Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman announced today that three New Mexico small businesses have been awarded grants from the Department of Energy (DOE) to continue research and development work on initiatives that benefit the federal government.

Funding was awarded through DOE's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which offers grants to private sector firms that can help the federal government meet its research needs while encouraging commercial application of federally supported research.

"These investments will help New Mexico businesses advance technologies that have shown promise, and that will benefit the nation," Bingaman said.??

The following companies were awarded funding:

Deep Web Technologies in Santa Fe - $749,245: Funding will be used to increase performance of federal search technologies that are frequently bottlenecked by overuse. These funds will prevent search back-ups from occurring, increasing the efficiency of those online search tools.

Southwest Sciences Inc. in Santa Fe - $1 million: Funding will be used to finance the development of a new technology that will allow safe inspection of thermal barriers commonly found in airplane engines and power plants. These improved methods of inspection will increase the efficiency and safety of energy plants and aircrafts.

TPL, Inc. in Albuquerque - $999,987:  Funding will be used to develop nanocomposite film capacitors for high energy accelerators.