{"id":57657,"date":"2024-03-18T09:28:55","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T13:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=57657"},"modified":"2024-03-28T08:48:41","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T12:48:41","slug":"mocs-innovate-mini-grants-take-faculty-inventions-one-step-closer-to-commercialization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2024\/03\/mocs-innovate-mini-grants-take-faculty-inventions-one-step-closer-to-commercialization\/","title":{"rendered":"MOCS Innovate! mini-grants take faculty inventions one step closer to commercialization"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dr.

Dr. Jejal-Reddy Bathi, left, students Kara Kimes, David Brown and Landon Norman, and Professor of Mechanical Engineering Kidambi Sreenivas with the microplastics sampling device.<\/p><\/div>\n

Whether it\u2019s innovations in health care, transportation or solutions for healthier living, faculty members at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga are driving groundbreaking research.<\/p>\n

To assist with their advances toward commercialization, four faculty projects are recipients of the MOCS Innovate! award, a $5,000 grant from a seed fund established by Dr. Thomas Lyons, the Clarence E. Harris Chair of Excellence in Entrepreneurship in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business, and Jennifer Skjellum, the commercialization counselor from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.<\/p>\n

This marks the second year of the award and the first under the \u201cMOCS Innovate!\u201d name.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, we focused on people who were farther down the line in their research,\u201d said Lyons, a professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at UTC. \u201cThis year, we wanted to come back and capture some people who were earlier in the pipeline and people who were more widely dispersed on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.

Dr. Thomas Lyons<\/p><\/div>\n

The awardees, he said, were those looking to commercialize their invention or build a business around it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHelping people do that is what we do with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship,\u201d he said. \u201cThe mission of the Harris Chair is to spread entrepreneurship across the UTC campus, so I just felt like it\u2019s my responsibility to step up here and become engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skjellum said they awarded those who showed real potential with their projects despite potentially being early in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey needed to have something that had potential for commercialization, meaning it was novel and had value,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This award shines a light on UTC\u2019s commitment to providing faculty opportunities, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are pivoting, innovating and coming up with new things. That\u2019s where you really start to see there is an innovation culture at UTC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here is a look at the 2024 MOCS Innovate! award winners.<\/p>\n

Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu, <\/em>associate professor in the Engineering Management and Technology Department, Mechatronics, and Jason McDowell, <\/strong>Graduate Research Assistant in Biomechatronics and Assistive Technology Lab<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu came to UTC in 2019, he quickly began working alongside the physical therapy department.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.

Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu<\/p><\/div>\n

As an associate professor of mechatronics, whose work is centered on developing medically assistive devices to help those with physical disabilities, Kaplanoglu saw some needs in the department\u2014especially with stroke victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen someone has a stroke, they need physical therapy,\u201d said Kaplanoglu, now the interim head of the Department of Engineering Management and Technology and director of the Biomechatronic and Assistive Technology Lab. \u201cBut it takes time. It\u2019s not always covered by insurance. There are some devices that can be used for hand therapy, but it\u2019s not easy to buy it and it\u2019s not easy to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaplanoglu and Jason McDowell, a research assistant in the Biomechatronics and Assistive Technology Lab, designed a wearable device that allows patients to engage in successful hand treatment through robotic mirror therapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aimed to find a way to make therapy in home with affordable prices and easy to use,\u201d Kaplanoglu said.<\/p>\n

McDowell, an engineering management and technology graduate student, explained the device.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re exploring a new way to control a robotic assistive device that gives us more fine-grained control of the robotic system for robotic mirror therapy,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are using a hand tracking camera to mirror the movements of the user\u2019s good hand to an exoskeleton glove which moves the bad\/paretic hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaplanoglu commended McDowell for his help throughout the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m lucky that I have this kind of student,\u201d Kaplanoglu said. \u201cHe can talk about the coding part and the designing part. We can understand each other. I never call him \u2018student;\u2019 he\u2019s my teammate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winnings will allow them to market the device and eventually make it available to patients, Kaplanoglu said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur project is innovative,\u201d he said. \u201cUTC is not only a teaching school, but also a research school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to create a research culture to show that we can do something for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Nagwan R. Zahry, associate professor in the Department of Communication<\/strong><\/p>\n

While completing her doctoral degree at Michigan State University, Dr. Nagwan Zahry focused her research on healthy eating in college students.<\/p>\n

Intrigued by her findings, Zahry continued her research for the past six years, developing the framework for an app called \u201cFoodConnect\u201d designed to help college students make healthy food choices.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.

Dr. Nagwan Zahry<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cMy long-term plan,\u201d said Zahry, an associate professor in the Department of Communication, \u201cis to make the app accessible to all students who are at UTC so they can find information about food. Easy, accessible information that can help them decide what to eat and how to prepare healthy food that is not time-consuming.\u201d<\/p>\n

To further her research, she collaborated with faculty in the School of Nursing to apply different health theories and U.S. Department of Agriculture recommendations in the design of the app.<\/p>\n

Over the last two years, she worked with three cohorts of students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science to conduct face-to-face interviews to better understand students\u2019 perceptions about healthy eating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m interested in how the human body works,\u201d she said, \u201clike how nutrition can be very effective in terms of mental health, productivity and energy. I\u2019m looking at food as a holistic idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MOCS Innovate! award will help the app come to fruition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my dream project, and I didn\u2019t get a chance to work on it until I got to UTC,\u201d she said, \u201cand then I couldn\u2019t get funded. I was just about to lose hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was super excited to hear that I got the grant. I am very grateful to Thomas and Jennifer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Jejal-Reddy Bathi, environmental engineering coordinator and assistant professor in civil engineering, and Dr. Sree Kidambi Sreenivas, professor in mechanical engineering<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Jejal-Reddy Bathi, assistant professor in civil engineering, and Dr. Kidambi Sreenivas, professor in mechanical engineering, have spent a lot of time in the lab with their graduate students working on microplastic pollution projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor them, it was very laborious,\u201d said Bathi, who is also UTC\u2019s environmental engineering coordinator. \u201cThey had to wait for a rain event to collect samples. It did not give enough data in a rapid manner so that we can inform the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.

