UW Receives $6M NSF Grant for Research Commercialization Effort

The University of Wyoming is one of 18 institutions nationwide selected to receive a total of $100 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under its inaugural Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program to accelerate the pace and scale of translational research that will grow the nation’s economy.

UW’s award is for $6 million over four years to reengineer its research and commercialization enterprise. Other universities receiving funding include Clemson University, Florida State University, the University of Alabama, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Missouri.

“The funding provided by the National Science Foundation through the Accelerating Research Translation grant will allow the University of Wyoming to continue to grow as the driver of translational research and economic development in Wyoming,” UW President Ed Seidel says.

The NSF grant will allow for the creation of the Wyoming Translation Research Accelerator, whose overall aim is to turn UW research into commercial applications. Expected outcomes include an increase in industry collaborations and startups, diversification of the state’s economy and greater preparedness of graduate students and postdoctoral students to enter industry.

“This ART project will catalyze university-wide change to foster and speed up the pace of research-enabled innovation,” says Parag Chitnis, UW’s vice president for research and economic development. “Experiential training will be conducted, with an emphasis on graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Seed translational research projects will be selected to help diversify and grow the Wyoming economy.”

Seidel, Chitnis and Arun Pradhan, the UW Technology Transfer Office interim director, will implement this project.

In a media release, NSF says the 18 ART recipients will use the funding to identify and build upon academic research with the potential for technology transfer and societal and economic impacts; to ensure availability of staff with technology transfer expertise; and to support the education and training of entrepreneurial faculty and students.

“NSF endeavors to empower academic institutions to build the pathways and structures needed to speed and scale their research into products and services that benefit the nation,” says NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. “The Accelerating Research Translation program in NSF’s new Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Directorate identifies and champions institutions positioned to expand their research translation capacity by investing in activities essential to move results to practice.”

The program is authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. Seidel has made it a priority to prepare UW for opportunities presented by the act for spurring innovation in Wyoming.