Month: November 2012

Yap Research and Intellectual Property Citation Index

According to the Intellectual Property Citation Index (IPCI), a product of the National Applied Research Laboratories in Taiwan, Michigan Tech particularly excels in research related to instruments and instrumentation, materials science, electrical engineering and physics.

As an example, physics Professor Yoke Khin Yap’s investigation of boron nitride nanotubes “has yielded important results and has been a recipient of funding from the prestigious National Science Foundation Innovation Corps program,” said Baker. Yap’s research points towards a number of commercial applications in a range of industries from aerospace to alternative energy to medicine.

Read more at Tech Today, by Kevin Hodur.

Physics Student Wins Elevator Pitch Competition

Abhilash KantamneniA large crowd in Fisher 135 was treated to a newly formatted Fourth Annual Bob Mark Elevator Pitch Competition Wednesday night. It was more realistic: the contestants had only 90 seconds to pitch their product, with elevator sound effects marking their beginnings and endings.

More than 20 teams did their best pitches, and the judges had some hard choices to make. Winning first prize and $1,000 was MyPaar (My Love), a dating website for India, created by physics PhD student Abhi Kantamneni. He also won the Audience Favorite Award and $200.

Kantamneni said he got his inspiration for the idea at 2:30 a.m. one morning, while immersed in another competition. “I realized that my other idea was no good, and I needed to follow one important part of a business model: think of the customer first.”

In spite of nearly double the number of contestants and added entertainment, the event still concluded in about an hour and a half, thanks to many hands that helped: SBE Instructor Michele Loughead and undergrad students Travis Beaulieu (physics and one of last year’s winners), Mason Pew (sound design) and Haley Carlson (marketing).

Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Dennis Walikainen.

The School of Business and Economics’ Bob Mark Memorial Elevator Pitch Competition was covered by the Detroit News recently.

From Tech Today.

Yap Research Receives Funding for Boron Nitride Nanotubes

Yoke Khin Yap (Physics), Co-PI Dustin Winslow (Physics) and Co-PI
John Diebel (IIE) have received $50,000 from the National Science Foundation for a six-month project, “I-Corps: High Quality Boron Nitride Nanotubes.”

From Tech Today.

I-Corps: High Quality Boron Nitride Nanotubes

There are few research groups in the world capable of producing high-quality BNNTs. Based on their unique capability in growing high-quality BNNTs researchers will investigate a scanning chemical vapor deposition (SCVD) technique.

Read more at NSF.