innovate arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.- Space Photonics, Inc. (SPI) has announced that the company Board of Directors recently named Matt Leftwich, a long time employee and Senior Engineer, to Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Leftwich has worked for the company since its founding in 1999, leading many efforts in the area of advanced fiber optic communications networks for avionics and space applications. He has also been Principal Investigator on Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Programs, and is the Director of the Arkansas Space and Photonics (ASaP) Center for space and avionics testing and qualification of SPI's products.

Space Photonics has sponsored the center in cooperation with the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. "Matt has managed our fiber optics development and manufacturing, this includes several of the SBIRs we've received. He has been involved in the fiber network components being developed for our largest non-SBIR Air Force Program. He's also the Project Director for delivering our fiber optic transceivers for use on the International Space Station. This program will utilize fiber optic links for delivering external experiment data to the internal astronaut stations. Matt has done an outstanding job and has demonstrated both technical and managerial skills. This is very good timing for us since we're in a transitional phase of growth," said company President and CEO Chuck Chalfant.

Space Photonics develops markets and sells optical networking systems and components specifically designed to address the high reliability requirements of military and commercial aircraft and spacecraft. The company's products enable aerospace designers to embed high-capacity, optical networking capabilities into their systems. The company is a recipient of the Small Business Administration's Tibbetts Award, given to small companies that provide outstanding SBIR leadership. In 2004 Space Photonics was the first Arkansas Company to receive the Arkansas' Federal Research & Development tax incentive that matches up to 33 percent of federally funded R&D programs. The company continues its collaborations with the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and at Little Rock, the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority (ASTA), and the Arkansas Department of Economic Development Commission (AEDC). For additional information about Space Photonics, visit the company web site at www.spacephotonics.com.

(This article was originally published in the University of Arkansas Technology Development Foundation's June 2008 newsletter, Cultivating Big Ideas.)