Daily News Briefs

Diversified Optical Products Inc., (DiOP), a Salem, N.H., provider of thermal imaging components and systems, announced that the US Army has purchased and deployed its clip-on night sight products, including infrared and image-intensified gun sights and handheld Cadet75 thermal cameras, in an order worth more than $500,000; the equipment is being used by coalition ground troops in Iraq. The DiOP sights and cameras allow detection and identification in any ambient light and through smoke or fog. . . .

Scott Mize has been appointed president of the Foresight Institute, a Palo Alto, Calif., think tank and public interest organization focused on nanotechnology. Previously, Mize was co-founder of AngstroVision Inc., a developer of nano-imaging instruments; chairman of the advisory board of the Nanotechnology Opportunity Report; a business consultant for Technanogy, a nanomaterials company; and advisor to nanotechnology software company Accelrys. . . . Optical Research Associates (ORA), a Pasadena, Calif.-based optical software developer and supplier of optical design and engineering services, has hired Ron Gordon as a senior systems engineer. Gordon received a PhD in optics from the University of Rochester and has expertise in the development of optics for the lithography industry, a key market for ORA. His has held engineering positions at IBM Microelectronics and Motorola. He will initially focus on developing innovative algorithms for tolerancing direct metrics for the lithography industry using ORA's CODE V software.