Not too late for ‘Mirror Technology Days’

ALBUQUERQUE, NM-The New Mexico Optics Industry Association (NMOIA; Albuquerque, NM; www.nmoia.org) is managing sponsor and the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE; Bellingham, WA) is co-sponsor of the 7th Annual Mirror Technology Days in the Government, truncated on the NMOIA Web site to read ‘Tech Days’. The Tech Days conference and exhibition will be held July 30 to August 2 in Albuquerque, NM and is a forum for government-sponsored contract work in the branch of optics related to mirror technology, as well as optics technology. The three-day conference brings together developers of the latest in optics technology with federal agency representatives for presentations and exhibits. Mirror technology is the component of a telescope used to collect and image the entire spectrum of light, from x-rays to radio waves.

“This is an opportunity to showcase Albuquerque’s optics technologies,” says Jim McNally, CEO of TruTouch Technologies and chairman of NMOIA. Participating agencies invite recipients of their Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants to be presenters. They often find new technologies that are useful in their own projects. Mirror Tech Days also provides a public peer review of new technologies and allows major contractors to see what small companies are doing.

Presenters are also exhibitors. Organizers encourage New Mexico companies to exhibit and attend. NMOIA is planning a small technical exhibit. Anyone interested in exhibiting should contact Ed Spivak at ed@spivak associates.com.

Tech Days is jointly organized by: Sandia, AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Missile Defense Agency, Army Research Development and Engineering Command, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, AFRL Material Directorate, Naval Research Laboratory, and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.