2013 INNOVATE award winners and their new projects

Congratulations to the second round of winners in the UAA INNOVATE Award. The 2013 winners were announced at a special event in December 2012, and recipients are hard at work on their projects now.

The purpose of the INNOVATE Award is to inspire faculty research, entrepreneurship and creative activity that will lead to publication in a peer review journal or a creative event, external research funding or intellectual property. The INNOVATE Award was created in 2011 by Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies Helena Wisniewski, to stimulate new research and intellectual property.

In her opening remarks, Vice Provost Wisniewski made note of the first year accomplishments for INNOVATE Award winners, at least as of Dec. 14, 2012. They included:

•    11 proposals submitted for external funding
•    As of Dec. 3, 2012, three had already received awards, for a total of $350,000
•    Six submissions in process to peer review journals
•    Four invention disclosures, two evolving into patents pending and two on the way
•    A Scholar in Residence
•    A method developed for image decompression that outperformed the government's own standard
•    Nine presentations at international conferences
•    The first members of the Patent Wall of Fame named, Kenrick Mock and Bogdan Hoanca.

The entire evening of awards was podcast by University Advancement and can be heard at the UAA podcast page here.

At the evening social, Vice Provost Wisniewski invited four recipients from the previous year to provide short summaries of their projects. You can hear their individual summaries within the podcast at the approximate times listed:

•    Khrystyne Duddleston, Biological Sciences, arctic ground squirrels host-gut-microbiome interactions (8:29)
•    John Lund, Electrical Engineering, ultra-long lifespan wireless sensors (13:37)
•    Colin McGill, Chemistry, Alaska bog blueberries (21:00)
•    Don Rearden, College Preparatory & Developmental Studies, a whaling novel (27:40)

In introducing the next round of winners, Vice Provost Wisniewski said 35 proposals were submitted and 16 awards would be made. The new round of applications revealed three notable facts, she said:
•    The diversity of areas and disciplines applying for awards had increased, signaling interest across campus
•    More proposals were interdisciplinary
•    Proposals were received from every one of UAA's colleges and schools.

And without further delay, the 2013 INNOVATE Award recipients and their projects are:

•    Colin McGill, Chemistry and Co-PI Eric Murphy, Psychology, "Malate Supplementation: A Dietary Intervention to Improve Spatial Memory in Aged Rats."
•    Aaron Dotson, Civil Engineering and Co-PI LeeAnn Munk, Geology, "Source Identification and Complexation of Copper in an Urban Environment."
•    Jeffrey Callahan, Construction Management, Justin McVaney, Construction & Design Technology, and Co-PI Kenrick Mock, Computer Science and Engineering, "Augmented Reality, BIM and GIS for Mobile Platforms in Architecture, Engineering and Construction."
•    Khrystyne Duddleston, Biological Sciences and Co-PI Paddy Sullivan, Environmental and Natural Resources Institute, "Importance of the Microbial Community as a Driver of Tree Performance and Treeline Position in Northwest Alaska."
•    Mark McCoy, Chemistry, "Development of a Point of Care Assay for Vitamin D."
•    Jonathan Alevy, Economics, and Co-PI Michael Young, Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, "Seasonality and Economic Behavior."
•    Jill Flanders Crosby, Theatre and Dance, and Co-PI Brian Jeffery, Theatre and Dance, "Secrets Under the Skin Art Installation."
•    John Lund, Electrical Engineering, "Wireless Sensor Nodes with Advanced Signal Analysis Capabilities for Expanded Sensor Network Applications."
•    Scott Hamel, Civil Engineering, "Design and Evaluation of Thin-shell Latex-modified Concrete Barrel Roof Units."
•    Kenrick Mock, Computer Science and Engineering and Co-PIs Bogdan Hoanca, Computer Information Systems, Stephanie Bauer and Raymond Anthony, Philosophy, and Yasuhiro Ozuru, Psychology, "Revealing Human Moral Decision Making Through Eye Tracking."
•    Joey Yang, Civil Engineering "Carbon Fiber Tape-Based Anti-Icing Technology for Wind Turbine Blades."
•    Dr. Andrew Puckett, Physics and Astronomy, and Co-PI Travis Rector, Physics and Astronomy, "Seed Funding for the Production of the Definitive Aurora Borealis Planetarium Show."
•    Jonathan Stecyk, Biological Sciences, "The Turtle Heart: A non-traditional model to understand and potentially treat human cardiovascular disease."
•    Jennifer Stone, English, "Language, Literature, and Technology in Alaska."
•    Patrick Tomco, Chemistry and Co-PIs Dr. Mark McCoy, Chemistry, and Steven Seefeldt, UAF Cooperative Extension Service, "Characterization of Aminopryralid Degradation in Alaska Soils."
•    Liliya Vugmeyster, Chemistry, and Co-PI Dmitry Ostrovsky, Mathematical Sciences, "Computational Modeling of Protein Flexibility via Bridging Polymer and Protein Sciences."

Watch for stories and updates on these works in progress at the UAA INNOVATE blog and in Seawolf Weekly , UAA's weekly newsletter.