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The �鶹ԭ�� and U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Manufacturing Office are teaming up to host the Arctic Advanced Manufacturing Innovator or AAMI Program. You are encouraged to apply for this program.

If selected as an Arctic innovator, you will be paired with a �鶹ԭ��F researcher and a Department of Energy National Laboratory researcher who are well aligned with your hard technology focus area and who will serve as a mentor and collaborator for your project. You will also receive commercialization and entrepreneurial support from �鶹ԭ��F. The �鶹ԭ�� and U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Manufacturing Office are teaming up to host the Arctic Advanced Manufacturing Innovator or AAMI Program. You are encouraged to apply for this program.

The AAMI program supports early-career innovators with fresh ideas and innovative approaches to address fundamental hard technology (physical devices) manufacturing challenges in Alaska. You will have a unique opportunity to move your early-stage concept to commercialization with support from mentors.

Selected Arctic innovators will receive a competitive stipend ranging from $72,000 to $110,000 per year based on academic level and experience, as well as other benefits including training and travel, health insurance, relocation costs and lab space.

Innovators with strong ties to Alaska will be given preference. Learn more about this upcoming program at .

Fairbanks Startup Weekend will be led by �鶹ԭ��F students this year, and four of the event organizers attended the Columbia Missouri Startup Weekend over the weekend of October 18.

Startup Weekend is a 54-hour event where you experience the highs, lows, fun and pressure that make up life at a startup. As you learn how to create a real company, you'll meet the very best mentors, investors, cofounders and sponsors who are ready to help you get started.

The �鶹ԭ��F students participated in the Columbia event as a way to learn more about Startup Weekend from both the organizer’s side and the participant’s side. The four students joined different competing teams and worked on many different ideas.

The �鶹ԭ��F students made such a great impression that they received a donation from the Columbia event organizers to help kick-off the Fairbanks Startup Weekend. The Fairbanks Startup Weekend kicks off on November 15. Go to for more information.

At this year’s , Riley Bickford and Tom Marsik of �鶹ԭ��F’s Alaska Center for Energy and Power pitched the Arctic Dual Hood for Heat Recovery Ventilation invention. The project was awarded a kicker prize of $2,000 for the best Arctic-related idea. With the cash and support from ACEP, the , the and the �鶹ԭ�� Bristol Bay Campus, the team plans to test a prototype this winter at the CCHRC Research and Testing Facility.

The goal is to create a combined intake/exhaust unit to simplify heat and energy recovery in cold climate ventilation systems.

The project started at CCHRC and gained speed when Bickford chose the idea as his undergraduate research endeavor. He received guidance from Marsik, who holds a joint position with ACEP and CCHRC.

The innovation also won the 2018–2019 Commercialization: Best Overall IDEAs Award at �鶹ԭ��F. The Innovative Disclosures and Entrepreneurial Activities, or IDEAs, awards recognize entrepreneurial individuals who have developed innovative approaches to research, teaching and service.

Bickford graduated from �鶹ԭ��F in spring 2019 and continues to work on the invention as an ACEP employee. The project team now includes CCHRC’s Vanessa Stevens, Robbin Garber-Slaght and Conor Sosebee.

For more information on the dual hood innovation, contact Riley Bickford at rjbickford@alaska.edu.

Startup Week brings entrepreneurs, local leaders and friends together for one week to build momentum around Alaska’s entrepreneurial opportunities.

This is the third annual Alaska Startup Week. From November 18 to 24, events in Fairbanks and across the state will highlight Alaska entrepreneurs as well as programs and initiatives supporting innovation and commercialization. As with last year’s Startup Week, the events coincide with Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Find out more about the upcoming events during Startup Week at .

If you are interested in holding an event in Fairbanks or getting involved in an existing event, please contact Fairbanks co-lead Peter Webley, pwwebley@alaska.edu.

�鶹ԭ�� Southeast faculty Christian Kienholz, Eran Hood and Jason Amundson were recently awarded a grant from the Earth Science Instrumentation Program at the National Science Foundation to purchase two mapping-grade drones.

The drones will be used for a variety of environmental applications, including studying glacier outburst floods and glacier ice loss, quantifying snow accumulation in avalanche terrain, and looking at landscape evolution in glacier river valleys. �鶹ԭ��S students will use the drones in a spring 2020 class entitled Using Drones for Environmental Monitoring taught by Hood and fellow �鶹ԭ��S faculty member Sanjay Pyare.

Students will learn how to conduct drone campaigns as well as how to use structure-from-motion photogrammetry to model surface topography from photos captured during drone campaigns. The class will also prepare students for the drone pilot exam administered by the Federal Aviation Administration. Future plans include establishing a drone lab at �鶹ԭ��S to enhance student and faculty opportunities to study environmental change in southeast Alaska.

The Alaska State Committee for Research invites interested persons to nominate outstanding science, engineering and technology innovators to be inducted into the . Nominees selected by SCoR will be members of the 2020 class and will be inducted at the Innovation Summit in Juneau on February 26 and 27, 2020. Nominations must be submitted no later than November 15, 2019.

SCoR created the Alaska Innovators Hall of Fame in 2014 to celebrate and honor outstanding individuals who put Alaska on the map as leaders in innovation and to contribute to Alaska’s growing culture of innovation.

The SCoR Alaska Innovators Hall of Fame selection subcommittee will review nomination documents and publicly available information about nominees to develop a list of recommended inductees. This list will then be submitted to the full SCoR committee for consideration and selection. The �鶹ԭ�� vice president for academic and student affairs will notify all nominees of their selection status.

�鶹ԭ��F Hackathon Club and the hosted the first statewide on October 11, 2019.

The event had locations in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Juneau. This year there were nearly 50 participants in Fairbanks and almost 100 across Alaska in 15 teams.

