Toronto, Canada - Optech Incorporated, the world’s leading manufacturer of advanced lidar survey instruments,  is pleased to announce that Dr. Allan Carswell, Founder and Chairman of Optech Incorporated, has been awarded the 2010 CASI C.D. Howe Award.

The Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI) introduced the C.D. Howe Award in 1966 to recognize outstanding achievements in the fields of planning and policy making, and overall leadership in Canadian aeronautics and space activities.   

Dr. Carswell, who has been appointed to the Order of Canada, the highest civilian award a Canadian can receive, has recently received several prestigious awards. He was recently inducted into the University of Toronto Engineering Alumni Hall of Distinction, and was also awarded the 2009 Ernst & Young Ontario Entrepreneur of the Year Award, which recognizes the contribution of business people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement.

Dr. Carswell is an internationally recognized leader in lidar applications, a field in which he has been working since its very inception in the early 1960s. He founded Optech Incorporated in 1974 to develop commercial systems based on lidar technology. He led and managed the growth of Optech, expanding from its base in atmospheric lidar 36 years ago to its current position as a leading developer and manufacturer of commercial lidar systems for a wide and growing range of applications.

“We are delighted with the latest recognition," says Donald Carswell, President of Optech. "Allan has succeeded in the scientific and academic worlds, and Optech's success is proof of his entrepreneurial abilities as well.  He's not only taken lidar systems from the university lab to mainstream business, he's also taken his atmospheric lidar heritage all the way to Mars with the NASA Phoenix mission. We're very proud to have Optech's space expertise and Allan's role recognized in this way."


About Optech Incorporated
Optech is the world leader in the development, manufacture and support of advanced laser-based survey instruments. It offers client-driven lidar solutions in airborne terrestrial mapping, airborne laser bathymetry, mobile mapping, laser imaging, mine cavity monitoring and industrial process control, as well as space-qualified sensors for orbital operations and planetary exploration.