SERIES DESCRIPTION:

As federal and state investments in research and development grow, universities have sought to bolster the funding they receive from these sources. Increasingly, companies are looking to exploit these opportunities and are turning to universities as logical partners in pursuit of funding. In order to increase the awareness of these programs, the UIDP and NCET2 will hold a series of regularly scheduled webinars that highlight specific agencies and their programs that support university-industry collaborations.

These webinars will commence on December 16, 2009 at 4 PM eastern time and continue on the third Wednesday of the each month.

THIS MONTH:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…" With an annual budget of about $6.06 billion, NSF is the funding source for approximately twenty percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America’s colleges and universities. In many fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.

Topics Covered and What Webinar Attendees Can Expect to Gain from Participation:

The NSF supports numerous programs that facilitate university-industry collaborations - primarily through the Directorate for Engineering’s Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) Division. The mission of the IIP is to catalyze the transformation of discovery into societal benefits through stimulating partnerships and has led the NSF’s efforts to advance the discovery to innovation process.

During this webinar, Dr. Narayanan will discuss current NSF programs that facilitate university-industry research collaborations and describe creative approaches being employed by universities and companies to leverage NSF funding to support these partnerships.


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COST: Free, but registration required.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE?: This series is online. You need a computer with web access for the visual/audio. Q&A is conducted by a chat box to the speakers.

WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE IN THE WEBINAR?: These webinars are open to anyone interested in how universities and industry can seek funding for their collective efforts . This can include university chief research officers, directors of economic development, corporate business development directors and academic liaisons, university professors and corporate researchers.

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Kesh Narayanan
(Director, Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships, National Science Foundation)

Bio

Dr. Kesh Narayanan is the Division Director of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) within the Directorate for Engineering (ENG) at NSF. The mission of the division of IIP is to catalyze the transformation of discovery into societal benefits through stimulating partnerships. Prior to his current assignment, he served NSF in various capacities. He has played a major role in shaping the NSF Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs to accelerate technological innovation by aligning the programs with the investment market opportunities. As acting Division Director of Design, Manufacture and Industrial Innovation, he identified academic opportunities for manufacturing research to impact on the growing service sector economy as well as on the emerging nanotechnology. He was a member of the Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) working group that launched the NSF PFI program. He joined NSF in 1994 from Certainteed, where he held the position of Chief Scientist for the building materials division. In addition to providing technological leadership for the company, he was successful in identifying research results from university laboratories that had significant impacts on the Certainteed product line. He was an Industrial Advisory Board member to a NSF I/UCRC center at the University of Connecticut. His longest tenure, spanning 20 years, was at the Norton Company. As the R&D Director of the Norton Bonded Abrasives Business, he led the worldwide introduction of new products, with a track record of identifying and developing new products accounting for 25% of total sales. His R&D group is credited with over 30 patents. Dr. Kesh Narayanan received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1974 and B.Tech. in Metallurgical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1967.


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Anthony Boccanfuso
(Executive Director, University-Industry Demonstration Partnership)

Bio

Anthony was selected to serve as the inaugural Executive Director for the University Industry Demonstration Partnership. He holds a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of South Carolina and earned his B.S. in Political Science and Chemistry from Furman University. Dr. Boccanfuso began his professional career as a Science Policy Fellow at the American Chemical Society where he worked within the society's government relations and science policy division. Before taking on this new position, Dr. Boccanfuso was Director for Research and Economic Development at the University of South Carolina and currently retains the position of Senior Director for Strategic Alliances within the College of Engineering and Computing. Dr. Boccanfuso has had a distinguished career in the research management and science policy arenas and has held a variety of positions at the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and PricewaterhouseCoopers as well as several universities. He currently serves on several boards including the National Hydrogen Association, South Carolina BIO and the Hydrogen Education Foundation for which he is the current chair.