Entrepreneurs Recognized for New Products, Technologies

12/12/2016

Media contacts: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu

LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell student-entrepreneurs and faculty researchers behind a variety of new enterprises and inventions shared the ideas that gave rise to their innovations at a recent celebration of their achievements.

The annual University Entrepreneurship Celebration showcased the depth and breadth of new concepts, products and services launched at UMass Lowell to address needs in business, industry, government and the nonprofit sectors. The event was presented by the university’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.

“The spirit of entrepreneurship is what created this university,” said Julie Chen, vice chancellor for research and innovation, evoking UMass Lowell’s earliest days in the 1800s when it provided Lowell’s textile companies with essential education that helped fuel the American Industrial Revolution. That can-do sense of purpose at UMass Lowell has been “kicked up” in recent years, Chen said, noting that now is an amazing time to be associated with the institution. More than $70 million was invested in UMass Lowell research and development last year – up from $36 million in 2007 – through external funding, grants and university support – and the university delivers $921.9 million in positive economic impact to the region annually, up from $490 million in 2010. UMass Lowell has also dramatically grown its infrastructure since 2007, investing more than $600 million in construction and acquisitions and opening 12 new buildings, with one more – the Pulichino Tong Business Center – to open in 2017, all serving the university’s increased enrollment, which now surpasses 17,500 students, a 50 percent jump over the last nine years.

At the celebration, faculty and students spotlighted some of the new ventures and products born in UMass Lowell’s laboratories, classrooms and makerspaces.

UMass Lowell students of all majors and recent graduates learning how to think like entrepreneurs through the university’s DifferenceMaker Program talked about that experience. The program calls on participants to solve problems in business and society and each spring awards seed money for the best new concepts through its DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge.

Since it was launched in 2012, the DifferenceMaker Program has involved more than 20,000 UMass Lowell students, led to the formation of 14 companies and given rise to six patents for new inventions that have been filed or approved. More than $153,000 in funding has been awarded to students in support of their ventures through campus pitch contests including the DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge and participants have raised $368,000 in external funding toward their enterprises.

Participants presenting their projects included:

• Alison Dunbar, an exercise physiology major from Franklin, representing eNABLE Lowell, UMass Lowell students who took home the top prize of $6,000 in last spring’s DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge for designing and fabricating low-cost, 3D-printed prosthetic hands for children;
• David Tetreault, a military veteran from Lowell who earned UMass Lowell undergraduate and master’s of business administration degrees and created Veteran’s QRF, an online platform that assists users in applying for military benefits, which won $4,500 from the DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge;
• Justin Lozier, a mechanical engineering major from Nashua, N.H., who was awarded $4,500 in DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge funds for his new product TopaCan, a portable ashtray that snaps onto the top of beverage cans, making them receptacles for cigarette butts to reduce littering.

Entrepreneurial Faculty Awards in three categories recognized UMass Lowell faculty researchers whose work is spurring economic development.

Six professors were honored for completing the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps Program, which shows participants how to successfully translate their discoveries into products and services that benefit society. They were:

• Computer Science Prof. Xinwen Fu, for HAWK, a wireless geo-locating device;
• Chemical Engineering Prof. Zhiyong Gu, who is using nanotechnology to develop a lead- and halogen-free soldering paste for use in electronics such as computers and cellphones;
• Civil and Environmental Engineering Prof. Pradeep Kurup, creator of an “electronic tongue” that detects toxic heavy metals in the environment;
• Electrical and Computer Engineering Prof. Yan Luo, for SDNatics, which protects computer networks;
• Electrical and Computer Engineering Prof. Xingwei Wang, who is developing a fiber-optic ultrasound probe for medical use;
• Mechanical Engineering Prof. Hongwei Sun, who has devised technology for high-performance batteries in electric cars.

Kurup’s invention was also honored as an outstanding tech venture, as was BuzSaw, a technology for making radio frequency filters for smart devices created by Electrical and Computer Engineering Prof. Joel Therrien.

UMass Lowell faculty were also honored for their research and development work leading to the creation of startups including:

• Invitrometrix – based on a biosensor that helps determine the behavior of cells to support the development of medications that perform better led by Biological Sciences Prof. Susan Braunhut and Kenneth Marx, professor emeritus of chemistry;
• WEAVE – based on an interactive software platform that helps users explore, analyze, visualize and disseminate data online, led by Georges Grinstein, professor emeritus of computer science;
• Anterios – based on technology that allows next-generation botulinum toxin-based prescription products to be administered through the skin developed by Plastics Engineering Prof. Stephen McCarthy and Robert Nicolosi, former professor of clinical laboratory and nutritional sciences;
• Sevo Nutraceuticals – based on a formula created by Biological Sciences Prof. Thomas Shea that is used to create supplements for cognitive health;
• Radect/RayWatch – based on research by Physics Prof. Erno Sajo for the development of radiation sensors for medical and national security applications.

The Office of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development houses the DifferenceMaker Program and four other growing UMass Lowell initiatives that provide resources and assistance to entrepreneurs. The Office of Technology Commercialization protects and markets intellectual property developed at UMass Lowell. The New Venture Development Initiative provides the path for university-based innovations to become startup companies and offers support to external startups seeking to do business with the university. The Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center – a partnership between the UMass Lowell and Worcester campuses – assists entrepreneurs and startups in this sector and operates two business incubators in Lowell. Finally, UMass Lowell operates the Innovation Hub (iHub), which has a location in downtown Lowell and will open a new site in Haverhill next year.

“It’s one-stop shopping for entrepreneurship,” said Steven Tello, UMass Lowell’s senior associate vice chancellor for entrepreneurship and economic development, who leads the office and helped establish the DifferenceMaker Program, which he oversees.

UMass Lowell is a national research university located on a high-energy campus in the heart of a global community. The university offers its more than 17,500 students bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, humanities, sciences and social sciences. UMass Lowell delivers high-quality educational programs, vigorous hands-on learning and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be ready for work, for life and for all the world offers. www.uml.edu