Title:

Challenges Associated with Detecting SNM & Explosives Using Multi-Energy Bremsstrahlung Radiography

Speaker:

Mr. Dolan Falconer Jr.

Affiliation:

ScanTech, Atlanta, GA

When:

Thursday, February 6, 2014 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

Boggs Building, Room 3-47

Host:

Dr. Nolan Hertel
nolan.hertel@me.gatech.edu
404-894-3601

Abstract

Multiple promising technologies are being investigated in an effort to develop a commercially viable cargo inspection technology that can effectively discriminate and identify threat materials such as special nuclear materials and explosives. One such technology being developed by ScanTech employs multi-energy electron bremsstrahlung radiation to determine the effective-Z and mass density of threat materials using algorithms similar to the new material discriminating advanced technology check point X-ray systems being deployed in the nation’s airports. While multi energy material discrimination technology is becoming well understood and commercialized in low energy checkpoint system applications, several significant technical challenges have presented barriers to its successful application in commercial cargo inspection systems.

Biography

Mr. Falconer is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of ScanTech Holdings LLC, an electron beam and X-ray technology small business developing industrial applications for its proprietary technology. ScanTech is a 2007 graduate of the Georgia Tech Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) and maintains its corporate headquarters at Technology Square in downtown Atlanta and manufacturing and engineering operations in Buford, GA. Mr. Falconer is an alumnus of the Georgia Institute of Technology, B.S. Nuclear Engineering (’78) and M.S. Nuclear Engineering (’79). He is a National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (GEM) fellowship recipient and a 2001 inductee into the Georgia Tech School of Engineering’s Academy of Distinguished Alumni.

Mr. Falconer is currently responsible for all corporate operations, M&A and venture investment activity within the company and has played a key role in securing investment capital to fund technology acquisition, start-up and product development activities. With twelve patents approved and ten patents pending, Mr. Falconer has successfully led ScanTech and its technology to the forefront of the homeland security and food safety industries.

Mr. Falconer began his professional career in 1979 as a Graduate Research Fellow in Nuclear Sciences for the E. I. Du Pont De Nemours Company at the Savannah River Laboratory in Aiken, SC while enrolled in the School of Nuclear Engineering at Georgia Tech. Following completion of his nuclear engineering graduate studies, Mr. Falconer joined the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) where he was responsible for nuclear safety compliance inspections of the nation’s commercial nuclear power plants. In 1992, Mr. Falconer left the NRC to start Parallax, Inc., an 8(a) environmental and nuclear engineering management company which successfully grew from one office and an initial staff of 2 to seven offices nation-wide and a full-time staff of 200+ engineers, scientists and technicians. Mr. Falconer resigned his full-time involvement and exited Parallax in 2002 to start ScanTech.