PSU Magazine Winter 2003

Commercializing of PSU inventions gets new help The innovative inventions of Portland State researchers are getting a boost toward commercialization from a new collaboration with Oregon Health & Science University. OHSU is provid– ing the expertise and staffing to help PSU evaluate, patent, market, and license its inventions. The process essentially will help convert PSU research into salable technology. Through the agreement, PSU will pay a fee for these "tech transfer" services to OHSU's Technology and Research Collaborations office. While OHSU will share in profits from any technologies that are developed, PSU will receive the resulting patents. OHSU has similar agreements with the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Portland Shriners Hospital. OHSU already has begun evaluat– ing potential commercial applications for three PSU discoveries: ♦ Polymeric coating for semiconduc– tors developed by Mingdi Yan, assistant professor of organic chemistry. ♦ An ultra-sensitive, automated instrument for separating and analyzing complex gases, created by Robert O'Brien, professor of physical chemistry. ♦ A method for localizing the manu– facture of carbon nanotubes used as wires and conductors in semi– conductor manufacturing, by Jun Jiao, assistant professor of physics. OHSU will help evaluate the commercial potential of an invention, determining if the product is truly original, if there is a market for it, and if there is a partner to which the technology can be transferred. The office also applies fo r U.S. and foreign patents on behalf of inventors and works out the myriad details of licensing agreements, as well as help– ing with potential spin-off compa– nies. OHSU has a strong record in this area with 209 patents, 136 licenses and 17 spin-off companies, as of last year. Aaron Frechette, a senior in mechanical engineering, conducted zero-gravity experiments with professor Mark Weislogel on NASA's "Vomit Comet." Experiencing zero-gravity through NASA Alternate periods of weightless– ness-30 to 40 of them a trip– allow scientists aboard NASAs Boeing KC-135A to perform fasci– nating experiments. Student Aaron Frechette and professor Mark Weislogel recently did their own zero gravity experiments on the plane-accurately nicknamed the Vomit Comet (for Frechette any– way). The PSU mechanical engineering student and professor tested the behavior of fluid in a zero-gravity environment as the plane flew in a parabolic arc. The zero-gravity envi– ronment lasts only 25 seconds, but the plane repeats the trajectory over and over and over again during a two- to four-hour period. Weislogel and Frechette had been conducting a NASA-funded study of capillary-driven flows in low-gravity since spring term. Their research aboard the NASA plane could advance technology that involves liquids in space, including life support systems in space stations and shuttles, as well as fuel tanks for liquid propellants. Weislogel has a background in aerospace dynamics and had worked for NASA for 10 years. His connection with the organization made it possible to get funding and conduct experiments through the KC-135A gravity research program out of the John H. Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Over several days, Weislogel and Frechette conducted approximately 160 experiment on the plane. They tested their predictions against the actual behavior of fluid in a V– shaped channel. A video camera recorded the data while the pair continually modified the experi– ment, holding up flashcards con– taining the details. Time and again, their predictions matched the obser– vations. "It's so accurate it's unbelievable," says Weislogel. ln the past, the behaviors of liq– uids in zero gravity were predicted by a supercomputer that took days or even weeks, says Weislogel. His and Frechette's experiments are much cheaper and less Lime consuming. The project isn't over. Weislogel plans to return to the NASA plane and may even one day see his PSU experiments carried out on a space shuttle or space station. WlNTER 2003 PSU MAGAZlNE 3