美国国家科学基金会创新基金资助合作和实验室

由创新中心协调 & 创业与工程学院

Gary Burdick，研究主任，Matías Soto，创新总监 & 创业, 还有贡纳·洛夫霍伊登, 工程学院院长, 国家科学基金资助的三位主要研究者是谁. （杰夫博伊德摄）

创新中心 & 创业已获三年, $400,000 grant from the National Science 发现ation (NSF) that will increase innovation capacity by fostering collaboration. 最新靠谱的足球外围推荐大学作为EXPAND财团的一部分申请了这笔拨款, a group of five universities who partner on projects relating to engineering and computer science. 这是国家科学基金会的一部分 $18.600万投资 在“区域创新生态系统”中.”

“This grant will allow us to increase our efforts to develop meaningful industry relations, 哪些可以转化为合作项目, 赞助研究和实习, 激发新的研究和创新机会,Matías Soto说, 博士学位, 创新总监 & 最新靠谱的足球外围推荐大学创业课程.

EXPAND的5个成员是最新靠谱的足球外围推荐大学, 密尔沃基工程学院, 底特律大学, 西新英格兰大学和圣. 托马斯。, which are spread across the industrialized north of the United States from Minnesota to Massachusetts.

根据美国国家科学基金会, members of the EXPAND consortium “will receive support to develop capacity and 机构al knowledge to help them build new partnerships, secure future external funding and tap into their regional innovation ecosystems.” 的se project collaborations have the potential to provide experiential learning opportunities for the students involved, 激发学院内部的基础和应用研究领域, 让公司拥有更好的人才渠道, 并使大学在经济上受益.

美国国家科学基金会的 格兰特描述 explains that the “project aims to build strong and sustainable external partnerships in various disciplines of engineering and computer science, 关注新兴技术.“有了这笔资金, universities in the consortium will share best practices and lessons learned to improve policies and processes for external partnerships, 通过发展和支持建立教职员工的专业知识, 发展行业和社区合作伙伴.

的 grant will further bolster the work of the 最新靠谱的足球外围推荐大学 工业实验室, 它是由创新中心于2023年创建的 & 创业与工程学院. 的 工业实验室 focuses on attracting and managing collaborative projects with industry partners. Its mission is to deliver tailored solutions that add value to industry partners by leveraging University resources. 的 lab’s vision is to be a trusted partner in solution design for its clients, 这加强了他们的地位, 支持经济发展，促进产业发展.

通过与工程学院的合作, the lab provides students with opportunities to develop and work on collaborative projects with external organizations such as companies, 非营利组织和其他大学. 自2023年8月起, students in the School of Engineering have utilized the 工业实验室 in fulfillment of their senior design courses. 除了他们可以参与的几个正在进行的项目之外, they have the opportunity to propose their own projects and ideas for new products. All projects are at least two semesters long so that students gain extensive experience in project management and development throughout the year.

这些项目的主要合作伙伴是洛马琳达大学. 由创新中心促成的协议 & 创业 was signed between 最新靠谱的足球外围推荐大学 and Loma Linda University (LLU), allowing LLU to disclose intellectual property of inventions created by their clinicians and doctors. 的 agreement has enabled 最新靠谱的足球外围推荐大学 students and faculty to be engaged in the development and testing of medical device prototypes.

One project currently in progress with LLU is the automation of manual ventilators, 也被称为手动复苏袋. Manual resuscitation bags are used in circumstances w在这里 patients require additional support to help them breathe, but the bags require healthcare providers to maintain continuous motion in order to operate. Mechanical ventilators can support patients without constant operation but are more difficult to source and can sometimes be excessive for the case at hand. 的 project sought to maintain the activity of a manual resuscitation bag without the necessity of assigning a person to operate it. Such a solution reduces the amount of personnel needed to provide care for a patient, 允许医疗保健专业人员专注于更苛刻的任务.

Adrian屠夫, 一个从事呼吸机项目的机械工程系学生, shared the outcome of the team’s efforts: “Our liaison from Loma Linda sent us a couple of videos showing that it was working because he was super excited!”

另一个项目合作者是当地企业Skidmore Pump, 一家位于本顿港的蒸汽泵制造商, 密歇根. 的 工业实验室 developed a relationship with the company in the summer of 2023 and partnered with the School of Engineering for project execution. 学生 helped redesign valves to create more efficient ways to remove air from steam, also working toward reducing the failure of pressure valves within steam line systems and combining several different valve types.

斯基德莫尔指出, “Taking this development work outside of our walls freed up our engineering resources to work on higher priority projects. 另外, I think having the students work alongside industry partners with a company provides them insight into how professional projects and engineers work and think.”

“要准备好所有的项目需要做很多工作, 让所有的学生都参与到他们的项目中, 向他们解释这些项目是关于什么的,索托说。. “We scheduled kickoff meetings with all these different companies and organizations and the students, so they could ask questions and get to know the inventors and people behind the scenes.” He shared that 工业实验室 organizers hope to continue to grow this program and work with larger companies in the future, as the lab provides a direct opportunity for students to gain industry experience and branch out into various fields of interest, 创业公司和他们自己的公司.

“I’m very excited about this program because it provides experiences for students, 它使我们能够与工业界发展更密切的伙伴关系. 所以它有多重好处，”索托说.