The participants worked on a variety of innovative projects, ranging from an automated drone that could identify and put out forest fires to an inexpensive indoor door opener, which won the Startup Idea Pitch award.

Every team won an award, including a pair of Servo-driven glasses that would protect you from seeing scary things during the month of October, which won the Most Straight-up Hilarious and Conversation Starter prize.

  �鶹ԭ��F eCampus’ Madara Mason was recently accepted and received a scholarship to participate in the 2019 program through Stanford's d.school.

The UIF program empowers students around the world to become agents of change in higher education. Fellows create opportunities that help their peers unlock their creative potential and develop the design-centered mindset required to take on complex challenges in today’s world.

The fellowship begins with a six-week online training program, followed by an in-person workshop at the Silicon Valley meetup. At the meetup, fellows connect with one another to build on their online training. They also receive year-round mentoring and represent their university program at national conferences and events.

Next summer, Mason will attend the in-person workshop, bringing back what she learns to the teaching faculty at �鶹ԭ��F in a series of workshops.

The competition, now in its 11th year, invites innovators to propose new, feasible and potentially profitable ideas for solving real-life problems and challenges. The �鶹ԭ��F School of Management awarded $30,000 in cash prizes after the 2019 Arctic Innovation Competition's Final Four presentations on Saturday, October 19.

The top prize of $10,000 in the main division, for ages 18 and up, was awarded to Todd Krieg for fish wheel salmon selector. The selector improves on the classic fish wheel by safely returning coho and chinook salmon to the river to continue spawning while allowing other, more abundant species to be harvested. Other winners included a marine mammal attractant dispensing method to guide them away from oil spills, and a high school virtual hall pass.

Visit for full details.

The Center ICE Seed Fund is designed to help "nudge" promising technologies and companies forward, and give them opportunities to acquire more funding for technology and research development.

We are excited to congratulate Center ICE Seed Fund recipient companies Barati Medical and who have received new funding from the (SBIR) fund.

�鶹ԭ��A Professor Philippe Amstislavski, founder of received EPSCoR funding that was distributed by the for an SBIR Phase I application to fund additional development of his novel method of growing insulation from fungus to use in shipping seafood from Alaska to locations that have banned traditional Styrofoam insulation. Phase 0 offer grants up to $5,000 to assist with SBIR/ Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) proposal writing.

Barati Medical LLC, led by �鶹ԭ��F research scientist Bahareh Barati, received a highly competitive award from National Institute of Health (NIH) SBIR for her wireless optical imager. See the story below for more on Bahareh’s journey to receiving an SBIR award.

Does your innovation need a boost? The Center ICE Seed Fund is now accepting applications for up to $7,000 for non-�鶹ԭ�� affiliated projects and up to $25,000 for �鶹ԭ�� students, staff and faculty with an innovation that needs a nudge! Visit /centerice/seed-funding/ or contact Ky Holland at hrholland@alaska.edu for more information.

Congratulations to co-founders Nigel Sharp and Jonathan Kamler of �鶹ԭ��F for their win at the Accelerate Alaska pitch contest in the "newcomers" category.

was started this summer as a spin-out of a �鶹ԭ��F technology invented by co-founders Kamler (Ph.D. Candidate at �鶹ԭ��F) and Sharp (�鶹ԭ��F's Entrepreneur in Residence). Their mission is to make a social impact for the world by developing technologies that can both treat and find added value from wastewater while providing innovative solutions which are more energy-efficient and save water. Their tagline is "Wet Waste Redefined".

One 55-gallon barrel of the green sludge (human waste) has a recoverable energy content of around two gallons of diesel fuel, which in turn has an economic value equivalent to about two weeks of wages for the people dumping the waste. In some areas, up to 25,000 barrels per day of waste is dumped in areas like the Korogocho slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Along with creating a biohazard, they are dumping the equivalent of six months worth of wages into the river on a daily basis. The economic impact of avoiding that is staggering. Aquagga is developing technologies to help change the waste into wages.

Aquagga has been making great progress this year, winning second place in the Alaska Seed Fund competition, invited to the event in Tennessee, being granted a TREND SBIR Phase 0 award, and most recently taking the "Best New Pitch" award at Accelerate Alaska.

The Aquagga team plans to continue developing their product ideas based on customer and market discovery work they will engage in this fall. If you'd like to learn more about the team please sign up for their updates at .

Most biomedical graduate students don’t go into school thinking about starting a business. But, most students are not Bahareh Barati. And, she credits Drexel University for instilling in her innovation, entrepreneurialism, and commercialization.

Bahareh, lead of Barati Medical LLC, was the recent recipient of an extremely competitive (SBIR) award, one of just a handful ever awarded to �鶹ԭ��F and Alaska. This award is used for feasibility studies and to test the market need for technology.

Bahareh’s technology is focused on a miniaturized optical imaging device to monitor brain injuries in small animal models. Particularly, this SBIR grant focuses on monitoring how brain infarction (tissue death due to lack of blood supply) changes over time in animal models of stroke. The key to this particular technology is that it is wireless and can monitor the brain’s health and function as the animals go along with their daily activity without having to do any further surgeries or anesthesia. Any technology available today costs five-times Bahareh’s technology, and medical practitioners would need to anesthetize the animal whenever they want to do any imaging, and their results are not reliable. Bahareh’s are. Her product will improve the value of preclinical stroke research and accelerate the path to clinical trials with reduced failure rates and associated costs.

Receiving an SBIR award

Most researchers do not get awarded an SBIR award on the first try. Bahareh says, “you need to be very persistent. You have to keep trying and trying.”

