Jim Beck

Mr. James Beck is the CEO of Sunburst Sensors, LLC of Missoula, MT and a Mechanical Engineer with a strong interest in instrumentation. For the last decade he has worked with co-owner, Mike DeGrandpre on the development of pH and pCO₂ sensors for marine and freshwater applications, while building the company into a competitive player in the biogeochemical instrumentation market. A fourth generation Montanan, he looks to bring high technology jobs to the state.  He enjoys skiing, hiking, hunting, especially if he can do it with his friends and family.  He has his BSME from MIT and MSME from University of Washington.
 

Dr. Mike DeGrandpre is a Professor of Chemistry at the The University of Montana and co-owner of Sunburst Sensors. His research focuses on the development of chemical sensors for marine and freshwater applications.  The pH and pCO2 sensors developed in his lab have been deployed in all of the world's major ocean basins in addition to estuaries, rivers, lakes and recently, caves.  DeGrandpre, in collaboration with Dr. Reggie Spaulding of Sunburst Sensors, has been working hard on the new SAMI-alk instrument. 

Mike DeGrandpre

Reggie Spaulding

Reggie is a Research Chemist at Sunburst and has been with the company since 2006.  She oversees the chemistry lab, and also works on grant procurement, new instrument development and testing, and customer technical support.  She has a background in analytical chemistry,  instrument development, atmospheric chemistry, and ocean biogeochemistry.  She holds a PhD in Environmental Chemistry from UC Davis, an MA in Genetics from Columbia University, and BS in Microbiology from Idaho State University.  She has spent most of her life in Idaho, California, and Montana, where she currently lives with her husband and three children.  

Janet is a Research and Manufacturing Engineer for new builds.  She started at Sunburst in 2013 and oversees the manufacture and testing of all of Sunburst’s new build SAMI-pH, SAMI-CO2, AFT-pH, and AFT-CO2 instruments for customers.  Janet received a B.S. from UC San Diego in Environmental Systems and a M.S. in Analytical/Environmental Chemistry from the University of Montana.  She has worked in a variety of fields including atmospheric research, education and outreach, Antarctic ice research, medical device manufacturing and oceanographic research and instrumentation.  Janet was born and raised in New Mexico, but moved to Montana in 2004 and currently lives in Missoula with her husband, three kids and two dogs.

Janet Seidel

Brandon is the Refurbishment manager at Sunburst, where he oversees the servicing of all incoming SAMI2 instruments. He has been working for Sunburst for over 6 years. He studied chemistry and geoscience at University of Montana and received a B.S. in each field in 2014. Brandon worked for the University of Montana as a research assistant for Mike DeGrandpre’s lab prior to his time at Sunburst. His work characterizing meta Cresol Purple for fresh water use was published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography Methods in 2016. His interests include environmental chemistry, natural processes, earth science outdoors and cycling.

Michelle Dewey

Michelle studied biology at BYU-Hawaii and Univ of MT.  In her free time she enjoys spending time with family and friends, as well as hiking with her dogs in beautiful MT.

Katherine Beck

Gabriella Cameron