Lockheed opens W. Virginia biometrics research center

If Virginia is for lovers, is West Virginia for biometrics? So believes Lockheed Martin, which last week threw open the doors of its new 6,000 square-foot White Hall-based Biometric Experimentation and Advanced Concepts (BEACON) center. (The name is an echo from Lockheed’s existing Virginia-based Center for Innovation, known as “The Lighthouse.”) “Lockheed Martin is famous for setting up these innovative centers in a core activity,” said Abby Mackness, director for advanced biometrics research. “We’ll do research here, but it will also be a hub, a collaborative center dedicated to biometrics to better serve the U.S. public.” Local companies are also invited to come to the center and show off their innovations. “We can offer our thoughts on how their products or services could be used in the biometrics arena and the ability to expose their products and services to a broader biometrics audience.”

Intended to serve as a center for the company’s biometrics research, the center will leverage two existing research programs: The Global Vision Network, which links Lockheed engineering and laboratory centers; and the Multi-Sector Crisis Management Consortium — a collaboration of multiple government agencies, academic institutions, and private sector entities focused on crisis management policies and technologies. The center will also work closely with West Virginia University’s Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR), “which offers the progressive thinking and outstanding research that will be a hallmark of the BEACON,” explained Lockheed’s Carlaine Blizzard.