History

Sunset Laboratory Inc. was founded in 1984 to provide OCEC analyses of glass, quartz and other environmental filter samples. The thermal-optical OCEC instrument used for this work was based upon instruments developed at the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology. Initially, samples were run primarily for environmental applications, such as EPA monitoring programs for visibility and particle loading, but workplace exposure assessments have also become an important area of expertise.

In the early 1990s, Sunset Lab began to make the thermal-optical OCEC lab instruments available commercially. Since then, the company has sold over 60 of these instruments worldwide, with a combined analysis base of well over 250,000 filter samples. The sample sources analyzed by this method are collected in a variety of environments, ranging from ambient urban and rural areas to mining sites, work environments, national parklands, forest fire plumes, and other unusual events. This instrument became the basis for the NIOSH Method 5040. The journal article describing it was awarded the NIOSH Alice Hamilton Award in 1996.

In 2000, Sunset Laboratory broke new ground with the introduction of a semi-continuous, real-time, in-situ carbon aerosol field instrument. The time-resolution capability and laser-based pyrolysis correction techniques of this instrument provide a dynamic addition to existing technology with refined information about particle origins, health exposures, and changes in air quality.

Scientists

The principal scientists of Sunset Laboratory are Robert Cary and David Smith. Cary, President of the company, has been a leading innovator in the development of thermal optical OCEC measurement and analysis techniques and instruments. Before founding Sunset Laboratory, he was a Senior Research Associate at the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology and was involved in the construction of the first OCEC instruments at OGI. David Smith is an atmospheric chemist with experience in instrument development, organic analysis and methods development, and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation studies. He has previously worked in the Atmosphere Chemistry Group at ManTech Environmental Technology.