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Peter Guilfoyle wins 2001 Gunnerman Award
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Download high resolution gif image 1.2 MB
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(photo
courtesy of OptiComp Corporation)
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(Sketch by Andy Asercion)
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Peter S. Guilfoyle, founder and president of OptiComp Corporation of Zephyr Cove, Nevada, will receive the 2001 Rudolf W. Gunnerman Silver State Award for Excellence in Science and Technology. The award will be formally presented at Nevada's 5th Annual Economic Development Conference at the Stardust Resort & Casino in Las Vegas September 13.
Guilfoyle's selection was largely based on his recent development of a new type of optical crosspoint switch which improves data transmission from fiber-to-fiber across network junctions on optical fiber networks. The switch allows for networks to be implemented in new ways within the data and telecommunications industry.
The award's medallion and $25,000 prize will be presented to Guilfoyle at the Nevada Economic Development Conference in Las Vegas September 13 by Governor Kenny Guinn, Lt. Governor Lorraine Hunt, DRI President Stephen G. Wells, and the award's founder, Dr. Rudolph Gunnerman. Guilfoyle also received Nevada's 2001 Inventor of the Year award this spring, and under his direction, OptiComp was the recipient of R&D magazine's 1994 Top 100 award, and the 1996, 1998, and 2000 Roland Tibbets Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) model of excellence awards.
Guilfoyle also received the IEEE/LEOS (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Lasers and Electro Optics Society) Distinguished Lecturer award in 1994. He is an active professional member of IEEE, Optical Society of America, the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE), and the American Physical Society as well as a member of the Tahoe-Douglas Rotary and the Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church.
Guilfoyle graduated from Carnegie-Mellon with a MSEE and a BSEE and is acknowledged for developing the first digital optical computer as well as numerous advances in optoelectronics and laser applications. OptiComp Corporation is a research and development firm specializing in optoelectronic technologies involved in optical computing, fiber optic networks and telecommunications.
Gunnerman, a Nevada industrialist and inventor, established the award in 2000 to recognize scientific achievement and technology development in Nevada and to showcase the state as a strong supporter in key areas of innovation. The Gunnerman Award program is administered by the Desert Research Institute.
Nominees must demonstrate the highest quality of research, work accomplishment and commitment to the field and be involved with work that will have a direct and favorable impact on the greater population. The majority of the work cited for the award must have been completed in Nevada.
Gunnerman is an environmental inventor and scientist who came to the United States from Germany in 1945. His firm, Clean Fuels Technology, Inc. of Reno, is actively involved in promoting the use of A-55 Clean Fuels, a water-bearing emulsified fuel that reduces emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulates.
Gunnerman holds seven U.S. patents and over 70 international patents in the area of energy-related sciences and has devoted a significant portion of his life to studying the effects of pollution and the technological responses to these effects. He serves as a trustee of the DRI Research Foundation.