Leon Glebov and Optigrate Featured in Orlando Sentinel

Central Florida gains from laser hiring

Leonid Glebov stands amid the beams, wires and metal studs of what will soon be the new home of OptiGrate Corp., the laser-optics company he helped found more than a dozen years ago

It will be a big move for the small business, the laser scientist said last week as he checked on the construction's progress. Until now, the company has been a tenant in Central Florida Research Park as part of the University of Central Florida's business incubator.

OptiGrate will nearly double its space when it moves into the new, 10,000-square-foot facility in Oviedo. Its expansion, Glebov said, is driven by growing sales of its tiny electro-optic components, used in everything from military communications gear to medical equipment.

"I won't say we'll double our employees in a year — no, not that fast," said Glebov, an award-winning UCF physicist who immigrated from Russia in the mid-1990s and became a U.S. citizen a few years ago. "We expect growth to be steady as our sales increase. This is all very exciting."
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Posted Tuesday, April 24, 2012