Federal grants available for high-risk R&D, product development
More than $2.5 billion in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants are available and the competition to win them is hot. The Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation and the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation are teaming up to provide grant proposal workshops for Kentucky entrepreneurs interested in pursuing these funds.
The workshops provide an opportunity to learn what information is important and where to include it in the SBIR or STTR proposal; how to meet the agency-specific requirement to avoid rejection without review and improve content quality; how to identify key differences between preparing a SBIR-STTR Phase I or Phase II proposal; and how to increase your odds of winning a grant.
Sessions will be held in Louisville on March 22 and in Lexington on May 10-11.
Online registration is required. Agendas for each event and online registration are available at http://ksef.kstc.com.
UK team studies fly ash in fast-drying, hard cement
University of Kentucky researchers are developing a fast-drying, hard-setting concrete that will aid rescue efforts by supporting buildings damaged by natural disasters or terrorist attacks.
"The concrete uses fly ash, a waste product of coal combustion in electricity-generating plants, as one of its components," said Tom Robl, a scientist at the UK Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER), who is in charge of the research.
"When things go wrong, it's usually unexpected and you have to deal with them very quickly.
You want to get materials into repairing structures as part of the first-responder team," Robl said.
The concrete Robl's team is developing has demonstrated a strength of 13,000 pounds per square inch (psi) after 36 hours.
Most structural concrete has a strength of 7,000 psi after 28 days.
The fly ash - airborne ash captured in towers of coal-combustion plants - is blended with calcium sulfo-aluminates in concrete, which form crystals that give the concrete its strength. Most Portland cements form gel structures that take longer to establish load-bearing strength.
Robl said the concrete shows great promise for aiding rescue operations in mine accidents, natural disasters such as earthquakes and terrorist bomb attacks. It also could be useful in shoring weakened dams before they fail.
The fast-drying, fast-hardening concrete, which can be accurately sprayed through a hose from a safe distance, can mitigate the dangers of collapse, giving first-responders and rescue teams more time to save people caught in precarious situations.
Robl's team is working with scientists at the University of Dundee and the University of Aberdeen, both in the United Kingdom, and Minova Americas Corp. of Georgetown, Ky.
The research is supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through the National Institute of Hometown Security.
Lexington biotech company receives state funding
Lexington-based ParaTechs Corporation will receive an award of $120,000 from the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development's High-Tech Investment Pool. The biotechnology company, which is a client of the Lexington Innovation and Commercialization Center, creates products used for protein production for use in vaccines and therapeutics. ParaTechs anticipates creating seven high-tech jobs, paying an average annual salary of at least $55,000.
The award, which was approved by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, was funded through the Cabinet for Economic Development's High-Tech Investment Pool, which is used to build technology-based and research-intensive companies and projects.
Sustainability advocates to convene Food Security Summit
The Lexington-based Sustainable Communities Network (SCN) is sponsoring the Bluegrass Food Security Summit to bring attention to the need for a local sustainable food supply and bring attention to issues connected with bringing local food to the community.
The summit is scheduled for March 18-19 at Crestwood Christian Church and will bring many factions into the food picture, including youth, educators and faith-based groups.
The purpose of the summit, according to information from SCN, is to develop a better urban/rural relationship en route to creating "agricultural development opportunities, sustainable communities, greater access to healthy food and vibrant local economies."
The registration fee for the workshop on Friday, March 19,
is $45. The fee for the recognition dinner on Thursday, March 18, is $20. Organizers have said that no one will be turned away for lack of funds, however, and there are scholarship opportunities available to cover the registration fee.
For more information and a complete rundown of the summit, go to www.sustainlex.org/ or call (859) 312-7024.
Like to stack things? Try drystone masonry
The Drystone Conservancy has teamed up with the National Center for Preservation Technology & Training (NCPTT) and the Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS) to offer a unique training course in dry-laid stone masonry.
The intensive, seven-day course is part of a grant award to explore ways to transmit practical trade skills from one location to another, using real-time digital technology. The course will be conducted in two central Kentucky KCTCS locations, in Lexington and Shelbyville, with live feeds between the two sites. Neil Rippingale, DSC's training program manager and master craftsman, will be leading the course at one location, while a DSC-certified drystone mason instructor assists at the other.
UK medical dean leaving for Maryland
Jay Perman, currently dean and vice president for clinical affairs at the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Medicine, will join the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) as president on July 1. He succeeds UMB President David J. Ramsay, who has served in the position since 1994.
"Dr. Jay Perman has done a tremendous job as dean and has taken the College of Medicine to new heights," said UK President Lee T. Todd, Jr. "When you have outstanding people, sometimes they are afforded excellent opportunities elsewhere. While we are obviously disappointed at losing Dr. Perman, we are excited for him for the leadership opportunity he has received, and we wish him all the best in that endeavor."
Since becoming dean at the UK College of Medicine in May 2004, Perman has overseen the recruitment of nearly 200 faculty members, a 40 percent increase in the number of science faculty and a 30 percent increase in clinical department faculty. Total all-source revenues have grown by $150 million to $500 million in the current fiscal year. Based on the most recent data, the College of Medicine rose from 35th to 28th among public medical schools in total funding from the National Institutes of Health.
Perman managed the implementation of external educational partnerships at UK supporting the colleges of dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, public health and health sciences. He was responsible for the leadership and professional management of the College of Medicine's research, educational, clinical and administrative activities, academic departments and research centers.
Jimmy Stanton, spokesman for Dr. Todd, said a search for Perman's successor will commence in the near future.
Series, competition encourage growth of Kentucky film industry
Reel Visions: Spotlight on Kentucky Filmmakers, debuting on KET, will highlight the works of Kentucky's up-and-coming filmmaking talents. Each weekly half-hour program features several short films produced, directed, written or edited by Kentucky filmmakers.
The launch installment includes "City Center Design Competition," in which Jeremy Midkiff explores the misadventures of a young man on a mission to see his own vision of downtown Lexington realized.
KET is currently accepting submissions for future programs in the series produced by Sara O'Keefe. Art films, experimental films, documentaries, narrative films, animations or student films, along with contact information, should be sent to Reel Visions, KET, 600 Cooper Drive, Lexington, Ky., 40502. The deadline for submissions is April 1, 2010.
Short films must not exceed 26 minutes in length, and acceptable formats include DVCAM, DV, Mini DV, DVC PRO or DVD.
Reel Visions airs Wednesdays, beginning March 10, at 10:30/9:30 p.m. CT on KET.
Natasha's Bar & Bistro in downtown Lexington was packed for the Lexington Film League's first Do-ers Video Screening and Awards Ceremony on Friday, February 26. The event was sponsored by Make Yourself Necessary, a Lexington apparel company that promotes doing just that: making yourself necessary.
In September 2009, filmmakers across Kentucky were invited to make a five minute or less video about a person, business or organization "doing" something positive in their community.
The idea was to create a record of the wonderful people and organizations that make a community special and unique.
Organizations and individuals represented in the videos stretched from Lexington to Louisville and included the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Hospice of the Bluegrass, Latitudes Easy Access Bricksquad and a firefighter's toy drive.
"Film is good for business and good for the community," said organizer and filmmaker Kiley Lane. "It's a completely different art form that both excites and ignites people to tell a story and share it with the world."
Winner in the Best Overall category was a film about The Volunteers of America Family Emergency Shelter by Angela Shoemaker. The People's Choice award went to Leif Erickson Rigney for Central Kentucky Radio Eye - Sharing the Vision.
You can view all of the entries online at www.youtube.com/user/lexfilmleague#p.