The Center for Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship is holding an Innovation Showcase to present nine interdisciplinary projects with commercialization prospects, Tues. Oct. 22 from noon - 2:30 p.m. The projects exemplify student-faculty collaboration and seek to solve real-world problems through science and technology.

The showcase will also present projects that are products of collaboration between professors of different but relating areas of study. These products represent innovation and demonstrate the CICE’s success preparing future engineers and entrepreneurs and all have the potential to bring a positive impact to the safety and health of the workplace and community.

“The CICE Innovation Showcase is our annual event to showcase the leading-edge research being done at Lamar University,” said Tejus Mane, CICE commercialization associate.” The projects we sponsor involve innovative technologies such as drones, 3D printing and virtual reality to solve real-world problems that we face as a society.”

 The nine innovative projects to be showcased include:

• Using VR as a Tool for Astronaut Balance Training After Spaceflights
Lillian Felipe, assistant professor, speech and hearing sciences
Rocio Cavazos, student
The goal of this project is to develop a virtual reality model with a fully-immersive stimulation that could establish a rehabilitation protocol for balance disorders starting with subjects inserted in extreme conditions. By studying the relationship of microgravity and radiation with the physiology of the human body, will allow us to create a new form of treatment for balance disorders.

• Prospective Commercialization of a Low-Cost, Chemical-Free Antibacterial Wipe
Clayton Jeffryes, assistant professor, chemical engineering
Liv Haselbach, chair/professor, civil engineering
Adarsh Bafana, student, chemical engineering
Shishir Kumar, student, chemical engineering
Geoffrey Martins, student, environmental engineering
This chemical-free antibacterial wipe will be part of a rapidly growing industry but this product will be produced at lower costs than other disinfectant products. The chemical-free wipe will be infused with copper nanoparticle.

• Developing IoT Solutions to Promote Digital Healthcare for Older Adults Residing in Rural Communities
LeAnn Chisholm, assistant professor, nursing
Xingya Liu, assistant professor, computer science
Naomi Rackzovi, student, nursing
Sanjita Sharma, graduate student, computer science
This collaborative project will develop a much-needed system to aggregate health data from older rural patients and effectively communicate the data to their healthcare providers.

• Evaluating Polyphenolic Compounds for the Mitigation A-Beta Aggregation and Cellular Toxicity
James Henry – assistant professor, chemical engineering
Dr. Maryam Vasefi, assistant professor, biology
Dr. Rose Alincastre, student, chemical engineering
Paityn Warwick – student, biology
Trang Tran – student, biology
The current treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S., does not address the underlying condition. This innovative project will look to utilize cutting-edge technologies to evaluate readily available food-based options (polyphenols) to identify targets for such long-term preventative measures.

• Quantitative Optical Gas Imaging of Methane Leaks Using Drone-Mounted Infrared Camera Systems
Phil Cole, Chair/professor, physics
Jim Jordan, Chair/professor, earth and space sciences
David Halnon, student, physics
The overall objective of this project is to identify leaks of hydrocarbons from pipelines. The project will determine the sensitivity of a well-calibrated infrared imaging system to ten different species of hydrocarbons with respect to five parameters: wind speed, mass fraction, mass flow rate, distance and contrasting temperature. This project expands the calibration methods and develops a method of quantifying the mass flow rate of hydrocarbons with optical gas imaging. This project is being completed in collaboration with Infrared Cameras, Inc.

• Monitoring the Health Conditions of Utility Poles and Vegetation Clearance Using Unnamed Aerial Vehicle and deep Learning Neural Network
Jing Zhang, assistant professor, computer science
Seokyon Hwang, associate professor, business
Berna Tokgoz, assistant professor, industrial engineering
Jianyuan Ni – graduate student, computer science
Ruobing Zhao – graduate student, computer science
This project will work to increase durability of utility poles of the electric power distribution network to severe weather. The project will also monitor vegetation near utility poles to prevent electric arches and other threats that overgrown vegetation poses. The project’s goal is to develop an automated, low-cost system of monitoring the health of the electric power distribution network.

• Measurement of Adhesion Force of Liquid Drops on Mist Eliminator Wire Using Acoustics and Nitinol Millinewton Force Sensor Technology
Rafael de La Madrid, associate professor, physics
Jake Ammel, student
The primary goal of this research is to advance mist eliminator design by acquiring adhesion data that has proven to be elusive due to the limitations of existing methods. The project will also measure the work of adhesion of the monofilament liquid system.

• Develop a Collaborative UAV (Drone) System to Enhance the Security in Refineries in Unconstrained Environment and a Case Study in a Medium Sized Enterprise
Yueqing Li, assistant professor, industrial engineering
Xinyu Liu, associate professor, industrial engineering
Ruobing Zhao, graduate student, computer science
Zanbo Zhu, graduate student, computer science
The research aims to develop a collaborative UAV (drone) system to enhance security in refineries in unconstrained environments such as rain, snow, fog, night, etc. An image processing algorithm will be proposed. The system will be evaluated in real time in a medium-sized enterprise and a complete strategy will be proposed for the application of the collaborative UAV system in local industries and communities.  

•  Advanced Wetting Dynamics Study: Understanding the Fundamental Physics of Anti-Fouling, Anti-Corrosion and Friction Reduction
Ping He, assistant professor, mechanical engineering
Chun-Wei Yao, assistant professor, mechanical engineering
Luis Quiros, student, mechanical engineering
The goal of this research is to reveal the general control conditions of micro pattern, which separates the Cassie-Baxter and Wenzel States. When a liquid droplet interacts with a micro patterned substrate, there exists two main wetting states: the Cassie-Baxter (CB) and the Wenzel (WZ) state. Droplets sit on top of the micropattern in the CB state and sink in the micropattern in the WZ state. Both yield hydrophobic conditions if the material itself is hydrophobic.

“The projects highlighted in the CICE Innovation Showcase were funded by the CICE and made possible by generous donations from our Advisory Board and alumni,” Paul Latiolais, CICE director. “This year, we are excited to host the Showcase in the newly constructed Science and Technology Building, which will play a pivotal role in future interdisciplinary and innovative research. This showcase represents the genesis event of collaboration between the CICE and the Science and Technology Building.”

Event: CICE Innovation Showcase
Date: Tuesday October 22, 2019
Time: 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Location: Science and Technology Building at Lamar University, 907 Iowa Avenue, Beaumont Texas, 77705