In late January, Shade started her term as an entrepreneur in residence, or EIR, through the UofL Office of Research and Innovation. In this role, she will work with inventors and the to connect UofL technologies to industry and startups.

“I’m excited to participate in this program and continue the momentum,” Shade said.Ěý“This program furthers the potential for impact to our communities and reflectsĚýthe amazing work being done at the University of Louisville.”

Shade is a veteran of the healthcare industry, having worked in both large companies and startups. But coming back to campus as an EIR brings things full-circle: the company she founded, Louisville-based SentryHealth, was born at UofL.

SentryHealth has customized corporate care management programs that help employees stay healthy while controlling health care costs for employers.

Shade’s hiring marks the second class of UofL Research and Innovation EIRs. Funding for the program comes from the , a public-private partnership led by UofL and backed by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, to grow Louisville’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The first round of EIRs, , included Josh Nickols, Jeff Cummins and Charley Miller. Nickols and Cummins will continue to serve as EIRs through summer 2020, while Miller is now focused on his new, Vogt Award-winning startup, Unitonomy.Ěý

The company is built around a , which Miller discovered and licensed while working with UofL. It’s the first license from the EIR program and the first from the UofL College of łÉČËÖ±˛Ą and Human Development.Ěý

“We’re very excited to have Alice join us as an EIR, and to benefit from her knowledge and experience in the healthcare startup space,” said Will Metcalf, UofL’s executive director of strategic initiatives and chairman of the LEAP board. “We had great success with the first round of EIRs, and with Alice on board, we’re sure to build on that momentum.”Ěý

And now, Louisville startup Ěýhas licensed the technology from UofL and is working to get it to market.Ěý

The inventor here, , studies organizational culture and applied behavioral economics as an associate professor at the UofL College of łÉČËÖ±˛Ą and Human Development (CEHD). His is the first licensed technology out of CEHD.Ěý

Shuck said organizations are more productive and, often, more profitable when their employees are engaged in their workplace. Engaged employees also have a better overall workplace experience. However, his research suggests there is a more than 60% drop off in levels of engagement in the first six months of an employee’s tenure.

“Globally, employee engagement remains a critical, and sought-after competitive advantage for businesses and organizations of all sizes,” he said. “It is the differentiator between market share, customer experience and quality. Everyone wants more of it.”

His software, the Employee Engagement Scale (EES), helps companies to monitor that engagement, and hopefully improve it, through brief, easy-to-use surveys that gauge how employees think and feel about their work.Ěý

The EES will be a central part of system for businesses that provides a sort of “virtual colleague” — one that keeps track of who and what staff are communicating while analyzing collaboration. CEOĚýCharley Miller said the “colleague”Ěýcould help leaders in the company better understand their employees and make smart decisions on how to improve the work environment.ĚýĚýĚý

“One of the key aspects of a good colleague is that they are great listeners,” Miller said. “Dr. Shuck’s IP enables us to ensure our virtual colleague is great listener when it comes to understanding how to ascertain employee engagement.”Ěý

Not only is Shuck’s technology the first out of CEHD to be licensed to a company, but it’s the first license of the UofL Office of Research and Innovation’s Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, or EIR, program.Ěý

Miller was one of the program’s first EIRs, to help guide UofL research-backed technologies to market in collaboration with the . After Miller’s term ended, he launched Unitonomy around Shuck’s technology.Ěý

“Sometimes all it takes is getting the right mix of people — researchers, entrepreneurs, community members — in the same room,” said Will Metcalf, executive director of , who launched the EIR program. “This is case-in-point, and we’re so excited to see what grows of this partnership between Charley and UofL.”Ěý

Funding for the EIRs comes from the , a public-private partnership led by UofL and backed by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development to grow Louisville’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

He and 167 other inventors from institutions around the world will be formally recognized as 2019 NAI Fellows at a ceremony in Phoenix, Arizona, in April 2020, according to a .

