News - UF Innovate

New College of Engineering Graduate Is on a Mission To Break Barriers to Space Travel for People With Disabilities

Ever since Eric Shear was a child, he has looked up to the sky, watching the stars and wondering “what’s out there.” With a curious brain wired for space exploration and degrees in physics, planetary science and, as of Friday, a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Florida, it seems natural that Shear pursues his lifelong dream to travel into space. There’s only one problem. Shear was born profoundly deaf, meaning he can only hear random sounds — like a dog’s loud bark or a jet engine — that are at least 80 decibels, and that bars him from flying to space with NASA or any other space agency, for now. “My ultimate goal is to be an astronaut,” Shear said, “but if I can’t journey into space, I want to be involved from the ground and develop life-support technologies that assist those who do fly.”

Three CHE Assistant Professors Receive the NIH Maximizing Investigator’s Research Award

Three faculty at the University of Florida Department of Chemical Engineering received the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) R35 Early-Stage Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA). Each researcher was awarded a five-year, $1.8+ million award. MIRA awards provide investigators with greater stability and flexibility in funding, while enhancing their ability to take on ambitious scientific projects and approach problems more creatively.

Satellite-Mounted Telescopes Get a New Focus: Earth

With Garmendia leading the way, UF, the State of Florida and the Spanish government developed a plan for a $10 million collaboration to develop small satellite telescopes to look for dark matter, and to conduct Earth observations. Over the next several years — with support from UF Research, the Florida Space Research Institute (now Space Florida), and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council — Guzmán and the Satlantis team based at UF Innovate’s The Hub in downtown Gainesville worked with astronomy department engineers on the new telescope.

From Fighting Shoplifting to Pioneering Gene Therapies, the Startups in This Accelerator Are on the Front Lines of “Super Creativity”

The startups within UF Innovate, as well as the accelerator itself, are vivid examples of what creativity and innovation expert James Taylor, based in Scotland, describes as SuperCreativity—a phenomenon that many business leaders are trying to foster in today’s fast-changing business environment. It is a concept that goes beyond creativity or innovation alone.

Jupiter Scientist Courtney Miller Named BioFlorida’s Entrepreneur of the Year

Praising her ongoing passion for developing a new class of treatments for cancer and addiction, Florida’s biotechnology industry organization, BioFlorida, has awarded its 2022 Weaver H. Gaines Entrepreneur of the Year award to Courtney Miller, Ph.D., director of academic affairs and a professor at UF Scripps Biomedical Research in Jupiter, Florida.

UF AI Center To Push Boundaries of Ag Research

AI will create a fourth agricultural revolution, achieving huge gains in farm productivity the way the introduction of tractors, synthetic fertilizers and genetics did in previous eras. The speed and success of that revolution depends on how well land-grant university innovators. The groundwork for the revolution has been laid by more than a century of UF/IFAS establishing credibility through its citrus science. Working with a UF/IFAS faculty member comes with assurance that growers’ data will be protected.

Florida’s Life Science Leaders United To Celebrate 25 Years of Innovation and Growth in the State

BioFlorida's 25th Annual Conference united statewide leaders of Florida's life sciences industry representing biopharmaceutical, medical technology, and digital health companies, globally recognized research universities and research institutions, and the state's health systems to spotlight the continued momentum and success in science, business, and public policy and spur collaboration and future growth.

UF Innovate Honors Innovators at Fifth Standing InnOvation Celebration

More than 200 innovators and entrepreneurs gathered for UF Innovate | Tech Licensing’s fifth annual Standing InnOvation event to honor and celebrate innovators and their work at the University of Florida in fiscal year 2022.

QRDI’s Qatar Open Innovation Program Announces Winning Partnerships

The Qatar Research, Development and Innovation (QRDI) Council’s flagship program, Qatar Open Innovation (QOI), has announced the two winning innovation partnerships for Hassad Food, Qatar’s investment arm in food and agribusiness sectors, one of which is a UF startup and Accelerate resident, Micro Nano Technologies.

UF Innovate Hosts First Fast Break Ventures Summit

Investors, innovators, and entrepreneurs convened at the University of Florida Stephen C. O’Connell Center for UF Innovate | Ventures' first-annual Fast Break Ventures Summit. Over 100 attendees met on center court for an afternoon filled with discussion on the state of venture capital in Florida and to hear pitches from six startup companies.

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