#b#Contracts Awarded#/b#
Siemens Corporate Research Inc. (SI), 755 College Road, Princeton Forrestal Center, Princeton 08540; 609-734-6500; fax, 609-734-6565. Paul Camuti, president and CEO. www.scr.siemens.com
The Princeton research facility of international software technology giant Siemens was recently awarded money in the latest round of federal stimulus financing.
As environmentalists and energy pundits turn increasing attention to buildings — the single largest energy wasters on the planet — the federal Department of Energy is looking to reward projects that reduce energy output from buildings, rather than just those that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The DOE will give $76 million to 58 such projects.
Siemens will get $1.42 million to develop equipment that will regulate a building’s power systems — heating, air conditioning, and lighting. It has been working on projects of this nature for years.
According to the DOE, homes and commercial buildings in the United States consume roughly 40 percent of the energy produced here and produce 40 percent of our carbon dioxide.
Laser Energetics Inc., 3535 Quakerbridge Road, Suite 700, Mercerville 08619; 609-587-8250; fax, 609-587-9315. Robert D. Battis, founder, president and CEO. www.laserenergetics.com
Laser Energetics, a Hamilton-based maker of laser processors, has contracted with federal defense contractor General Dynamics, which will take over the manufacture of the Dazer Laser for Laser Energetics.
The Dazer Laser is a non-lethal laser that disorients and temporarily impairs the vision of an enemy combatant.
The technology was announced in 2008, but Laser Energetics was faced with the expensive task of building its own manufacturing facility for mass production — a task that would have cost the company millions.
Because General Dynamics will now handle the manufacture of the Dazer Laser, says Laser Energetics CEO Robert Battis, his firm can increase production in step with demand. General Dynamics is, of course, no stranger to mass production.
The firm has supplied U.S. and allied military services with technology, equipment, and weapons — most notably the F-16 fighter jet, which became the most-produced NATO jet fighter of the Cold War. It is still in operation in several air forces globally.
“This is one of the most important business developments in the history of our company,” Battis, said. “It’s rare that a company of our size has the privilege to partner with a leading defense company like General Dynamics.”
Battis said the deal will enable Laser Energetics to close sales with militaries and law enforcement agencies around the world much more quickly and efficiently.
Monetary terms of the deal were not released.
Educational Testing Service, Rosedale Road, Princeton 08541; 609-921-9000; fax, 609-734-5410. Kurt F. Landgraf, president. www.ets.org.
The federal Institute of Education Sciences recently gave $14.8 million to ETS as part of a $100 million national initiative aimed at promoting reading comprehension in students from preschool to high school.
The grants, given to six sets of educational researchers in the fields of linguistics, reading, developmental psychology, speech, cognitive psychology, assessment, and language pathology, will be spread out over five years.The grants also are the largest ever awarded by the IES.
According to the IES, the money will go toward developing the Reading for Understanding Network, in which researchers and teachers will pair up to find practical solutions to reading comprehension problems.
Jason Baran, a spokesman for ETS, said the grant will finance a collaboration with the other Reading for Understanding Centers: Florida State University; Northern Illinois University; and Arizona State University.
“The other centers will be focusing on the instructional strategies, while we will focus on the assessment,” he said.
Universal Display Corporation Inc. (PANL), 375 Phillips Boulevard, Ewing 08618; 609-671-0980; fax, 609-671-0995. Steven Abramson, president. www.universaldisplay.com
Universal Display Corporation, maker of LED systems for computers, recently received a $99,900 SBIR grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to enhance the performance of white PHOLED lighting devices.
Universal Display plans to build white PHOLED lighting panels, which are designed to reduce the amount of heat generated during panel operation, as compared to the use of conventional fluorescence.
#b#Crosstown Moves#/b#
Pixel Systems Inc., 186 Princeton-Hightstown Road, Building 3B, Suite 11, Princeton Junction 08550; 609-945-3190; fax, 208-485-5457. Sridevi Viswanatha & Robert Corio, program manager. www.pixelsystemsinc.com
Pixel Systems, which provides IT services for government contractors, has moved from Village Boulevard to Princeton-Hightstown Road.
#b#Expansions#/b#
NRG Energy Inc. (NRG), 211 Carnegie Center, Princeton 08540-6213; 609-524-4500; fax, 609-524-4501. David Crane, president and CEO. www.nrgenergy.com
In the span of a week NRG Energy, headquartered at 211 Carnegie Center, has made two deals to expand its renewable power portfolio in the Southwest.
On Monday the company announced it would buy nine solar development projects in California and Arizona from U.S. Solar. Financial terms of the deal were not released, but according to NRG the portfolio amounts to 450 megawatts of solar energy.
The sites are expected to operational by the end of 2013. This brings the scale of NRG’s under-development solar projects to 1,150 megawatts.