Bahareh’s first attempt placed in the top 50% of the applications. One of the great things about the SBIR application review process is that submitters receive detailed feedback from the individual reviewers. And, if you are in the top 50% of reviewed scores, your application will be discussed at a study section, by all of the reviewers. Successful applicants receive a summary of what was discussed by reviewers, and the discussion of Bahareh’s technology concluded that while they liked the technology, it was ‘too risky.’

This risk, however, is the actual purpose of the SBIR award – to provide funding to test a risky idea, and to prove the feasibility of this idea to start the long process toward commercialization. And, this technology was a high-risk high-reward concept. The reviewers agreed that there were some challenges to overcome, but if it does work it will become a very important tool for stroke research.

“I really worked on the concept, and I knew it [the technology] was too risky,” says Bahareh. “I believed in it, and if it worked it was going to change the paradigm of stroke experiments.’

Initial funding

It took a few small grants and some personal expense to get Bahareh and Barati Medical to the point of the SBIR award. Bahareh was initially funded by an SBIR Phase 0 grant from The TREND: to help write the initial SBIR grant applications.

She completed a two-week (IN-LA) to interview potential customers to see whether her technology might solve a real-world problem.

The company was also awarded funding through the first round of the Alaska Center ICE Seed Fund in the category of Innovation at an Inflection Point with a focus on removing risks that will help develop the path to launch a business and overcome challenges to becoming investable.

“It’s an exciting time at �鶹ԭ��F,” says Bahareh. “There’s initiative and momentum to help startup companies with OIPC and Center ICE.”

This funding gave Barati Medical (a partnership between Bahareh and Dr. Kambiz Pourrezaei, her PhD adviser at Drexel University) momentum to keep moving forward on their research and to reduce the personal expense they were inputting on the project.

“The seed fund from Center ICE was really nice. It helped us hire a part-time engineer to speed up things.”

The Phase I SBIR award gives small businesses awards ranging from $150,000 up to $400,000 to test the feasibility of their product and prove it is worth investing in. And, if feasible and you have a good business and commercialization plan, then you can apply for a Phase II SBIR award. This award is up to $1 million in non-diluted funding, so the business retains all of the funding and intellectual property rights.

“On top of funding, it gives you credibility, too. Venture capitalists are more willing to invest in your technology when they see you have passed that very difficult step,” says Bahareh.

Connecting with Students

In the meantime, Bahareh learned about the Students2Startups[BROKEN LINK] program being launched by Center ICE. She was able to pitch her company in the 5 minutes allotted and received a lot of interest from the students. She interviewed six students and ended up hiring former OIPC intern Gerald Montuya, in part because he was proactive and well-versed in the startup culture. Bahareh enjoys working with students as they bring in new insights and unbiased ideas to a project.

“I love working with students, it’s my passion,” says Bahareh. “I know it takes a lot of time and energy training them and they may only stay with you for a short time, but I really like them enjoying their experience and leaving me with some gained knowledge. It’s a great opportunity for them to advance their careers and build their resumes.”

The Student2Startups program provides funding for students to be placed in working roles in startup companies. Where a startup may not have the funding available to hire a student, and students are seeking work opportunities in cutting edge technologies, it is the perfect match for the two.

Gerald is still working with Bahareh, he received undergraduate research funding through the (BLaST) program. He is excited to apply this technology to animal experiments.

Bahareh’s next step is to apply for the NIH I-Corps program which is open to Phase I awardees. This is a 8-week customer discovery program to further explore the need for this technology. This program is perfect to Phase I SBIR recipients during their feasibility assessments. During the I-Corps program, if customer discovery shows that there is, in fact, a market for your product, then this gives you great credibility to apply toward your Phase II application.

Bahareh’s initial customer discovery included interviews with scientists and researchers at university laboratories as well as pharmaceutical companies. In the longer I-Corps program, the theme for who you should interview changes to achieve a broad market analysis.

I-Corps at NIH is an entrepreneurship training program created specifically with small businesses in life sciences in mind. The 8-week program supports Phase I SBIR- and STTR-funded companies with their commercialization efforts. By conducting 100 interviews, small businesses refine their target customer, key product, and market needs. The interviews help participants make new networks, establish partnerships, and build commercialization plans that accurately address the needs of their target market.

Bahareh has a lot of supporters at �鶹ԭ��F, but it has been her persistence, her ability to take in all feedback, hard work and great mentors that got her on the path to success. We are excited to see where the technology goes and we are thrilled that �鶹ԭ��F is producing groundbreaking research in the biomedical field.

Students2Startups Internship: Gerald Montuya with Barati Medical LLC

This summer, �鶹ԭ��F Mechanical Engineering student Gerald Montuya joined the Students2Startups program at the �鶹ԭ�� Center for Innovation, Commercialization, and Entrepreneurship. Gerald joined Dr. Bahareh Barati and her company, Barati Medical LLC. As this internship wrapped up, OIPC spoke to Gerald.

“The amount of things I have learned over these short three months have been astounding. This summer has been a huge crash course in startups, research and development, and functional near infrared” said Montuya.

At the beginning of it all, he was bombarded with information that he had no background in. There was no way he could do a pitch on the company on the spot. Gerald said “I had to spend a lot of time catching up with what Barati Medical LLC was doing first”. To get up to speed, Gerald flew to Philadelphia and worked directly with the team at Drexel University, where Dr. Barati received her PhD.

Under the guidance of Dr. Pourrezaei, Ardy, and Kel, Gerald was given the tools and resources to succeed. Gerald said, “I was lucky to have been surrounded by motivated folks with an incredible wealth of knowledge. I was also lucky enough to try out most of the food trucks that lined the streets with their advice!” After a short month at Drexel, his time was over, and he came back to �鶹ԭ��F with new skillsets and experiences.

