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HORCH EARNS STATE INNOVATION AWARD

Wed., Oct 21

elliott horchElliott Horch's telescopic device -- a cutting-edge instrument designed to improve 20-fold the crispness of binary star images throughout the Milky Way Galaxy -- is anticipated by astronomers to bolster insight into the formation of our solar system.

And now the device, called a Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI), has gotten the attention of state innovation experts. Horch, associate professor of physics, recently was chosen as the "platinum recipient" of the 2009 Connecticut Quality Improvement Award (CQIA) Innovation Prize. That first-place achievement enables Horch to compete for the national-level Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award for Performance Excellence.

Horch completed the DSSI last year and sent it to the Kitt Peak National Observatory, a national center for optical astronomy in Tucson, Ariz. He developed the instrument after receiving a $352,487 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2005, while he was an assistant professor of physics at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. In 2007, he came to Southern, where he completed the project and garnered the assistance of several of his students.

The DSSI includes two cameras and a scanning mirror system inside a rectangular box that can fit on a coffee table. "Disturbances in the atmosphere can cause images to blur together," Horch said. "But with this special instrument, it's like putting eyeglasses on a telescope. It enables you to see the two stars in a binary system distinctly."

Horch received the award Oct. 23 during the 22nd annual CQIA Partnership's Conference on Quality and Innovation at the Water's Edge Resort in Westbrook. A group of about 12 examiners determined that Horch's application was the best among the 70 people who entered the contest.

Applicants for the CQIA prizes have developed a new product, service, or process and have either solved an organizational problem or leveraged an opportunity with their innovation.

Horch recently was awarded another NSF grant -- this one for $183,447 -- which will enable him to continue his work on researching binary stars. The project will be conducted in collaboration with the Yale Southern Observatory. He will collect data to provide a better understanding of these stars and the star formation and structure of the Milky Way. The grant also will allow him to run regular physics and astronomy seminars, as well as to work with high school physics teachers in the area and to help promote careers in science to underrepresented groups in Connecticut through these talks.