“It is a great honor for me to be one of the NAI fellows,” said El-Baz, a UofL J.B. Speed School of Engineering alum and chair of bioengineering.

At UofL, El-Baz works at the intersection of computer science and medicine. Many of his inventions use artificial intelligence to analyze medical images, allowing them to very accurately diagnose everything from Ěýto to .

El-Baz is the sixth UofL inventor to be inducted into the NAI, following Suzanne Ildstad and Kevin Walsh (2014); William Pierce (2015); Paula Bates (2016); and most recently, Robert S. Keynton (2017).

“We’re very proud of Ayman, and all past UofL inductees, for this huge accomplishment and all the hard work behind it,” said Allen Morris, executive director of the . His office works with UofL researchers, like , to commercialize their inventions.Ěý

“This kind of honor shows our university’s commitment to and leadership in research, invention and technology commercialization,” he said. “These inventions have the power to change and improve the way we work and live.”

Aside from the EPI-Center, El-Baz has also worked with other UofL programs for technology development and commercialization. He was the first researcher to hit a “trifecta” with UofL’s suite ofĚý, having earned entry into the UofL Coulter Translational Partnership, NSF I-Corps and NSF AWARE:ACCESS programs.

“These crucial support mechanisms have enabled me to develop and translate technologies from ideation to commercialization quickly,” El-Baz said.

To date, El-Baz holds eight patents, five copyrights and has had 11 technologies optioned and two have been licensed to companies for further development and commercialization. Some technologies have also resulted in startup ventures like Autism Diagnostics Technologies Inc., which El-Baz co-founded, creating jobs and economic development.Ěý

NAI fellows hold a collective 41,500 issued U.S. patents, resulting in 11,000 licensed technologies and companies, generating more than 36 million jobs and $1.6 trillion in revenue, according to the release.

“I am so impressed by the caliber of this year’s class of NAI Fellows, all of whom are highly-regarded in their respective fields,” NAI President Paul R. Sanberg said in the release. “The breadth and scope of their discovery is truly staggering. I’m excited not only see their work continue, but also to see their knowledge influence a new era of science, technology, and innovation worldwide.”

And it gets sweeter: the process also results in a bio-mass “coal” alternative that burns up to 20 times cleaner than the regular stuff.

The technology was invented at the UofL , biomass conversion and biofuels group in collaboration with Michael Nantz and his team in the UofL chemistry department. The newly-issued patent for the technology is now licensed to Louisville-based startup, BioProducts, which is working to get it to market.

Brian Walsh, the company’s CEO, said the potential environmental benefits of the technology are huge. According to the , burning traditional coal can cause emissions linked to smog, acid rain and other negative environmental and health side effects

“There’s a better way to do it,” he said. “We don’t have to harm the earth. We don’t have to pollute.”

The process isolates xylose – a low-calorie sugar from the biomass. Xylose sugar is widely used as a diabetic sweetener in food and beverage applications. It is also used as a diagnostic agent to observe malabsorption in the gastrointestinal tract.Ěý

Once the xylose is extracted, the team turns the remnant agriculture waste products into a cleaner “drop-in” replacement for coal – a “bio-coal” product.

BioProducts licensed the technology from UofL’s , which handles intellectual property resulting from university research and forges partnerships with companies for commercialization.

“I’m blown away with how well UofL does integrating technology with business leaders,” Walsh said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I don’t see other universities doing that better.”

Dr. Jagannadh Satyavolu, theme leader for biomass and biofuels research at the UofL Conn Center, led this research effort and is the founder of BioProducts. Energy and value creation from waste products are his specialty.Ěý

In the past, Satyavolu has partnered with industry to accelerate the commercialization of multiple bioproducts made from wood and agricultural biomass materials. His bio-coal work has been partly funded by U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities.ĚýDr. Satyavolu is continuing his bio-coal research work with Oregon Torrefaction LLC, John Day, Oregon and other industry partners.