Coming back to �鶹ԭ��F, he felt ready and prepared to take on whatever job Dr. Barati had for him. “Once again surrounded by motivated and knowledgeable folks, the Students2Startups community helped me whenever I was in need. Being a part of a startup has showed me how important it is to foster a community,” said Montuya. Although it may seem like there is a million things to do, there is always help to around. Working with Dr. Barati through Students2Startups really emphasized the importance of creating meaningful connections and tapping into resources to Gerald. He would not have learned so much otherwise. Gerald said, “My pitch is still in development, but I am miles ahead than where I was three months prior”.

To learn more about the Students2Startups program, please contact Center ICE at ELIF 424 between 10 am – 4 pm M-F or by emailing the team at CenterICE@alaska.edu

The National Academy of Inventors named Webley to its spring 2019 class of senior members. He is the first senior member from Alaska. Senior members are active faculty, scientists and administrators from National Academy of Inventors (NAI) member institutions who have demonstrated remarkable innovation-producing technologies capable of changing society. They also have proven success in patents, licensing and commercialization.

Webley is among 54 academic inventors named NAI senior members this spring. The class represents 32 research universities, government, and nonprofit research institutes. They are inventors named on over 860 U.S. patents. Senior members are elected biannually, and nominations are accepted on a rolling basis. A full list of NAI senior members is available at .

NAI is a member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutes, with over 4,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 250 institutions worldwide. It was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society. The NAI publishes the multidisciplinary journal, Technology & Innovation. .

For more information on the NAI and �鶹ԭ��F’s involvement, please contact Faculty Ambassador Webley at pwwebley@alaska.edu

The Arctic Innovation Competition (AIC) provided an update on the winners of the 2018 Student Kicker and Fan Favorite Awards. This team of �鶹ԭ��F students met at the 2018 Fairbanks Startup Weekend, taking home first place that lead to a pitch at AIC 2018.

Reminder: Are you feeling inspired yet? 

The AIC 2019 idea submission deadline is Friday, September 20, 2019.

Questions? Contact AIC at aic@arcticinno.com or call (907) 474-6518. The �鶹ԭ��F Arctic Innovation Competition is 100% donor funded.

On July 19th, �鶹ԭ��F OIPC and Center ICE held an Open House for the Nanook Rendezvous. Here, �鶹ԭ��F's Alumni met innovative �鶹ԭ��F faculty, staff, and students and discovered the entrepreneurial activities and programs provided by OIPC and Center ICE.

They heard from the companies established from University research and were able to talk to the owners as well as meet the students working in these startup organizations through the Students2Startups[BROKEN LINK] program at �鶹ԭ��F.

Several of the winners of the top invention disclosures of the past academic year (IDEAs awards) were available to talk to those attending the Open house while the alumni were able to appreciate first-hand how �鶹ԭ��F is building a pipeline to foster University innovations and transfer them into the commercial market to drive economic growth for Fairbanks, the Interior, and the State.

For more information on the IDEAs awards contact Peter Webley at pwwebley@alaska.edu and the student2startups program contacts Erik Talvi at etalvi@alaska.edu or Center ICE at centerice@alaska.edu.

Robert Coker, Ph.D. and Brandon Kowalski (Teaching Assistant) delivered the first course in  (H4D) at the �鶹ԭ�� this summer. In this particular case, "hacking" reflects an expeditious, iterative process of finding solutions for the  and the intelligence community.

The �鶹ԭ��F students were originally focused on developing new alternatives for energy capacity in unmanned, undersea vehicles (UUVs) in wild, remote settings like Alaska. 'Beneficiary discovery' or talking to individuals through interviews who live in this world is a central theme of H4D. From there, concepts are developed that closely match the needs of beneficiaries to potential products or prototypes. The early stages of this process work towards the agile development of a minimal viable product (MVP) that might begin to solve the existing "pains" of energy delivery in our particular case.

Over an accelerated pace of six weeks, �鶹ԭ��F students with backgrounds in communication, homeland security, and engineering focused on the problems of the beneficiaries. Through these interviews, it was established that marine scientists gathering data using these devices were also limited in their capacity to acquire data due to lack of energy. UUVs that run out of electrical power would surface and remain dysfunctional for months before retrieval. Remarkably, these groups were not likely to consider alternatives to due difficulties with deployment. The majority of beneficiary interest centered around coastal communities in Alaska using wave generated energy for commercial fishing and overall sustainability. It was also discovered that these beneficiaries could serve as a testing ground for energy provisions due to adequate policies in place from a regulatory standpoint.

Beneficiary discovery during H4D provided the students with an opportunity to determine what strategies/products/services in the form of an MVP might mitigate the biggest pains. Central to all groups working with wave generated electrical power, the students developed MVP linked managing entities and point of contact information with the licensing/regulatory process and sources of funding to enable deployment in remote settings. Developers and beneficiaries will now have one stop access to comprehensive information that will increase the speed and agility in this sector of important energy development.

The team thanks all of their beneficiaries for their important role in this process. Larry Bartlett of  served as an extremely valuable mentor who kept students grounded in beneficiary discovery. The students also expressed our sincere appreciation to the late Dr. Edward "Ted" Cape of Direct Action Networks International for providing mentorship in the intelligence, security and reconnaissance domain for our students. We all offer our since condolences to his friends and family.

Looking back over the past year (July 1, 2018 - June 30, 2019), we see that 28 invention disclosures were made to OIPC, with 24 from �鶹ԭ��F innovative faculty, staff, and students and 4 additional disclosures from researchers at �鶹ԭ��S. Of the total 28, 14 were led by Faculty, 10 by staff members, and 4 had a student(s) leading the invention.

The invention disclosures were from across the research, teaching, and service activities of �鶹ԭ��F and �鶹ԭ��S faculty, staff, and students. Several disclosures focused on health impacts while others centered on research tool development, safety, energy, ocean economy, and transportation.

