March 08 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine

Teamwork key to ASPECT's success

High-flying support for first responders

Within 48 hours of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, Bob Kroutil of Biosecurity and Public Health knew he'd have a role to play. Just how much that role would take over his career, however, was a surprise.

Bob Kroutil of Biosecurity and Public Health. Photo by Richard Robinson

Kroutil was recruited to Los Alamos from the Department of Defense Chemical Research, Development and Engineering Center in Edgewood, Maryland, by Bioscience Division Leader Gary Resnick and former Laboratory staffer Bill Earl some five years ago.

Having worked for 18 years in the field of chemical sensing for battlefields, Kroutil's skills were tapped for a project known as ASPECT, the Airborne Spectral Photometric Collection Emergency Response Project.

Operated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and supported by the Laboratory, ASPECT deploys chemical- and radiological detection equipment in an aircraft-system platform to emergency first responders. Cruising back and forth over crashed trains, burning chemical facilities, even California wildfires, the airborne platform provides essential information to the Department of Homeland Security as to the safety of their response teams on the ground and in harm's way.

Kroutil and the EPA pilots and crew have mobilized on more than 60 emergency response efforts since the 9/11 days, with about a dozen other special assignments for high-profile events, such as national political conventions. But it's definitely a team effort, he notes.

"There are capabilities at LANL we've been able to pull in to assist us."

On a daily basis, Kroutil works to upgrade the sensors that fly aboard the EPA plane and tweak the software. "As we migrate to more and more planes, we'll continue to improve the sensors and upgrade the software," he said.

"Most of the data analysis and software development occurs at Los Alamos, and the CTN-5 [Network Engineering] folks who run the servers at the Lab have been very helpful in providing servers for this capability. The video conference team also has been extremely helpful. We video link to Washington, D.C., or to a state during an emergency, and they've been really forward looking to integrate their technology and the knowledge base so we can provide this capability for first responders. This thing would just not go without the support of the Web, server, and telecon teams."

- Nancy Ambrosiano