The process technology behind those products, as with the technology licensed by BioProducts, was — essentially, “roasting” the biomass material to remove moisture and certain volatile compounds. A densification step needs to follow torrefaction to make the product denser, turning it into a coal replacement brick that’s easier to store and ship.

He said the xylose work started about seven years ago, after he took on a pilot project to find new uses for spent distiller’s grain — something Kentucky has in spades — and for corn. Walsh said the product could also create an additional revenue stream for farmers who might otherwise lose money on their agriculture waste.

“We’re always looking for new opportunities to add value and lower the cost of biofuels,” Satyavolu said.

“The goal is to make connections between these founders, looking for their next big play, and our startup-ready technologies,” said Will Metcalf, executive director of research development and strategic initiatives in the UofL .Ěý

The inaugural Founder Hunt, held in mid-November at Churchill Downs, was a partnership with the University of Kentucky and the Commonwealth Commercialization Center (C3).

The event’s format was something like a startup pitch competition, but flipped. Rather than have the entrepreneurs pitch their companies to investors, university researchers pitched their technologies to the entrepreneurs.

There were four pitches each from UofL and UK, along with one from C3/Eastern Kentucky University. Each presenter had five minutes to sell the packed house on their technology and its market opportunity.

“Working with academic universities and research, that’s a wide-open space for all of us,” said Signature HealthCARE CEO, Joe Steier, who keynoted the event. “And if the Commonwealth’s going to win, it’s going to be with all these partners coming together.”

For the first event, the focus was on healthcare-related technologies, though future events may focus on engineering, robotics or any number of disciplines.

The UofL technologies this year included , an , an and .

“What a fabulous opportunity to promote our technology in front of a room full of experienced investors, marketing representatives, and founders of local startups,” said UofL researcher and inventor, Tommy Roussell, who pitched the latter device. “We made several meaningful connections, and just had a ton of fun.”

The goal of the event is to find a founder who wants to license one of these technologies and build a company.Ěý

To help set them up for success, the first founder to license one of the pitched technologies will also receive a package of services: up to $10,000 in product design services from MED Institute, up to $2,000 in legal services from Frost Brown Todd and up to $1,500 in accounting services from DMLO CPAs.Ěý

“We want to build strong teams, strong partnerships, that can build high-growth businesses and draw significant investment to Louisville,” Metcalf said. “We’re shooting for $200 million over the next several years.”Ěý

Other sponsors for the event included PNC Bank, the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council, Technstars, RoundTower, Switcher Studio and LEAP.Ěý

Check out video from the event below:Ěý

The EIRs, under the UofL (EVPRI), will provide guidance on product development, business planning and other activities to accelerate the commercialization of university inventions. UofL’s EIRs are:

• Josh Nickols, PhD, MBA, a seasoned biotechnology entrepreneur and venture adviser with experience in commercializing technologies born at higher education institutions;
• Jeff Cummins, MBA, a finance and business development executive with experience in start-up and fast-growth companies;
• Charley Miller, MPS, a technology startup founder, product manager and game designer with a focus on systems and user journey.

UofL ranks as one of only 120 U.S. “Research 1” universities with “very high research activity,” according to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher łÉČËÖ±˛Ą. The EIRs will amplify UofL’s existing efforts aimed at getting technologies born from that research to market, which include a “superfecta” of .

“UofL research has produced groundbreaking innovations that have impacted a great number of industries and could impact so many more,” said UofL PresidentĚýNeeli Bendapudi. “By pairing those innovations with seasoned, tested entrepreneurs, we can accelerate their journey from idea to the marketplace, generating new products and companies and making the world a better place.”

Each EIR will serve a six-month term, beginning in April, and will work with the and researchers. More information on the EIRs is available .Ěý

“UofL is full of potential game-changing technologies,” Nickols said. “I’m excited to work with faculty and staff at UofL to drive those innovations toward market.”

Funding for the EIRs comes from the , a public-private partnership, led by UofL and backed by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, to grow Louisville’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.