These disclosures highlighted the breadth of inventions from �鶹ԭ��F and �鶹ԭ��S and how everyone is cultivating new ideas to transition them into technologies and opportunities for business development as well as build solutions for the challenges of Fairbanks, Alaska, and across the Arctic.

For more information on disclosing your invention with OIPC, please go to or email us at uaf-oipc@alaska.edu.

As we prepare for another great academic year, let's take a moment to reflect on the incredible year that has passed. Over the past twelve months, OIPC staff, students, and faculty members - along with a multitude of partners - have worked tirelessly to advance university research through industry partnerships and to build a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.

The year kicked off with the federal SBIR/STTR Road Tour in July 2018. and programs have been called the U.S.'s largest seed fund, and Governor Walker welcomed the tour. Small business and university innovators networked and had the unique opportunity to meet individually with federal program managers to learn how to best align their companies and innovations with federal priorities. Numerous �鶹ԭ��F researchers have been awarded the highly competitive SBIR/STTR grants including biomedical engineer Bahareh Barati.

The Innovation Initiative (I2) continued with many successful innovators and entrepreneurs discussing their process of developing an idea into a successful business, whether it be groundbreaking medical technologies, tools to improve scientific data collection or a travel pillow that lets you sleep in private.

OIPC hosted TechStars in September 2018 where, in 54 hours, ideas were pitched, teams formed, and successful entrepreneurial ventures tested. The weekend's winners, Hoodillow, spent their 54 hours interviewing anticipated customers, building prototypes, and developing business models and their win scored them an entry into the Arctic Innovation Competition.

Hacking events featured across campus. The term 'hacking' is to used describe the rapid, iterative process of problem-solving, and student and staff-led events included during Fairbanks Startup Week, November 2018, and the new �鶹ԭ��F course (HD4i) was launched by OIPC ambassador and �鶹ԭ��F faculty and entrepreneur Robert Coker in early summer 2019.

Fairbanks TechStars was co-led by OIPC ambassador Peter Webley and 's emerging Arctic, technology-led development project manager Juliet Shepherd. Events were held across campus and the community including - Creating the Future event at Noel Wien Library, Introduction to Rural Airbnb - for tribal members and rural entrepreneurs at David Salmon Tribal Hall, and a meet and greet with a patent attorney on the �鶹ԭ��F campus.

The first Alaska Center ICE Community Challenge project was completed by a team of �鶹ԭ��F senior engineering students. The challenge was submitted by a private company that creates lifesaving avalanche survival devices. The team won the Top Young Innovator award during the first annual IDEAs Award ceremony.

The first annual Innovative Disclosures and Entrepreneurial Activities (IDEAs) Awards were held in conjunction with World Intellectual Property Day in April 2019. The IDEAs Awards recognize �鶹ԭ��F and �鶹ԭ��S faculty, staff, and students who have developed and disclosed innovative approaches to research, teaching, and service. The Top Overall award was won by Tom Marsik, Riley Bickford, and Rorik Peterson for their Arctic Dual Hood for Heat Recovery Ventilation product.

The Center ICE Seed Fund awarded eight grants, $5,000 to $25,000, in the fall of 2018 to �鶹ԭ�� and community innovators working on commercialization or technical challenges that needed a "nudge" to make some critical progress.

The first Students2Startups[BROKEN LINK] event successfully brought together 25 students and 9 startup companies, resulting in summer internships in areas including engineering, biomedical, and more.

�鶹ԭ��F faculty, staff, and students pursued new startup companies, OIPC recorded 28 new technology disclosures, and �鶹ԭ��F licensed more technologies. New licenses include C. elegans Sieve, OCD Mouse Model and methods, Heating control system for Arctic engines, and Piano Ligh

Thank you for all your help over the past year and for your contributions to innovation and entrepreneurialism in Alaska. Now, let's roll up our sleeves and make the next year our best yet!

As part of the upcoming Nanook Rendezvous Alumni Reunion, OIPC and Center ICE will host an open house on July 19th on the fourth floor of the Engineering Learning and Innovation Facility. The event will introduce our innovative faculty, staff, and students at �鶹ԭ��F and showcase our entrepreneurial activities and programs.

Visit us from 2 to 4 pm to learn more about companies established through University research and meet the students working in these startup organizations. Learn more about the top invention disclosures of the past academic year and how �鶹ԭ��F is building a pipeline to foster University innovations and transfer them into the commercial market to drive economic growth for Fairbanks, the Interior, and the State.

For more information contact Alexis Rhynard at aarhynard2@alaska.edu and Peter Webley at pwwebley@alaska.edu.

The second cohort for the 2019 supported I-Corps[BROKEN LINK] experience is kicking off on June 28th.

I-Corps is a highly-experiential, approximately 6-week-long program. Each team will receive $2,500 from an NSF grant for their participation in the program. Participants are expected to dedicate an average of three hours per week to the program activities and requirements.

At the end of the session, participants will have an understanding of their customer needs and the marketability of their project. Participants are required to have 20 quality interviews with potential customers and industry experts. This is one of the best first steps to take on the path of entrepreneurship. The experience will be led by Nigel Sharp, a national NSF I-Corps alumni, and the Center ICE startup and innovations manager, contact at nigel.sharp@alaska.edu.

Application Due Date: ASAP as space available

What: I-Corps Cohort 2

When: June 28th

Where: Center ICE and Virtual

Who: Anyone working on a project in STEM

Why: $2,500 grant funding for market discovery / travel

More Info: www.uaf.edu/centerice/customer-discovery/[BROKEN LINK]

The first course in is up and running at �鶹ԭ��F.

Unlike computer hacking, we use the term ‘hacking’ to describe the rapid, iterative process of problem-solving for the and Intelligence community.