On June 14 NRG closed on its purchase of the 101-megawatt South Trent wind farm in Texas, marking the conclusion of a deal that was announced earlier this year.
Powered by 44 wind turbines manufactured by Siemens, the wind farm is capable of powering more than 80,000 homes.
It is also the latest in a recent set of moves NRG has mad to investein alternative and renewable energies. South Trent is the fourth plant in NRG’s onshore wind energy portfolio.
This is the second wind-power deal for NRG in a little more than a month. In May NRG acquired Northwind Phoenix, a subsidiary of APS Services of Arizona, for an undisclosed amount.
Northwind is a provider of alternative energy and cooling systems that use chilled water to office complexes, municipalities, universities, and sport complexes in the United States.
Sandoz Inc. (Eon Labs) (ADR), 506 Carnegie Center, Suite 400, Princeton 08540; 609-627-8500; fax, 609-627-8682. Dan DeGoyler, president. www.us.sandoz.com
Sandoz, the generic drug arm of Dutch pharma giant Novartis, has opened a new facility for the development of generic drugs on Novartis’ East Hanover campus.
#b#Leaving Town#/b#
Pfizer Animal Health, 9 Deer Park Drive, Princeton 08543. www.pfizer.com
As an offshoot of last year’s blockbuster acquisition by Pfizer, Fort Dodge Animal Clinic has closed its facility on Deer Park Drive.
Last October Pfizer acquired Wyeth Pharmaceuticals for $68 billion. Wyeth owned Fort Dodge.
Shortly after the acquisition Pfizer announced it would close its newly acquired facilities in South Brunswick. The facility, gradually moving its operations elsewhere, fully closed earlier this month.
Founded in 1912 and a division of Wyeth since 1945, Fort Dodge manufactures and distributes prescription and over-the-counter animal medicines and healthcare products for livestock and companion animals. Present in more than 100 countries, the company ranked first in veterinary vaccine sales in North America at the time of its acquisition.
Pfizer now controls Fort Dodge’s lines of canine, feline, equine, and bovine biologicals, along with several other products in the development pipeline.
The closure takes 95 employees from Princeton Corporate Center. Fort Dodge is now known as Pfizer Animal Health, based in New York. It can be contacted at 800-366-5288.
#b#Out of Business#/b#
Gallery 125, 125 South Warren Street, Trenton.
After six years, Gallery 125 has closed. The gallery, which featured several shows a year for area artists of all media, announced last month that it would close by the end of June. The gallery finally its doors on June 26.
Opened in 2004 as a nonprofit exhibition space by the Trenton Downtown Association (its operator until the end) and the defunct Trenton Arts Connection, Gallery 125 has faced a rough economy and flagging interest in downtown Trenton in the past few years. Added to that is a steep cut to the TDA’s funding. The TDA manages several downtown arts and cultural enterprises, most notably the Capital City Market festival held every June and Patriots Week, which commemorates Trenton’s Colonial heritage the last week in December.
With several projects to fund and the specter of a $300,000 shortfall in its future, the TDA decided last month to close the space. The space itself was intended to stimulate cultural interest on and around Warren Street, near the oldest part of the downtown and close to historic sites such as the Old Barracks. In 2005 Gallery 125 received a Citation of Excellence from the State Council on the Arts for its efforts to ramp up interest in Trenton.
TDA board president David Henderson told the Times of Trenton last month that the intention was never to run a gallery longterm. Rather, he said, TDA developed the gallery in an effort to “spawn development in the hotel district and along Warren Street.”
The TDA is not out of the art business yet, however. It will continue to manage Studio@219, on East Hanover Street, where it owns a building featuring artists’ studios and arts organization offices.
#b#Milestones#/b#
Amy Locane-Bovenizer, 39, was charged with ehicular homicide, second-degree and third-degree assault by auto in connection with a fatal accident on Cherry Valley Road on June 28. According to police, Locane-Bovenizer, an actress most famous for her role on the television series Melrose Place, rear-ened a car and drove off while that car’s driver called the police. The man chased her, eventually up Cherry Valley Road, where, police sad, Locane-Bovenizer slammed into the passenger side of a vehicle turning into its driveway, killing the passenger and injuring the driver. She was arrested shortly after, and admitted to having had “a few glasses of wine” before driving, police said. She was arraigned in Superior Court in Somerset, her bail set at $50,000.
Locane-Bovenizer, a Trenton native, had largely given up professional acting and has been working in the area for the past few years. She recently appeared in “Miss Connection,” a play at Hopewell’s Off-Broadstreet Theater.
Richard Sellars, 94, died on June 25. He was the former chairman of the board and CEO of Johnson & Johnson.
William Berish, 70, on Friday, June 25. He worked for Sarnoff Corporation.
Michael Bitterman, 70, on June 18. He was a founding partner at the lawfirm of Katz Bitterman and Dougherty, now Katz Dougherty, in Trenton.
