Bozeman a force in laser research
Laser driven: Photonics research pumps millions into Bozeman's economy
Source: Nick Gevock of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Chris Palassis jumped at the chance to return to Bozeman to do laser research.
The 30-year-old had earned a master's degree in physics at Montana State University and, like so many science graduates, found work out of state.
But like a lot of people, he longed to return to Bozeman. So he didn't hesitate to quit his job designing televisions for Sony in Pittsburgh to go to work conducting laser research for AdvR, Inc., a photonics research and development company.
"After being in grad school in Bozeman, it's a pretty big shock to go to a city of 2.5 million," Palassis said this week. "We started a family, and wanted the opportunity to raise a family in a small community like Bozeman."
Just over a decade ago, Palassis would have been hard pressed to find a job in his field in Bozeman. But today he's one of a large, and growing, crowd.
In fact, more than 200 professionals are working in Bozeman's photonics industry, companies that do research and development on lasers and other light-related technology. It's a field that has burgeoned over the past 15 years in Bozeman, which is now home to at least a dozen companies that collectively pumped more than $40 million into the local economy last year.
Laser driven: Photonics research pumps millions into Bozeman's economy
By NICK GEVOCK Chronicle Staff Writer
Chris Palassis jumped at the chance to return to Bozeman to do laser research.
The 30-year-old had earned a master's degree in physics at Montana State University and, like so many science graduates, found work out of state.
But like a lot of people, he longed to return to Bozeman. So he didn't hesitate to quit his job designing televisions for Sony in Pittsburgh to go to work conducting laser research for AdvR, Inc., a photonics research and development company.
"After being in grad school in Bozeman, it's a pretty big shock to go to a city of 2.5 million," Palassis said this week. "We started a family, and wanted the opportunity to raise a family in a small community like Bozeman."
Just over a decade ago, Palassis would have been hard pressed to find a job in his field in Bozeman. But today he's one of a large, and growing, crowd.
In fact, more than 200 professionals are working in Bozeman's photonics industry, companies that do research and development on lasers and other light-related technology. It's a field that has burgeoned over the past 15 years in Bozeman, which is now home to at least a dozen companies that collectively pumped more than $40 million into the local economy last year.
The companies do a wide array of research, ranging for military, medical and industrial uses. Other photonics companies manufacture products, such as surgical instruments and precise-measuring devices to work on large tractor-trailer engines.
The growth of the industry has been tremendous, said Ralph Hutcheson, president of Scientific Materials. In 1990, a handful of companies -- including ILX Lightwave, Big Sky Laser and Lattice Materials -- were just getting their feet under them.
Those three companies are still here and remain some of the largest. But they are now just part of the greater photonics research community in Bozeman.
"It just grew from a fledgling industry into something much more concrete," Hutcheson said. "We've reached critical mass in the area and as soon as you reach critical mass, things happen -- you basically have a business cluster."
The photonics industry began growing in Bozeman in the late 1980s, when MSU professors Pat Callis and Rufus Cone conducted research on optics and began beefing up the program.
They started to turn out some strong graduates, said Randy Babbitt, MSU physics professor and director of the Spectrum Lab, a photonics research center.
The Optec Center, a group that brings together professors on campus who are conducting optics research, was formed in the early 1990s, too. And in 1999, the university formed the Spectrum Lab, which has worked with several of the private companies in town on projects.
Over the years smaller companies sprang up and a technology niche was created here, Babbitt said.
Much of the industry is driven by federal research dollars, said Ron Cooper, director of program development at AdvR. In recent years, under the Bush administration, the work is largely coming from the U.S. Department of Defense.
The federal government has a grant program called Small Business Innovative Research, which mandates that 2 percent of an agency's research money go to smaller companies. Those dollars are crucial to getting companies off the ground and keeping them working on research, Cooper said.
Without the program, researchers could either pool their money to start a company or look for venture capital to get going -- neither of which is holds much promise.
"The only game in town for quite awhile for small businesses was these SBIRs," Cooper said.
AdvR is currently working on $2 million in federal contracts, including projects for the U.S. Navy, NASA and the National Science Foundation. The Navy contract, for example, involves working on technology that would help better detect underwater mines.
The government sets performance standards through phases of the SBIR program. Companies have to show on paper that their idea will work, then prove they can make a prototype and produce it. At each phase, federal officials review the work to determine whether it has merit before awarding the next phase and the grant money that comes with it.
A lot of work gets scrapped after the first phase, but that's part of scientific research, Cooper said.
Since Bush took office, almost all of the SBIR money available has come from the Department of Defense because its budget has grown, while other agencies are seeing cuts, he said.
Scientific Materials also has a Defense Department contract. The company landed a $1.5 million SBIR contract to develop the "S2 Chip," technology that would make radar systems more precise for the military.
The project could grow into $16 million worth of work for Scientific Materials.
But other companies, such as Quantum Composers, are geared more toward private industry and developing products that they can bring to market.
Quantum Composers, Inc. designs and produces laser-cutting systems and high-tech instrumentation systems for lasers, company president Steve Birrell said.
Even companies such as AdvR that are heavily dependent on federal research dollars would like to branch out and develop products that they can sell, Cooper said.
Despite the growth in the photonics industry, professionals in the field say the companies in Bozeman rarely compete with each other. Each company has found its own niche in the field.
And often, the companies work together on specific projects by subcontracting some of the work out.
"Most of us do business with each other on different occasions," Birrell said. "It's not like there's a bunch of us competing in the same product line."
If there's one way the companies do compete, it's for employees, Cooper said. But there's also a plus side to that.
One key threshold for an industry to reach is having enough companies in the area to offer employees choices. That's vital to attracting good employees because they want to know they'll have options if their employer takes a downturn.
It's also important for employees because they have access to more opportunity within their field.
And Bozeman's reached that point, Babbitt said.
"A decision to come here before meant if that company folded it was all over," he said. "Now people are moving between companies."
The question of what he'd do if he lost his job didn't occur to Palassis, although he said he likes knowing he'd have options in Bozeman.
Instead the satisfaction of doing research, versus cranking out a product, was enough of an attraction to lead him to take a 30 percent pay cut to come to AdvR.
"It's much more fulfilling, because you're not building cogs," Palassis said. "You're actually treading new ground,
The photonics industry has reached its new heights here. Once an area gains a reputation, has a good source of qualified people and builds that synergy, it will only grow in what is a multi-billion dollar industry, Hutcheson said.
"I don't think you've seen anything yet," he said.