Stony Brook University has become one among the 21 teams chosen for the inaugural Innovation Corps (I-Corps) awards of the National Science Foundation.
The Stony Brook University I-Corps team whose project, "Photocatalysts for Water Remediation" was chosen by the National Science Foundation for the new I-Corps program. Credit: Stony Brook University
The I-Corps program is planned to encourage and guide the potential university researchers to achieve commercial success for their inventions.
The beneficiaries of the award will get $50,000 as grant to evaluate the commercial viability of their technology concepts and will get expert assistance from private and public sectors and the prospects of meeting possible investors. The University has received the grant for its project in the deployment of nanogrids or Photocatalysts for Water Remediation (PWR). The project is a brainchild of Dr. Perena Gouma, Director of the Center for Nanomaterials and Sensor Development and Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering and Mr. Jusang Lee, a Materials Science graduate student.
Photocatalysts for Water Remediation is an exclusive nanocatalyst engineering that employs solar power to break-up detrimental toxins such as hydrocarbons. The PWR or nanogrids found by the researchers are small sized and independent mats comparable to fishing nets that remain afloat over water and quickly break up crude oil by utilizing solar energy received from the solar spectrum. The process converts the pollutants into bio-degradable organics, carbon dioxide or water for quicker breakdown of the floating crude oil and to bring remedy to the environmental pollution. The photocatalysts presently utilized react to solar irradiation (ultraviolet light) at a reduced percentage level and will not float over water.
The PWR team in addition to the principal investigator Dr. Gouma and entrepreneurial lead Jusang Lee also will include Dr. Clive Clayton who will guide the team in converting the lab research product into a viable commercial product. Dr. Clive Clayton is the founder and director of the program Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence (SPIR) that has enabled the development of over 2,500 projects and over 440 companies since its inception in 1994.