Five projects headed by USU researchers received federal funding through the Technology Commercialization Grant (TCG) program last quarter.

The program is designed to take stimulus funds allocated to USU’s Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative and award them to “high-risk, fast-track” research, said Jacoba Poppleton, public relations specialist for the office of Strategic Ventures and Economic Development (SVED).

He said the money will serve as an investment to the university by bringing returns from the projects’ commercial applications. USU’s USTAR teams is a division within the SVED office.

Ray DeVito, Technology Commercialization Office’s (TCO) director in charge of managing and approving TCG applications, said funding the projects has been discussed before, but there were no funds to start the process until USU received the $800,000 grant in March as part of Senate Bill 240. The first round of grants was awarded in October. A second round of applications has been submitted to TCO. The deadline to submit projects for next quarter’s grants is March 30.

“The quick turnaround from the time when funding was announced until the first submission period shows that there is a lot of commercially viable research at USU,” DeVito said. “There is simply a need for additional funding to transition from research to public use.”

One of the five projects is an Equine Distress Monitor, developed by Chris Winstead, assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering, and Rebecca Lewis, who manages USU’s Equine Educational Center. If a horse eats too much or lies down for too long, it can get cholic, Poppleton said. The monitor will alert a computer about unusual conditions which in turn alerts a person that can help the animal. She said it may be marketed to the agriculture industry, especially to those who work with racehorses.

“It can save animals’ lives as well as the time and efforts of a lot of people,” Poppleton said.

Poppleton said that while USTAR is primarily research initiative, the goal of the TCG program is to see a commercially viable product, be it a machine or software or other invention, come out of the research that can then be marketed to help feed the Utah economy. The grant for the Equine Distress Monitor will enable Winstead to build a prototype and market the technology. The other four projects funded last quarter came from different departments, including chemistry, physics, engineering and the Utah Water Research Laboratory.

DeVito said it will take a while to commercialize USTAR projects, but the legislature and USU are committed to that outcome. According to the USU’s USTAR Web site, the TCG money is for the “final stages” of developing technology, rather than for the research itself. The projects that were funded during the first submission round were submitted to the Technology Commercialization Office, using an online application form and requires prerequisites such as an invention disclosure, approval of the college dean and a suggestion of how much funding the applicants hope to receive. Applicants also answer questions such as what the risks of the project are, what sort of market it will reach, how long it will take to see a return on the investment, the economic impact and others.

“It’s like writing a grant. It is grant money, so it’s a pretty competitive process,” Poppleton said.

Submissions that do not meet requirements or are not selected can be resubmitted the following quarter.

Once submitted, the projects are reviewed by a USU committee that consists of eight members. The ones they select are sent on to the state USTAR governing authority, which reviews the applications on a quarterly basis during its monthly meetings. Poppleton said of 16 applications submitted in the first round, USU’s committee selected five, all of which were approved. The USTAR governing authority will review this quarter’s submissions from USU on Feb. 4.

The full $800,000 has not been awarded, DeVito said. Because it comes from the federal stimulus package, it has to be spent within one year, so researchers have two more submission periods, Mar. 31 and June 30, to apply. Faculty members receive e-mails from TCO every submission period, detailing application information of how they can apply, when and for what.

– chelsey.gensel@aggiemail.usu.edu