Kentucky Commercialization Ventures (KCV) recently announced the seven winners of its 2023 IMPACT Competition, according to a news release.
The competition, now in its second year, was established as a way to help drum up ideas that can lead to improving social, health and economic conditions of Kentuckians. IMPACT stands for innovative, mobile, public health and community-oriented technologies.
Competition judges reviewed entries from all of KCV’s partner institutions: Western Kentucky University, Northern Kentucky University, Kentucky State University, Murray State University, Eastern Kentucky University, Morehead State University and Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS).
“We’re thrilled to have received entries for the IMPACT Competition from all seven of our partner institutions and to recognize outstanding innovations from five of those institutions,” said Kayla Meisner, KCV executive director, in the release. “This is just one of the ways we recognize and support research happening throughout the Commonwealth that is, quite literally, making an impact on lives in our community and beyond.”
The judging finished as follows:
- First place (tie, $25,000) — “Increasing access of fresh produce in West Louisville food desert areas through sustainable production” by Gill Finley, Kentucky State University
- First place tie (tie, $25,000) — “Chromatography-free thermostable protein purification” by Chris Lennon, Murray State University
- First runner-up ($15,000) — “Development of cost optimization tool for smart integrated renewable energy system (SIRES)” by Zeel Maheshwari, Northern Kentucky University
- Second runner-up (tie, $10,000) — “Flexible electronics and sensors from ion-containing polysaccharides” by Kevin Miller, Murray State University
- Second runner-up (tie, $10,000) — “Development of gesture-based American sign language (ASL) translation system” by Mahdi Yazdanpour, Northern Kentucky University
- Second runner-up (tie, $10,000) — “An innovative system for real-time translation of American sign language using machine learning” by Sherif Rashad, Morehead State University
- Fifth runner-up ($5,000) — Life-Tags: Embedded smart chip technology in 3D printed applications” by Eric Wooldridge, KCTCS (Somerset Community College)
The winners, who all took part in a virtual demo day on May 19, will take the funds to further advance their work and research at their institution.
Lennon is a two-time winner, having earned $9,000 as a runner-up in 2022 for his presentation on “Engineering of a novel self-cleaving intein tag for protein purification.”
In addition, one of last year’s first-place winners, Rachel Tinius, an associate professor at Western Kentucky, the founder of the pregnancy health app BumptUp, advanced to the semifinals of our KY Inno Madness competition earlier this year.
KCV is an arm of Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC) focused on supporting public universities and colleges in Kentucky with the technology transfer and commercialization services. It was launched in partnership with KY Innovation at the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development as well as the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, University of Louisville and University of Kentucky.
“Our support for institutions without dedicated commercialization resources is driving innovative research and meaningful solutions for some of our state’s toughest problems,” added Meisner in the release. “We know that big ideas can come from anywhere, which is why it’s important we provide the resources and tools to amplify as many voices as possible.”
