Published: 02.25.2009

Local Raytheon wins contract extensions

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The Navy is awarding more than $45 million to Raytheon Co. for additional work in Tucson on two weapons systems.

The Defense Department on Tuesday announced a $30.6 million contract modification to increase this year’s ceiling on contract funds for the MK-31 Rolling Airframe Missile Guided Missile Weapon System, a joint project of the U.S. and Germany.

Raytheon also gets a $15 million contract modification for services supporting the MK15 Phalanx Close-in-Weapon System. The system tracks and destroys high-speed maneuvering missiles that have penetrated all other defenses of a ship.

The Phalanx system is installed on 187 US Navy ships. Twenty foreign navies also use it.

Published: 02.19.2009

‘Death ray’ breathes life into solar plans

By Tom Beal

It was a bit of a parlor trick for University of Arizona scientist Roger Angel:

Using the 10-foot parabolic mirror he’d built atop a discarded communications dish behind Bear Down Gym, Angel vaporized a hole in a quarter-inch piece of steel for a visiting congresswoman.

Angel, a regents professor of astronomy and optical sciences, is not really looking to generate heat, but to use cheaply produced mirrors to focus light and make electricity at a cost that rivals the burning of fossil fuels.

His little “death ray” demonstration proved to him and others that his focus is correct so far.

“We’ve accomplished one thing, which is making a pretty accurate mirror,” he said.

Published: 02.18.2009

Raytheon’s ‘smart’ bombs help cut civilian deaths

By Enric Volante

Some of the latest “smart” bomb technology from Tucson helped British pilots avoid hitting civilians as they unleashed explosives in Afghanistan this winter, a military commander said Tuesday.

Members of a Royal Navy Harrier GR-9 jet wing are in Tucson for training at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

In December, they were the first to use the Paveway IV precision-guided bomb developed by Raytheon Systems Ltd., a United Kingdom subsidiary of Raytheon Co., and Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems.

The Paveway system consists of nose sensor and tailfin kits that are fitted to otherwise unguided bombs to add laser and satellite guidance. The Paveway IV is made for 500-pound class bombs, while other versions are fitted onto larger munitions, according to Raytheon.

Published: 02.17.2009

Cancer-prevention drugs are new company’s hope

UA professor, California colleague out to curb need for hugely expensive cancer treatments

By Dan Sullivan

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

After years of being told cancer prevention drugs were too risky and took too long to get approved, one University of Arizona professor knew he could get the job done.

That’s why Eugene Gerner, a UA professor of cell biology and anatomy, recently won approval from the Arizona Board of Regents to take research from the lab and use it to form Tucson-based Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals.

He’s doing so along with Frank L. Meyskens Jr., a professor of medicine at the University of California-Irvine.

The new UA spinoff company is developing Eflornithine, a drug meant for colon-cancer prevention, rather than treatment.

Published: 02.13.2009

Tucson and Phoenix join to lure Calif. companies

By Dan Sorenson

Look out, California — Tucson and Phoenix are coming for your money jobs.

Arizona’s two biggest economic development groups — Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council — have hired a consultant to lure California companies to the “Sun Corridor.”

The pilot project, “Arizona Sun Corridor: Open for Business,” is targeting aerospace and defense, homeland security, information technology, solar and bioscience companies in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego.

The bait, according to the project’s Web site www.locateinarizona.com: Arizona’s cheap labor and electricity, lower taxes, bargain real estate and scarce unions.

Announced at a joint Phoenix-Tucson press telecon- ference Thursday afternoon, the project is under way.

UA names Martinez new BIO5 director

Published on Friday, February 13, 2009

Inside Tucson Business

Dr. Fernando Martinez was chosen to lead the University of Arizona’s BIO5 Institute, replacing Vicki Chandler, who is leaving for a position in San Francisco.

Martinez is the UA’s Swift-McNear Professor of Pediatrics, director of the UA College of Medicine’s Arizona Respiratory Center, and a long time BIO5 faculty member. He served as interim co-director for the research institiute with Chandler before she was named permenant director in 2004.

FROM LABS TO MARKETPLACE

Technology developed by faculty helps create jobs

ALAN FISCHER

Published: 02.09.2009

Tucson Citizen

The University of Arizona is pushing high-tech innovation from laboratories to the marketplace.

But while UA is posting record numbers of business spinoffs, revenue paid to the school from technology transfer agreements continues to decline.

Six new companies based on technology developed by UA faculty and staff were launched in fiscal year 2008 ending June 30, said Patrick Jones, director of the UA Office of Technology Transfer.

Startups are companies that have completed a licensing agreement with UA for intellectual property critical for the business, he said.

The former annual record was five spinoffs, set in fiscal 2005 and 2002, Jones said.

Published: 02.05.2009

Top AZ manufacturer nominations sought

Arizona Daily Star

Nominations for Manufacturer of the Year are being accepted by the Arizona Manufacturers Council. The competition is open to all Arizona manufacturers.

An award of excellence will be presented to two manufacturing companies that demonstrate forward thinking in product development. Honorees should exhibit leadership and a strong commitment to Arizona.

Companies may nominate themselves or another manufacturer. Nomination forms can be found at www.azchamber.com; nominations are due March 13.