URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2016_Melissa-McCarthy

Gregory’s Explosive Sensing “Dog”

The combination of his lab at URI and the University’s explosives expertise make the institution an ideal place for Gregory to conduct his research. He credits the labs and test range as a unique facility that allows URI to use real explosives in the place of the stimulants many other research facilities use. It sets URI apart.

written by Allison Farrelly ‘16

It was an ordinary Tuesday in class for Otto Gregory, a distinguished chemical engineering professor at the University of Rhode Island (URI), when a sophomore in his engineering lecture raised her hand.

“Professor,” Gregory remembers the student saying, “I know you don’t like us using our cell phones in class, but one of my friends just texted me and said a story about you is trending number one in the world.” “I said, ‘I don’t know what trending is, so you have to tell me,’” Gregory responded. As a professor accustomed to long days spent in the lab, Gregory says he was not prepared for a sudden

global interest in the technology he was developing - a sensor system that detects explosives commonly used by terrorists. Gregory’s “dog nose” sensor works the same way bomb-sniffing dogs detect explosives. The sensor system detects trace particles of explosives in the surrounding air by “sniffing” them. Gregory’s explosive sensors are designed to detect a

Pictured page 16 & 17: mask aligner and exposure device, used for photolithography.

Fall | 2016 Page 17

Page 16 | The University of Rhode Island { momentum: Research & Innovation }