Jeff Socha Joins Block Engineering as Vice President of Engineering

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., May 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Block Engineering, the leading manufacturer of Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) based infrared spectroscopy solutions, announced today that Jeff Socha has joined the company as the new Vice President of Engineering. Mr. Socha will lead all aspects of Engineering, including product development of Block's QCL engine into rugged systems for a variety of applications.

"Jeff has an impressive track record and experience developing and bringing to market field-hardened, sophisticated instruments for environmental monitoring and industrial process control in the Oil and Gas, Chemical and other industries," said Dr. Daniel J. Cavicchio, Jr., Executive Chairman of Block Engineering.

Dr. Petros Kotidis, CEO, commented, "QCLs are an extremely powerful tool for gas detection in a compact package. The innovative and talented group at Block has developed a rock-solid QCL engine and we are honored to have Jeff join this team."

Mr. Socha added, "This QCL engine will be used for a wide variety of gas and solid measurement systems across a wide range of industries. My design philosophy is that the simplest solution to a complex problem is the most elegant and should be the goal of any technical challenge. Block's QCL is exactly that."

Mr. Socha joins Block from Thermo Fisher Scientific (TFS) where hewas R&D Product Development Manager for gas analysis systems. At TFS, he led the development of a real-time mercury monitoring system that is the gold standard for the continuous monitoring of trace level mercury from combustion sources and cement manufacturing.  He also led the development of a QCL-based detection system for the measurement of sulfur trioxide used for both combustion gas monitoring and catalyst efficiency testing.

Prior to working at TFS, Mr. Socha worked at IN USA, Inc., a leading manufacturer of ozone instrumentation used in markets such as semiconductor fabrication and water purification.  At IN USA, Mr. Socha led the development of a high concentration, ultra-high purity ozone generator.  Mr. Socha earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Western New England University, and has been awarded 11 patents for the analysis, generation and transport of reactive gases and particulate.

About Block Engineering:

Founded in 1956, Block Engineering, LLC is a leading manufacturer and marketer of high performance Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometers for commercial, industrial, military and government customers. Block's unique QCL-based spectrometers include the LaserSense (TM) Gas Analyzer for the detection and quantification of trace levels of a wide variety of gases in the Oil and Gas as well as Semi-conductor markets. In addition, the LaserWarn (TM) Gas Analyzer is used for safety, environmental and fence line monitoring of fugitive gases over a large area. The LaserTune (TM) product line of QCL-based Infrared Sources is used for corporate research and academic markets. Block's PORTHOS (TM) is a man portable, passive FTIR spectrometer system that remotely detects chemical signatures and threats as far as three miles and protects against chemical warfare agents and weapons of mass destruction.

Contact: Flo Ramonas 508-251-3100

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SOURCE Block Engineering

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