past several years in proving their work and getting national recognition.”
DeGranpre said that it was a big thing for Missoula too. He added that they would be hiring people but did not know how many as yet. The Sunburst Sensors LLC contract will see them making 110 of the sensors.
The sensors are part of a plan to better understand ocean acidification, in which bodies of water absorb increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the air.
DeGrandpre said the submersible sensors he had developed had a pressure housing system and sensor information system that made them able to collect information more accurately. The sensors were also able to send continuous information through satellite transmitters.