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Not every woman gets to have her own technology. I have two. One I inherited, the other I adopted, but we bonded all the same. I know you shouldn't have favorites among your children. I'm devoted to our core electrolytic cell technology and grateful for the way it has expanded our analytical equipment business over the decades. All the same, there's something special about the one you find and develop yourself.

I remember when I first heard about Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy (CRDS), a novel way of using lasers to sense contaminants in a vapor state. In 1994, one of our then-chemists returned from a conference at the National Institute of Science and Technology with word of this exciting new technology presented by Professor Kevin Lehmann, a brilliant inventor from Princeton University. "It could be better than anything for moisture analysis," he said, as we chatted in the lab.

We specialize in what's known as trace moisture analysis of gases, from ultra-high-purity gas to natural gas. Moisture, even in infinitesimal amounts can destroy, say, a $250,000 semiconductor-wafer run. In larger quantities it corrodes natural gas pipelines and leads to freeze-ups that restrict flow. In all applications, it's a challenge to isolate and to measure.

WOOING WONKS. We do moisture detection very well. But because it's all we do, staying ahead technically is vital. Out of necessity, we've taken the electrolytic method, a supposedly doomed technology from the Fifties, and transported it into the New Millennium. And we've got the patents to prove it. We've even had big companies try to copy us. But the fear of being overtaken technically keeps me looking over my shoulder. That's why I'm always trying to woo the rarefied types who specialize in this area -- which is how Dr. Lehmann's baby came to be ours.

Still, as with many adoptions, there were obstacles. Flash back to the day I first heard about Lehmann's research. Our chemist knew exactly what I was thinking.

"He would never work with us," he said with smug assurance.

"Why not?" I asked, annoyed.

"He's got big companies involved." A top scientist from a huge industrial gas company -- one of our biggest customers -- "was all over him," he recounted.

We not only compete against other instrument companies, but the gas companies themselves. They all want to give their customers, the end-users, a proprietary, superior solution to the moisture problem. It makes for a very fragmented market, not necessarily one I would choose if I were starting over.

"Can you get me his number? No harm in calling," I said.

Over the phone, Professor Lehmann's raspy voice made me think he was an old man. He seemed pleased to hear from me. "I'm an esoteric spectroscopist by training," he said. "But I'd like to do something practical."

Many meetings ensued. Kevin turned out to be a young, redheaded scientist with a bushy beard who provoked controversy at almost every turn. To get to his desk, you had to pick your way around piles of books and papers strewn about the floor. That reminded me of my father's modus operandi. He liked the notion of working with a small business where he expected his invention would be nurtured. Plus the big businesses that checked out CRDS viewed it as too speculative to warrant investment. We agreed that MEECO would acquire the exclusive license worldwide to his seminal work in exchange for the financial and commercial support required for its development.

WORTH THE WAIT. Together, we went to the offices of the woman who then headed Princeton's intellectual property department. She seemed enthusiastic, and I embarked on our license negotiations with hope of a speedy and mutually beneficial resolution. Wrong. She was often impossible to reach. We always got her answering machine. When MEECO's lawyer and I grew exasperated, Kevin would sigh and harrumph: "I'll go over." It took months to negotiate a workable contract. But it was worth the wait -- we became the first commercial company to license CRDS.

At the time, our primary goal was simply to give our existing customers a next-generation product. Yet over the years, we've found that CRDS lends itself to a "broad range of applications beyond traditional moisture sensing, from the ability to work in corrosive gas environments to the ability to measure atmospheric constituents," to quote an article featuring us in the March issue of Optoelectronics World. (Yes, there is such a thing.) Then, in April, Pollution Engineering covered our effort, cataloging a "host of uses in the environmental analysis arena."

It looks like CRDS could catapult MEECO into some truly mammoth markets, like noninvasive breath analysis to detect asthma, ulcers, and drug and alcohol abuse. I can't guarantee that it will live up to its full potential. A lot depends on our ability to garner sufficient financing to pay for extensive research, development, and engineering, as well as marketing and distribution beyond our existing channels. Still, if all we do is survive and grow in our current markets, you can bet I'll be a proud mother.