Sourced with a real problem specifically curated for Alaska by H4Di, our team of students has been focused on developing new alternatives for energy capacity in unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) that are typically used to gather data in remote settings. While some might think that this would mean the generation of various prototypes, the H4Di strategy utilizes beneficiary discovery as the foundation of their solution-driven strategy.

Over the past two weeks, students with backgrounds in communication, homeland security, and engineering have focused on the “pains” of the beneficiaries and found out that many issues related to adequate energy to drive UUV’s are shared across disciplines. For example, marine scientists gathering data using these devices are also limited in their capacity to acquire data due to lack of energy. Due to lack of adequate energy, UUVs may go “belly up” and dysfunctional for months before retrieval.

Now that our �鶹ԭ��F team of students has been acquiring specific information from beneficiaries, they are working through a “Value Proposition Canvas” to determine what strategies/products/services in the form of a minimal viable product might address the needs of their beneficiaries. In this way, any potential solution will be based on a deep understanding of the real problem well suited to function regardless of water temperature, ocean currents or deployment paradigm.

There are only three fast-paced weeks of work to go before the team gives their final presentation. See next month's newsletter for the identified solutions.

The �鶹ԭ��F Alaska Blue Economy Center (ABEC) was recently established to help advance new research, education, and economic opportunities for Alaska. An article celebrated the new center’s launch.

The “blue economy” signifies the sector of the economy centered on marine environments (oceans, rivers, and lakes) that represent the potential for substantial economic growth and opportunity for diversifying Alaska’s economy and workforce. Alaska’s oceans already provide immense value to the state, across the Arctic, and the U.S. through fisheries, tourism, and oil and gas exploration. In addition to the traditional sectors, ABEC is working to catalyze growth in the rapidly expanding fields of ocean technology, renewable energy, and marine biotechnology.

“The Alaska Blue Economy Center is a great point of intersection between the University of Alaska and the maritime industries,” says Mark Billingsley, OIPC’s Intellectual Property and Contracts Director. “OIPC and Center ICE are eager to facilitate connections between industry and researchers, spur and support innovation, and then shepherd those innovations to successful adoption by industry.”

Alaska, surrounded by oceans, has 46,600 miles of shoreline, more than the Lower 48 states combined. This positions Alaska as a natural leader in the blue economy.

“We're eager to get help build an innovation economy around the maritime industries, an area ripe for expansion in Alaska,” Billingsley added.

�鶹ԭ��F’s Arctic Research Open House highlighted 26 research facilities and institutes from across the University giving attendees hands-on experience of the world-class research at �鶹ԭ��F.

During the event, OIPC highlighted the 2019 IDEAS award winners as well as the Alaska Center ICE Community Challenge and H4Di programs while Center ICE focused on the Students2Startups[BROKEN LINK] and I-Corps initiatives[BROKEN LINK].

OIPC Faculty Ambassador Dr. Peter Webley and Center ICE Startups and Innovation manager Nigel Sharp were on hand to highlight how �鶹ԭ��F is developing solutions to the challenges and needs of Alaskan companies and the community while also supporting innovation and entrepreneurial activities of �鶹ԭ��F’s faculty, staff, and students.

Efforts to move a university innovation to the market are more successful when performed in an environment that is designed to foster innovation. A recent �鶹ԭ��F project demonstrates the sequential layers of support offered by the �鶹ԭ��.

Last Fall, OIPC’s Mark Billingsley talked to �鶹ԭ��F senior capstone design mechanical engineering students about the Alaska Center ICE Community Challenge, which curates industry problems and tries to match them with �鶹ԭ�� faculty, staff, and students.

Students Riley Bickford, Cory Florence, Sam Kendall, and David Woo took up the challenge and worked with OIPC’s Ky Holland to connect with industry partner and Alaskan Ray Huot. The “Avy Pouch” senior design project was born.

Using Huot’s patent-pending concept, the students designed and produced a working prototype of an avalanche airbag system that attaches to any backpack.

Huot and the mechanical engineering students applied for a Center ICE Seed Fund, which was awarded to support research and prototype development. One of the award conditions was participation in program, requiring the team to better understand the problem that their anticipated customers face.

Throughout the process, Holland provided mentorship relating to innovation development and steering toward market viability.

The students worked with OIPC staff to disclose their technology to �鶹ԭ��F. Ultimately, the team won the (IDEA) Tomorrow’s Innovator Award for best student innovation at �鶹ԭ��F and �鶹ԭ��S.

Moving forward, Huot and the team are eligible for continued support through the Center ICE Students2Startups[BROKEN LINK] intern program as well as prototyping support through the Alaska Seed Fund.

This year’s �鶹ԭ��F top Innovative Disclosures and Entrepreneurial Activities (IDEAs) Award went to Tom Marsik, Riley Bickford, and Rorik Peterson for their design of a dual hood for heat recovery ventilators operating in arctic climates.

The winners were announced at a fun-filled World IP Day event on April 26, 2019, at �鶹ԭ��F. The IDEAs Awards recognize �鶹ԭ��F and �鶹ԭ��S faculty, staff, and students who have developed and disclosed innovative approaches to research, teaching, and service.

This year’s winners are:

• Top Overall: Commercialization Award -Tom Marsik, Riley Bickford, and Rorik Peterson: Arctic Dual Hood for Heat Recovery Ventilation

• Top �鶹ԭ��F: Nanook Award - Robert (Trey) Coker, Robert Wolfe, and Freddy Wolfe: MyoEon 1: Complete Nutrition for Ideal Body Composition, Functional Capacity, and Metabolic Health

• Top �鶹ԭ��S: Spike Award - Matthew R. Pawlus and Shane Bennett: Nematode Biosensor for Shellfish toxin home kit

• Top Faculty: Inspiration Award - Andrew McDonnell: Ocean Carbon Capture Reactor

• Top Staff: Creative Award - Sam Jeffries: Universal Payload Mount for Griffon SeaHunter

• Top Young Innovator: Tomorrow’s Innovator Award - Riley Bickford, Cory Florence, Sam Kendall, and David Woo: Avy Pouch

Next year’s competition is already underway, so enter here.

