Vince Mazur
Three years before a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan, Vince Mazur, BSEE ’84, decided that he wanted to design and manufacture a Geiger counter, a device that measures the amount of radiation in the environment. Vince did some research, ordered parts, and a couple years later, Mazur Instruments had their first 100 units manufactured. The product is called the PRM-8000 Geiger Counter and Nuclear Radiation Monitor.
At the time, a Geiger counter seemed like a unique product focus. After all, the world hadn’t seen a major threat from radiation in decades. But Vince enjoyed evolving the technology, and he knew that the problem of radiation was always around, even if no one recognized it.
“I would tell people that we’re one event away from a whole new level of awareness about radiation,” he explained. And he was right.
Since the Japanese quake, Mazur Instruments has sold hundreds of the devices. “They’re literally around the world,” he said, adding that Mazur Instruments is beginning to get some attention from the world’s leading nuclear research organizations. “Last December I met with CERN,the European Organization for Nuclear Research, and they’re considering utilizing our device,” he said. “We’re also pleased to have the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics as a customer.”