Universities produce discoveries that could improve lives, strengthen the economy and address societal challenges. But promising research often struggles to make the leap from the laboratory to practical use.
A new four-year National Science Foundation grant aims to change that. Led by Ilya Avdeev, director of the UWM Lubar Entrepreneurship Center and professor of mechanical engineering, the UWM TRANSLATE initiative will rethink how UWM connects research with businesses, communities and other organizations — and how the university supports researchers in moving their work toward real-world applications.
In an interview with Laura Otto on the website of the UWM College of Engineering & Applied Science, Avdeev explains that the new grant is designed to redesign our system of research translation and ultimately create a model that other urban public research universities can use.