Dr. Jejal-Reddy Bathi<\/p><\/div>\n

This inspired Bathi and Sreenivas to work alongside their students to develop a device to sample and track microplastics more accurately and efficiently.<\/p>\n

The device will allow its users to process a smaller sample in the field with automated processes, thus reducing errors in the data and providing consistency in data collection across a variety of scenarios.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus is understanding the level of microplastics in the environment,\u201d Bathi said. \u201cIt\u2019s challenging with ill-fitted equipment or the sampling protocols that we have. To fill that gap to be able to better track microplastics in the environment, we came up with this idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he went over with his students all the locations where microplastics have been discovered\u2013\u2013from human arteries to Antarctica\u2014Sreenivas stressed the significance of keeping track of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all drinking this water and that\u2019s the bottom line,\u201d Sreenivas said. \u201cWe really don\u2019t know what\u2019s in our water, especially microplastics.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the grant, Bathi and Sreenivas will be able to make a fully functional prototype with all the working parts, which could further their knowledge of microplastics in ecosystems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat kind of treatment techniques we should be designing and implementing in the field is very fundamental information,\u201d Bathi said. \u201cThis helps. If we can process samples and get this information quicker, which is what our aim is in making this, we can feed that information into our engineering designs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin Harris, director of operations and chief engineer, UTC Research Institute<\/strong><\/p>\n

Austin Harris, the UTC Research Institute director of operations and chief engineer, is at the forefront of a project focused on revolutionizing transportation management systems.<\/p>\n

The management system is cloud-based, meaning it operates entirely online. It will integrate non-connected and connected road users\u2013\u2013those who can exchange data with other vehicles and roadside infrastructure\u2013\u2013through connected Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).<\/p>\n

\"Austin

Austin Harris<\/p><\/div>\n

Harris said his research aligns closely with the U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s 10-year plan to equip a significant portion of intersections nationwide with connected vehicle infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe end goal with these funds is to develop an integration method for non-connected road users, enabling them to receive the same benefits and awareness that connected road users do,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really focused on the safety layer of this transportation management system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris noted there was never an exact start date for the research, given its ongoing nature to accelerate the deployment of the transportation management system\u2019s connected vehicle data integration component.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a cumulation of knowledge on seeing how cities operate and how automated vehicles operate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To Harris, securing this grant holds significant importance in transportation research on and off campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnology transfer and commercialization is a huge part of research,\u201d he said. \u201cAny way we can encourage researchers to take that next step right into commercialization is a huge benefit for not just the research community, but also the University.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn More<\/h4>\n

Visit UTC<\/a><\/p>\n

Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship<\/a><\/p>\n

Clarence E. Harris Chair of Excellence<\/a><\/p>\n

Department of Engineering Management and Technology<\/a><\/p>\n

Department of Mechanical Engineering<\/a><\/p>\n

Biomechatronics and Assistive Technology Lab<\/a><\/p>\n

Department of Communication<\/a><\/p>\n

UTC Research Institute<\/a><\/p>\n

How to apply<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four faculty projects are recipients of the MOCS Innovate! award, a $5,000 grant from a seed fund established by Dr. Thomas Lyons, the Clarence E. Harris Chair of Excellence in Entrepreneurship in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business, and Jennifer Skjellum, the commercialization counselor from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2000,"featured_media":57679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7712,70,15,12738,59,4866,122493,12743,122496,57,52,8244,122497,12740,64,48007,661],"tags":[122027,123827,123826,99083,124081,123032,119190,123336,123828,123232,123829,119383,119495],"class_list":{"0":"post-57657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-academics","8":"category-campus","9":"category-civil-engineering","10":"category-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","11":"category-communication","12":"category-education","13":"category-engineering-management-technology","14":"category-entrepreneurship","15":"category-faculty-and-staff","16":"category-college-of-business","17":"category-graduate-school","18":"category-honors-and-awards","19":"category-marketing","20":"category-mechanical-engineering","21":"category-news","22":"category-research-academics","23":"category-students","24":"tag-austin-harris","25":"tag-creating-the-mocs-experience","26":"tag-cultivating-a-culture-of-innovation","27":"tag-erkan-kaplanoglu","28":"tag-jason-mcdowell","29":"tag-jejal-reddy-bathi","30":"tag-jennifer-skjellum","31":"tag-kidambi-sreenivas","32":"tag-leveraging-our-special-place-as-chattanoogas-university","33":"tag-nagwan-zahry","34":"tag-operating-with-excellence","35":"tag-thomas-lyons","36":"tag-tom-lyons","37":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nMOCS Innovate! mini-grants take faculty inventions one step closer to commercialization | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Four faculty projects are recipients of the MOCS Innovate! award, a $5,000 grant from a seed fund established by Dr. Thomas Lyons, the Clarence E. 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