UK demonstrates research with commercial potential
Billed as a gallery of innovations, ukTech10 was held downtown recently to showcase the commercially marketable research projects of University of Kentucky faculty. The projects varied widely, but all of them offer significant potential return in terms of financial gain, saving money, and/or saving lives.
Fred Payne, of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, teamed with Chris Thompson, regulatory specialist in the College of Agriculture, to create a wireless transportation system that tracks milk in transit 24-7. Their system of continuous monitoring thwarts terrorists or anyone who would interfere with the safety of the milk supply.
"This is the first system for a [milk transport] tanker that was designed from the ground up," Payne explained. The system can be retrofitted into existing milk tankers, a marketing advantage.
Research by Kozo Saito, Mechanical Engineering and the Institute of Research for Technology Development, will save lives of firefighters and residents in forests and cities. His research came out of studying the aftermath of a 1923 earthquake in Tokyo. Roughly 38,000 people took refuge in an open grassy area, only to die in 20 minutes as a firestorm swirled over them. More than 50 years later, Saito, then a graduate student at a university in Japan, sought to learn why the tragedy happened. He has been studying these "fire tornadoes" that spin from two sides ever since.
What Saito has learned has been written into training manuals for firefighters. There is also an industrial use where this type of fire can be put to good use: it melts aluminum faster in huge furnaces.
Mark Crocker, Biofuels Research Group and the Center for Applied Energy Research, is growing a special kind of algae by using carbon dioxide and heat from coal-fired power plants. His system will remove CO2 from a distillery or any type of plant that generates it. Since the Environmental Protection Agency is tightening regulations to require more removal of CO2, there is a significant market for the photobioreaction process, particularly with utility plants. The leftover algae, dried, can also be used as a biofuel.
"Our primary goal is to get rid of CO2. Making fuel is secondary," Crocker said.
Lawrence Hassebrook and his team - UK staff engineer Walter Lundby and graduate student Eli Crane - are working on a project funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Their equipment can quickly capture three-dimensional images of fingerprints, faces or just about any object. Using a structured light scanner is less expensive than current methods of obtaining a 3-D image.
Bill Gregory, Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments in the College of Engineering, has developed a scalable image search engine that quickly identifies two-dimensional images using a conventional camera and a personal computer. One use of this software is to check quickly for copyright infringement of a design.
By using an inline filter and chelator, Robert Yokel, College of Pharmacy, has developed a method for removing aluminum contaminants from intravenous feedings given to premature babies.
Research by Claire Sanger, Department of Plastic Surgery in the College of Medicine, is also helping babies. Putting babies to sleep on their backs has greatly reduced the number of deaths by SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), but cases of Positional Plagiocephaly (Flat Head Syndrome) have increased.
Sanger is working to raise awareness among parents and caretakers that this deformity can be prevented by turning the baby's head to one side. For babies who have developed the condition, she has created a helmet that will gradually return their heads to normal shape.
With just a few projects, ukTech10 demonstrated the wide range of research with commercial potential underway at UK. UK officials hope that as the economy improves, many of these projects will attract the attention of venture capital and investment.
ukTech10 was produced by the UK Office for Commercialization & Economic Development's Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship. - Margaret Buranen
Gourmet burger chain opens in Lex
Describing itself as a "fast-casual 'better burger' restaurant," Smashburger has taken up street level residence in the Center Court project on South Upper near UK.
It's the first of three Lexington-area Smashburger outlets, with two additional restaurants planned for Richmond and Nicholasville Roads. The chain plans more than 500 restaurants nationwide. The Lexington franchise is owned by Bluegrass Burgers, a partnership between Bill Lear, Wayne Wellman and Jim Phelps.
The restaurant gets its name from the way its burgers are prepared and cooked. Balls of 100 percent certified-Angus beef are "smashed" on a flat grill, where they are seasoned and seared.
The Denver-based chain features a menu tailored to regional tastes. The "Bluegrass Smashburger" comes with Wild Turkey bourbon barbecue sauce, melted cheddar cheese and fried banana pepper rings. The Wild Turkey sauce also appears on a chicken club sandwich, and there's a nod to our neighbors to the north with a Cincinnati-style chili hotdog. Beers produced by the Lexington Brewery Company and soft drinks by Ale-8-One will be served.