The first Students2Startups[BROKEN LINK] event successfully brought together 25 students and 9 startup companies.

Companies started by pitching their internship opportunities. Then students and companies broke off into multiple rounds of “speed dating.” Companies located outside of Fairbanks participated virtually through video conferencing.

Now companies and students that paired up are formulating work plans and preparing for the summer internships.

“Along with the excitement, the mixer gave me a deeper insight into the startup industry and its unlimited pathways. I could practice my elevator pitches and interviewing skills, and learned about incredible innovations and opportunities all aiming to positively impact society,” said student Gerald Montuya, who landed a job with Barati Medical, LLC.

The 2019 inductees were announced in February and included three new members from �鶹ԭ��F: Dr. Jerome Johnson, Dr. Seth Danielson, and Dr. Matthew Sturm.

Sturm has studied snow and developed better ways to measure it. His achievements include identifying causes of avalanches, discovering new forms of snow crystals, and publishing well over 100 journal articles – many with widespread impact. He co-authored a book, , to communicate snow science to the general public, and a children’s book, , that teachers are able to use in their classrooms. As an entrepreneur, Sturm, along with Jon Holmgren, co-founded the company Snow-Hydro LLC to develop a self-recording snow depth probe and the snow temperature and depth probe which are sold worldwide through Snow-Hydro.

Danielson played essential, early roles in the conceptualization and development of the (RPM) – initially inducted in the 2014-15 class of the Alaska Innovators Hall of Fame. The RPM is an autonomous power generation unit collaboratively designed, built, and tested by �鶹ԭ��F Professor Emeritus Thomas Weingartner, Danielson, and a technical team led by university research analyst Hank Statscewich. The RPM units are deployed in remote regions, typically without road and vehicle access (aside from snowmachines, skiffs, or 4-wheelers).

Johnson, a co-founder and CEO of startup company Coupi, Inc., was inducted for his research and innovation contributions in snow and soil strength in relation to infrastructure development and human interactions, development of the discrete element method model and its applications including in the design of ’s Mars Rover, and for his awards and distinctions that have helped put Alaska research on the world stage.

Cheers to these distinguished leaders of innovation in Alaska!

The Alaska Seed Fund is seeking applications for $50,000 in grant money to help inventors and entrepreneurs fund the development of prototypes in Alaska.

In 2019, the fund will award one grand prize of $20,000 and up to 10 additional grants of between $3,000 and $10,000. The deadline for applications is April 14.

The �鶹ԭ�� Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization administers the Alaska Seed Fund. Wells Fargo and the 49th State Angel Fund provide the funding for the awards.

Members of the public and the university community are eligible to apply for the grants, which aim to help support the development of new products and high-growth companies in the state. Representatives from �鶹ԭ��F, the Alaska Small Business Development Center and the private sector will evaluate applications based on commercialization potential and feasibility.

Additional information, including the online application form and evaluation criteria, is available online at www.alaskaseedfund.com or by email to info@alaskaseedfund.com.

Dr. Kelly Drew, a professor at �鶹ԭ��F’s Institute of Arctic Biology, has been accepted into the . The program prepares researchers to move their NIH-funded research projects beyond the laboratory and toward commercialization.

NIH’s I-Corps program provides funding, mentoring, and networking opportunities to help commercialize promising biomedical technologies. During the 8-week, hands-on program, Drew and her team will learn how to focus their business plan and get the tools to bring her treatment to the patients who need it most.

Drew, along with principal investigator and post-doctoral student Bernard Laughlin, has developed a technology for body-temperature cooling that could be used to help patients with heart, brain, and spinal injuries. Congratulations Dr. Drew!

In March 2018, Birgit Hagedorn attended Center ICE’s with two fungi farmers with the idea of using fungus for bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons - gasoline, diesel, and crude oil. The workshop proved to mushroom the idea into a real business concept.

Hagedorn, an environmental geochemist and scientist with more than 25 years of research and field experiences in polar and temperate environments, proposed the idea to Far North Fungi’s Gabe DeGange and Allison Dunbar at looking at mushrooms as a tool for bioremediation. Gange and Dunbar, who had already thought about this, jumped at the opportunity to move this idea forward.

The goal was to develop a cheap, rugged and universal remediation technique to be applied in remote areas without the need of large equipment and intensive oversight and an end product of fully restored soil ecosystem: all at lower costs than traditional remediation.

The LLW pairs teams with business savvy mentors and the Team Fungi was assigned business consultant Jacqueline Summer of Paxaro Solutions.

“Without the Lean Launch Workshop we would not have made it this far, says Hagedorn during a phone interview. “This is where I met Jaqueline and she is the one with the business head.”

During the three-day workshop, teams were required to cold-call potential customers to find out if they had any issues or needs that could potentially be met by their idea.

This cold calling introduced the team to very potential customers, even landing them a test project at Anchorage International Airport cleaning contaminated soil with the mushrooms. This success inspired the team to press on, calling themselves the Fungi Alliance.

They received a Center ICE Seed Fund grant which helped pay for a booth at the Alaska Forum on the Environment (AFE). The booth received a lot of attention including an offer to contribute to a bioremediation project in central Alaska.

“We now have more contacts than we can follow up with, this is a good problem to have,” says Hagedorn.

The team participates in a first round of the I-Corps program that includes $2,500 in travel funds for customer discovery, and two 3.5 to 4 hours sessions with Nigel Sharp to learn more about the Business Model Canvas and do more customer discovery.

