WSU Innovators Receive Funding from Commercialization Gap Fund

The OC is pleased to award 7 WSU researchers with a grant from the FY2015 Commercialization Gap Fund (CGF). The awards are intended to be the final funding step to advance innovations from the lab to the marketplace. In collaboration with the OC, CGF recipients will work to reach key milestones throughout the duration of the 12-month funding cycle.

The awardees include:

Dr. Amit Bandyopadhyay, Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture (Pullman)
Project Title: Next Generation Infection Resistant Load-Bearing Implants

Dr. Clifford Berkman, College of Arts and Sciences (Pullman)
Project Title: Tunable pH – Sensitive Linker for Targeted Drug Delivery

Mark E. De Kleine, College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences (Prosser)
Project Title: Commercializing an Apple Harvesting System by Integrating Three Critical Technologies: Fruit Removing End-Effector, Fruit Catching Structure, and Transport Machine

Dr. Hanjo Hellmann, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Pullman)
Project Title: Development of a Novel Biotechnology Platform to Improve Agricultural Traits in Plants for Beneficial Impacts on Biofuel Production, Plant Stress Tolerance, and Food Yield

Dr. Hanwu Lei, College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences (Tri-Cities)
Project Title: High Energy Dense Bio-Fuels from a Versatile Conversion System: Feedstocks and Processes for Securing Bio-Aromatics

Dr. Hans Van Dongen, College of Medical Sciences (Pullman, Spokane, Vancouver)
Project Title: User Interface and Commercialization Plan for Drowsy Driver Detection at Moderate levels of Fatigue

Dr. Matthew Whiting, College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences (Prosser)
Project Title: Pound-for-Pound: Refining and Commercializing a New Harvest System for Specialty Crops

A total of 20 applicants entered the competitive funding process in August 2014 by submitting pre-proposals. Eleven applicants were then invited to submit a full proposal. The application process culminated with applicants presenting the commercial opportunity of their respective technology to a panel of external experts in December.

The funds represent a collaborative investment among the Offices of the President and Provost in conjunction with the Vice President of Research, the Washington Research Foundation, and the OC. The next round of CGF funding will begin in the summer of 2015.