KY legal system ranked among bottom ten of states
A national survey of corporate lawyers and decision-makers that explores how a state's legal environment might influence a company's decision to locate or expand new jobs found that
Kentucky's legal climate has dropped into the bottom ten of all states.
According to data from the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts, the number of civil lawsuits filed in Kentucky circuit courts jumped 60 percent from 2002 to 2009. Filings in district courts, which hear civil cases seeking less than $4,000, jumped 42 percent.
Another factor in Kentucky's ranking, according to the group, is the perception that the state is an easier place to recover damages.
Kentucky is among a minority of states that does not have a state law that requires "clear and convincing" evidence of wrongful conduct to support damage awards.
A decision in 1988 by the Kentucky Supreme Court that invalidated such a law may be a contributing factor in the increase in the number of lawsuits filed in the commonwealth.
The American Bar Association and the United States Supreme Court have encouraged states to adopt the "clear and convincing" standard.
The survey results for Kentucky were released by The Partnership for Commonsense Justice (www.kycommonsense.org ), a nonprofit association of businesses and business groups, associations and individuals dedicated to promoting and encouraging the need for fairness and excellence in Kentucky's legal system. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive.
Nominees sought for Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards
There is nothing quite like recognition by your peers for a job well done - or a business well run.
With this in mind, nominations are being sought for the 2010 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards (EIEA). These awards spotlight businesspeople and entrepreneurs in 55 Kentucky counties who have created and are managing a successful enterprise.
The awards program is sponsored by Eastern Kentucky University's (EKU) College of Business and Technology, Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, and The Center for Rural Development. It honors southern and eastern Kentucky entrepreneurs for their economic success, community contributions and operational achievements in a business or non-profit organization.
Nominations are being received in four categories: Business (in existence five or more years with greater than 25 employees); Small Business (in existence five or more years with 25 or less employees); Start-Up (in existence less than five years); and Not-for-Profit Entity (in existence at least six months).
Nominees are judged on the economic success of the enterprise, contributions to the community, job creation, and operational achievement as measured by innovative business practices, superior safety achievement and superior technology.
To be eligible for the Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards competition, nominees must reside in or have their business or organization located within the following counties: Adair, Bath, Bell, Boyd, Boyle, Breathitt, Carter, Casey, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Edmonson, Elliott, Estill, Fleming, Floyd, Garrard, Green, Greenup, Harlan, Hart, Jackson, Jessamine, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Lincoln, McCreary, Madison, Magoffin, Martin, Menifee, Metcalf, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Powell, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Rowan, Russell, Taylor, Wayne, Whitley or Wolfe.
You can download a copy of the 2010 EIEA nomination form from www.eiea.eku.edu or from The Center for Rural Development's Web site, www.centertech.com. Be sure to click on the Excellence in Entrepreneurship link.
Nominations may be submitted by any individual or business and must be received by the EIEA nomination committee on or before the June 1 deadline.
This year's finalists and award recipients will be recognized at a luncheon on Monday, Sept. 13, at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset.
Last year's EIEA winners were:
For-Profit Business: Paul D. Nesbitt, owner, Nesbitt Engineering, Inc., with offices in Lexington, Hazard, and Prestonsburg, Ky.; For-Profit Small Business: Charlie Pinson, president-owner, Charlie Pinson Insurance, Second Street, Pikeville, Ky.; Start-Up Business: Larry and April Murray, owners/operators, Your Secret Chef/Chef on the Run Catering, London, Ky.; and Not-for-Profit Entity: Steve Yeary, executive director, Appalachian Children's Home, Barbourville, Ky.
Inspired by the Great Compromiser's digs?
Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate is celebrating its 60th anniversary as a museum and is looking for submissions of works from the countless artists who have visited the estate to draw and paint over the past six decades.
The Estate is looking for donations of art to the Museum Store for a juried exhibition and sale in the Spring Ashland Estate Collection.
Proceeds from the sale of art will be used solely for the benefit of the national historic landmark.
Submissions should be delivered to the Ashland Museum Store, Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Deadline is April 23, 2010.
For more information, contact Mindy Shannon Phelps at (859) 619-1642 or by e-mail at phelpscom@insightbb.com.