“We might already be too far ahead in our business, had we started right after the lean launch Workshop with the I-corps program with its intensive customer discovery program would be much more effective,” Says Hagedorn.

In addition to the participation in the AFE conference, the next steps for the team are to continue product development and research which is also supported by the seed fund. The reality of getting a real project includes figuring how they want to operate as a business, taking steps to make formal agreements, working out accounting, how to get paid, insurance and who should carry insurance.

The idea is now a reality, and a better bioremediation method for hydrocarbons may have been developed right here in Alaska. .

The next Innovation Initiative (I2) event will be at 4:30 p.m. in the BP Design Theater, ELIF 401 on the �鶹ԭ��F campus, and will feature Michael DeGrandpre.

DeGrandpre is an analytical chemist at the University of Montana specializing in autonomous sensors for studying aquatic biogeochemistry and the ocean carbon cycle. His presentation will be on his invention and his successful startup company, .

Come learn about DeGrandpre’s fascinating research, award-winning innovation, and the path to commercial success. DeGrandpre’s presentation will be followed by refreshments and an opportunity for informal conversation.

For more information, please contact OIPC Ambassador, Peter Webley.

Do you have an innovative idea that you think has business potential? Are you looking for the tools to turn an idea into a commercial reality?

The 2019 Lean Launch Workshop will get you where you want to go. Offered March 11^th – 13^th on the �鶹ԭ��F campus, the workshop teaches Stanford’s widely-adopted Lean Startup Methodology – techniques used by tech-based startups around the world.

This workshop is open to all faculty, staff, students, and members of the public.

This year’s workshop will introduce the Mission Model Canvas tool for open innovation between entrepreneurs and corporate and government partners. You’ll learn techniques for customer discovery, how to work through the challenges of new venture creation, how to build an investable venture with high performing founding teams, and who to partner with.

Apply by March 1st at Center Ice

Alaska Center ICE office space is in high demand. We currently have three tenants using the office space to conduct their business activities. Our tenants include Essential Blends, Be Cool, and Coupi, Inc.

Essential Blends develops and commercializes clinical nutrition products, targeting specific health issues such as obesity, sarcopenia, heart failure, and liver disease. Essential Blends leads Alaska in Small Business grants from the National Institutes of Health, with some of their subawards extending to �鶹ԭ��F. The company maintains its focus on research and development while leveraging licensing agreements with several medical nutrition/pharma companies. In May of 2013, Robert Coker, Ph.D., co-founded Essential Blends LLC with partners in California and New Zealand.

Coupi is a startup company focused on consulting, modeling, and simulation in the fields of particle physics, solid mechanics, and fluid dynamics to help customers optimize products and processes, reduce product development time and costs, and improve innovation and productivity. Coupi relies on its in-house developed computer-aided engineering software to simulate complex products and processes to help with customer projects and challenges. Coupi has a history of working with NASA, DOE, Cornell Univ., Johns Hopkins, Honeybee Robotics, Analytical Mechanics Associates, and other organizations and companies.

Be Cool Pharmaceuticals is a startup company created by Kelly Drew (left) that explores the receptors that regulate the onset of hibernation in Arctic ground squirrels. They are now building on that knowledge to pursue a medical solution for human victims of stroke, cardiac arrest, and spinal cord injury. Be Cool is developing compositions and methods that may allow humans to drift into a hibernation-like state. This strategy would help ward off the negative effects of the injury and minimize permanent damage until proper and complete medical service is available. This innovation will be highly valuable among, for example, rural and remote communities.

If you are interested in renting lab or office space at Center ICE, please contact Nigel Sharp and nigel.sharp@alaska.edu.

Center ICE will hold its second annual Lean Launch Workshop during spring break on March 11^th to 13^th.

Do you have a business challenge or are willing to help others with their opportunity? This year's Lean Launch Workshop: Innovation to Launch, is looking for challenges and innovators who want to learn and use lean launch methods of innovation and new venture creation.

Participants from last year's workshop are encouraged to attend, and anyone with a new venture idea or early-stage startup company. When you apply, you'll be asked to submit your current challenges that we may choose to focus on in the workshop. Even if your challenge is not fully used, the work before, during, and after the workshop online will provide you tools, information and feedback to assist you with your own innovations. Facilitated by the BMNT group, this year's workshop will focus on the challenges of launching a new venture using the Stanford Lean Launch models with a goal to help create investable (by founders, employees, investors, and customers) new ventures with high performing founding teams, an operating system and plan for execution, and strategic partnerships (other startups, vendors, departments, licensing etc.).

Learn more and apply at Center ICE.

The Center ICE Seed Fund awarded 8 grants, $5,000 to $25,000, in the fall of 2018 to University and community innovators working on commercialization or technical challenges that needed a "nudge" to make some critical progress. The Fund is accepting additional proposals due February 15th for consideration and award at the Innovation Summit in Juneau on February 22, 2019. Visit Center ICE for more information and to apply.

Alaska's first Angel Conference is seeking Alaskan entrepreneurs and new ventures to apply for an investment of $100,000. The Angel conference is an established program in the northwest U.S. that helps new investors and new entrepreneurs learn about early stage company financing. Weekly workshops have started and are open to anyone interested in attending in person in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau, or by Zoom online video session. Sessions are being recorded so you don't miss anything.

Currently, the organizers are looking for early-stage companies interested in equity or revenue redemption (debt) financing to apply. Learn more and apply at .

is an experiential entrepreneurship program designed for small businesses in biomedical industries. By conducting 100 “customer development” interviews over 8 weeks, companies find and confirm customer and market needs. So far, more than 100 teams have conducted more than 10,000 interviews, through which they have made new networks, established new partnerships, and built commercialization plans for their innovative technologies. Small businesses with an ACTIVE Phase I SBIR/STTR grant from are eligible.