{"id":67886,"date":"2025-04-30T08:02:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T12:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=67886"},"modified":"2025-05-09T18:57:28","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T22:57:28","slug":"a-small-grant-a-big-idea-and-a-lot-of-utc-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2025\/04\/a-small-grant-a-big-idea-and-a-lot-of-utc-support\/","title":{"rendered":"A small grant, a big idea and a lot of UTC support"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Megan

Megan Cales recently presented the Brooks Band at UTC’s Spring Research and Arts Conference. Photo by Angela Foster.<\/p><\/div>\n

It started at Thanksgiving dinner.<\/p>\n

Megan Cales watched her partner\u2019s 5-year-old son\u2014who is autistic\u2014struggle to manage his voice in a noisy room full of family. She searched online for a discreet, wearable tool that might help him self-regulate. Nothing existed. She made a mental note and moved on.<\/p>\n

Then, an email from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga caught her eye. A call for MOCS Innovate! mini-grant proposals had just gone out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had this need\u2014and suddenly there was this chance to do something about it,\u201d said Cales, a career engagement coordinator in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business.<\/p>\n

She started with a problem (not a product)<\/em><\/h4>\n

Cales\u2019 first mini-grant idea wasn\u2019t even a device. It was a nonprofit to help women navigate the family court system\u2014something she knows well after a years-long legal battle of her own. She poured hours into that proposal before realizing it wasn\u2019t the right fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat wasn\u2019t an invention,\u201d she said. \u201cThis was about building something real. So I pivoted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, she pitched a new idea: the Brooks Band, a wearable wristband that gives children with autism or other neurodiverse traits gentle, real-time feedback when their voices get too loud. It vibrates softly when a preset volume threshold is exceeded, offering subtle support without singling anyone out.<\/p>\n

The name? A tribute to the boy who inspired it all.<\/p>\n

When the right idea meets the right support<\/em><\/h4>\n

Cales had no idea where to begin, but she wasn\u2019t going to let that stop her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know how to build something like this,\u201d she said. \u201cI even used AI just to figure out how to describe it. I didn\u2019t know the vocabulary, just what it needed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winning the MOCS Innovate! mini-grant<\/strong><\/a>\u2014funded by UTC\u2019s Clarence E. Harris Chair of Excellence in Business and Entrepreneurship\u2014in January 2025 gave her the push she needed. At a February researchers meet-up, she connected with Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu, a mechatronics professor and director of UTC\u2019s Biomechatronics and Assistive Technology Lab. He saw potential in her idea and introduced her to Chantz Yanagida, a UTC mechanical engineering alum who helped design and build the first working prototype of the Brooks Band.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing it come to life was wild,\u201d she said. \u201cHe made it real.\u201d<\/p>\n

With guidance from UTC commercialization counselor Jennifer Skjellum, Cales filed a provisional patent, thanks to local attorney Stephen Adams, a UT Knoxville law grad and former UT Research Foundation<\/strong><\/a> intern who filed it at a discounted rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cStephen made it feel doable,\u201d she said. \u201cSuddenly, I was allowed to dream a little bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Megan

Megan Cales<\/p><\/div>\n

From campus support to community testing<\/em><\/h4>\n

Cales is already connecting with local autism communities, including UTC\u2019s Mosaic program, to gather feedback and explore testing opportunities. Some Mosaic students may even take on roles with Sensory Bridges, helping refine the product while gaining job-like experience, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve talked to teachers, therapists, even autistic young adults,\u201d she said. \u201cThe feedback has been amazing. People want this. They need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And she\u2019s just getting started.<\/p>\n

Since winning the grant, Cales has traveled to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas\u2014a major festival known for music, film and emerging technology\u2014where she joined a UT System cohort of early-stage researchers for a national I-Corps experience. The program focuses on testing ideas, validating customer needs and exploring commercialization.<\/p>\n

Back in Chattanooga, she\u2019s continuing that work through the UT System\u2019s virtual I-Corps Hub.<\/p>\n

Her path reflects a broader effort at UTC to make research and innovation more accessible across campus.<\/p>\n

Through the Max Fuller Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship<\/strong><\/a> in the Rollins College of Business\u2014and with support from the UT Research Foundation\u2014UTC is helping students, faculty and staff advance early-stage ideas into UTC\u2019s innovation pipeline. The MOCS Innovate! mini-grants and Fly for Researchers pitch competition are part of that expanding ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re helping people across campus move from idea to impact,\u201d Skjellum said. \u201cThat\u2019s how you build a research culture, by making sure people know where to go when they\u2019re ready to take that next step.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Cales, it\u2019s a whole new world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to think I\u2019d just put this on Amazon,\u201d she said. \u201cNow I know it can take years. But that doesn\u2019t scare me anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

For students, she\u2019s walking the talk<\/em><\/h4>\n

As an advisor in the Rollins College of Business, Cales spends her days helping students find their path. Now, she\u2019s drawing from experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell students all the time: You\u2019re always going to be learning. You\u2019re never done,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat matters is showing up, trying anyway and using the resources around you.\u201d<\/p>\n

She learned that lesson the hard way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest lie I believed was that I had to already know how,\u201d she said. \u201cThat mindset holds so many people back.\u201d<\/p>\n

For UTC leaders, her story is a proof of concept<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u201cInnovation doesn\u2019t only happen in labs or classrooms,\u201d said Dr. Robert Dooley, UTC\u2019s interim chancellor and longtime dean of the Rollins College of Business. \u201cIt happens when people across campus feel empowered to take a chance\u2014and when we as a University have the systems in place to support them.<\/p>\n

\u201cMegan\u2019s story reminds us that entrepreneurship lives everywhere: in staff, in business, in lived experience. That\u2019s exactly what the Max Fuller Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is here to support. We want to keep proving that small, early investments like MOCS Innovate! can unlock incredible potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skjellum agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany inventions start as cool ideas looking for a problem to solve,\u201d she said. \u201cMegan did the opposite\u2014she saw a real need and built something from scratch. That\u2019s the kind of thinking we want to promote across campus. It\u2019s not about where you work; it\u2019s about how you think.\u201d<\/p>\n

From a moment at the dinner table to a startup with a patent pending, Cales is the kind of innovator UTC hopes to keep inspiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t set out to become a founder,\u201d she said. \u201cI just wanted to help someone I love. But this experience showed me I could create something real\u2014and that there are people here who\u2019ll help if you just ask.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more<\/h4>\n

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

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

MOCS Innovate! mini-grant<\/a><\/p>\n

How to apply<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Megan

Megan Cales (center) represented UTC innovation at the 2025 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, as part of a UT System cohort focused on advancing early-stage ideas. Photo courtesy of Megan Cales.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It started at Thanksgiving dinner. Megan Cales watched her partner\u2019s 5-year-old son\u2014who is autistic\u2014struggle to manage his voice in a noisy room full of family. She searched online for a discreet, wearable tool that might help him self-regulate. Nothing existed. She made a mental note and moved on. Then, an email from the University of… <\/p>\n

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