MIT prize spurs relative’s pride

As inventor and chemist Timothy M. Swager celebrated the prestigious Lemelson-MIT Prize on Thursday evening in Massachusetts, his cousin in Lawrence could not hide her joy.

“This is kind of an exciting day for the family because I know what’s all going on,” said Carol Floersch from her home at Lawrence Presbyterian Manor.

Swager won the prize as part of a team that developed chemical sensor devices to detect explosives. Soldiers in Iraq are using the technology to scan people and vehicles for hidden explosives or bomb-making materials. Robots fitted with sensing equipment also search for explosives.

Floersch said Swager has relatives in Kansas City, Kan., and that his mother called her Wednesday to say they were attending a formal event Thursday night.

Swager, 45, is the John D. MacArthur professor of chemistry and a department head at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He grew up in Montana.

He has visited Lawrence before in his youth but not spent “piles of time here,” said Floersch, who returned to live in Lawrence in 1981 after she had earlier attended KU.

The award includes a $500,000 prize.

Swager and colleagues have invented a synthetic material that attracts chemicals typically used to make explosives. He has said he could envision it one day being used for airport security screening.

“It’s supposed to help humankind, which impresses me so,” Floersch said.