On June 10, Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced funding of $3.4 million to support 48 Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund awards in several targeted areas of technology and research. Several University professors have been named as recipients.
“Cybersecurity, data analytics, unmanned systems technology, and scientific research and development are on the cutting edge of American ingenuity, and our businesses and institutions in Virginia are leaders in these industries,” McAuliffe said in the press release.
The Center for Innovative Technology, a non-profit corporation affiliated with the Governor’s office, manages the Commercialization Fund initiative. The awarded projects continue the Center’s mission of reaching out to promising research projects in the Commonwealth.
The Center’s Vice President of Investment Nancy Vorona said awarded projects went through a four-pronged assessment stage to determine if they were best qualified for receiving an award.
“Our focus is innovation and entrepreneurship in the context of technology,” Vorona said. “[The Center] engages to bring early-stage research projects to the marketplace and expand them to receive wider funding.”
Initiatives like the Commercialization Fund aim to encourage long-term economic growth in the Commonwealth.
Jennifer Hiltwine, Research and Development Specialist at the Center, said the Center will track how projects do over time and assess their outcomes.
“Each project will tell us its predicted short- and long-term goals,” Hiltwine said. “We look for outcomes such as job growth and company creation.”
Assoc. Prof. of Computer Science Dr. Kamin Whitehouse at the University is one of the recipients of Commercialization Fund awards. Whitehouse’s project on cyber-physical systems has been awarded $195,000 under the Eminent Researcher Recruitment Program by the Governor’s office.
“[Research commercialization is] taking a project in the lab that people have researched for years and commercializing it,” Whitehouse said. “Commercialization is adjusting commercial risks, and research is adjusting technical risks.”
Funding from the Governor’s office will partially cover Whitehouse’s expenses for equipment and staff. The Engineering School and the Northrop Grumman Corporation - a security company providing innovative systems - will also provide financial support. The accumulated amount of funding is close to a half a million.
“Linklab, an interdisciplinary laboratory at the School of Engineering, will be built to enhance excellence in Cyber-Physical systems research,” Whitehouse said. “The funding will be used for the physical construction and recruitment of top researchers in the field.”
Also in the Computer Science Department at the University, Dr. Kevin Skadron and Dr. Micrea Stan’s joint project about accelerating the speed of algorithms has been awarded funding from the Governor’s office.
“[The] program is intended to support research that has high potential for commercialization,” Skadron said. “Our project objective is to accelerate the speed of algorithms. Machine learning algorithms are of very high importance in this era of ‘big data.’”
Skadron said his research focuses on achieving better computer performance and energy efficiency.
“The project fits our direction to study how to use hardware accelerators and achieve better performance and better energy efficiency,” Skadron said. “[The funding wil]l support graduate students who will be pursuing the research as a part of their Ph.D. studies.”
Other recipients of the Commercialization Fund awards include private corporations and companies.
“We will continue to support emerging sectors that are pushing the boundaries of exciting research and development to help build the new Virginia economy,” McAuliffe said in the press release.
Read More
Professors speak about leading productive dialogue on Israel-Hamas war
By Lexie Stadler | 13 hours agoThe event was hosted by the University’s Task Force on Religious Diversity and Belonging, which is designed to ensure that the University is welcoming to community members from all religions and cultures.
Honor Committee considers formal ban of AI detectors as evidence in trials
By Lexie Stadler | YesterdayThe Committee also addressed balancing student perspectives with those of Committee representatives during panel discussions.
Pro-Palestinian protesters form encampment near University Chapel
By CD News Staff | YesterdayThe encampment overlapped with a separate “May Day” protest on the Lawn, which was hosted by student activist group U.Va. Dissenters and the U.Va. Apartheid Divest Coalition.
