UND awarded $7.6 million contract from the U.S. Army

Grand Forks, North Dakota – The U.S. Army has given the University of North Dakota a multi-million dollar contract to build an inventive system for contamination and sanitation inspection. The Combat Capabilities Development Command awarded the $7.6 million contract.

This will require cooperation from several different parties.

The project’s goal is to create portable inspection scanners that can identify surface pollution. It can adjust to frequent deeper cleans, overnight cleanings, and spot checks. It is made for a variety of sanitization circumstances.

It can also be useful to USDA inspectors in identifying excrement on animal carcasses.

“Very important application,” said Dr. Kouhyar Tavakolian. “We went to many slaughterhouses in North Dakota and try and adapt the technology to find fecal matter that even a USDA licensed person, who has been doing this for decades. Going there he could have missed.”

The U.S. Army’s public health units will benefit from this tool.