Directed energy is an important economic platform now and for the future for New Mexico, industry experts were told by the chief engineer of the Air Force Research Lab Directed Energy Directorate last month. AFRL's Cindy Kaiser made her comments at the well-attended "Bridging the Gap" conference in Albuquerque on 6 January.
More than 120 industry experts, federal and state legislators, economic development representatives, and others from the directed-energy industry met to identify gaps between technology development and commercialization of directed-energy products. A national leader in directed energy, New Mexico has the largest concentration of directed energy expertise in the country, and is well positioned to become a world leader in the technology.
The conference was sponsored by nmOptics, the New Mexico Optics Industry Association, and several nationally known companies and government labs in the region. SPIE Member Jim McNally of Applied Technology Associates, chair of nmOptics, and a member of the Society's Engineering, Science, and Technology Policy Committee, was among event organizers.
Read the full press release from nmOptics.
