Kaptur: National Science Foundation Awards UT Research Lab $50,000
WASHINGTON, DC– Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) joined the National Science Foundation (NSF) to announce the award of $50,000 to The University of Toledo for the purpose of designing “a market ready gas sensor system to monitor hazardous and industrial gas leakages such as chlorine and ammonia” which will have “potential applications in diverse fields such as: bleaching industries involving food, clothes and papers, agriculture, defense, and others.”
This project, entitled "I-Corps Teams: Customer Discovery Activity for Microelectromechanical Systems based Gas Sensors," is under the direction of The University of Toledo professor Ahalapitiya (Jay) Jayatissa, who oversees UT’s Nanotechnology & MEMS Laboratory.
“Congratulations to The University of Toledo for yet another promising research projected funded under a competitive grant process,” said Congresswoman Kaptur. “Dr. Jayatissa oversees some fascinating research projects, and the NSF grant-making process is highly competitive. This is terrific news for his lab, and for the research being done at UT.”
“The grant will be used to develop commercialization strategies for a novel micro-gas sensor system,” added Dr. Ahalapitiya Jayatissa, UT mechanical engineering professor and the project’s principal investigator. “This product that detects trace amounts of hazardous gases is highly beneficial for industries, laboratories and environmental monitoring agencies to enhance workplace safety and reduce air pollution. I believe this new technology will open a path to establish a high tech company in northwest Ohio.”
The NSF’s Directorate for Engineering's Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) fosters partnerships to advance technological innovation and public-private partnerships. IIP invests in high-tech small businesses and collaborations between academia and industry to transform discoveries into innovative commercial technologies with societal benefits.
According to the NSF, this “project focuses on a micro-sized gas sensor system to detect leakage of industrial gases. This sensor system consists of nanoscale metal-oxide layer which will be made using a nanocomposite of graphene and metal oxides. Such composites have attractive properties such as low resistance and high active surface-area, which are important to enhance the performance of gas sensors. Also, this composite layer can be optimized for fast sensor response and enhanced selectivity for a particular gas. The low resistance of a sensor layer will allow designing of low impedance peripheral circuits while high active surface-area will allow fast response and improved selectivity of sensors.”
Congresswoman Kaptur is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, which has funding responsibilities and oversight over the National Science Foundation.
Background:
The National Science Foundation announcement: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=1644894
For background on the NSF’s Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships: https://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=iip
For background on Dr. Ahalapitiya (Jay) Jayatissa: https://www.eng.utoledo.edu/mime/faculty_staff/faculty/ajayatissa/biography.htm
For background on The University of Toledo: www.utoledo.edu
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