The supports promising early-career faculty who are potential role models in research and education. The award is $500,000 spread over five years, andĚýSpurgeon is one of only a handful of non-faculty recipients.

“I’m thrilled,” said Spurgeon, theme leader for solar fuels at . “These grants are so competitive, and this is huge for me.”Ěý

Spurgeon’s work at UofL centers on hydrogen fuels, which he can make with just water and sunlight. With this award, he hopes to lower the cost of that method to make solar hydrogen more competitive with hydrogen derived from fossil fuels.

“We’re targeting the intersection between high-efficiency and low-cost,” he said. “The goal is to make clean, green, renewable fuel accessible.”Ěý

The basic idea is to separate water, or H₂O, into hydrogen and oxygen using photocatalysts, which cause chemical reactions when exposed to sunlight. Spurgeon places the photocatalyst in the water, shines sunlight on it, and boom — potent, energy-dense hydrogen fuel.Ěý

The problem, he said, is that this method is currently more expensive than fossil fuels because it relies on a combination of expensive commercial photovoltaic and electrolysis equipment. Spurgeon’s CAREER Award research will seek to lower the cost by integrating all of those components into a single semiconductor particle, making the whole process more cost-effective.Ěý

“This would enable low-cost solar energy storage and sustainable fuel production,” said Mahendra Sunkara, director of the UofL Conn Center. “Such a technology could revolutionize the energy industry and greatly expand the energy independence of the United States.”

You can check out some of Spurgeon’s technologies andĚý

In addition to the research component, Spurgeon also will use his award to help build and develop a new master’s degree at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering focused on renewable energy and materials. He also plans to help underrepresented undergraduate students secure research internships and help final-year graduate students with their entrepreneurial and commercialization efforts.Ěý

“Dr. Spurgeon is pursuing truly ground-breaking work that can broadly impact fields as diverse as transportation and utilities,” said Robert S. Keynton, Interim Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation. “We’re very proud of his accomplishment and his contributions to research and innovation at UofL.”Ěý

Including Spurgeon’s, UofL researchers have received 21 total NSF CAREER Awards totaling some $7.1 million.

“Innovation is absolutely critical to the University of Louisville’s mission,” said UofL President, Neeli Bendapudi. “It’s what drives us, inspires us, and it’s a big part of what makes us a great place to learn, work and invest — our three most important goals as a university.”Ěý

The event, hosted by the and the honored UofL innovators who had recently been awarded a patent or whose technology had been licensed to a company for commercialization.Ěý

“Our researchers and innovators do tremendous work with the power to change and improve lives,” said Allen Morris, executive director of the Commercialization EPI-Center, formerly the Office of Technology Transfer. “That’s what this event is about — celebrating them, and the work they do.”

Two large awards were also presented: Susan Ildstad was given the Innovator of the Year Award and John O. Trent was given the Career Impact Award. Each took home a red-and-black glass flame — the symbol for the event.Ěý

Ildstad’s company, Talaris, recently to develop a therapy invented at UofL that could improve the lives of kidney transplant recipients. The technology, which just entered its phase three clinical trials, could allow living donor kidney transplant recipients to stay off immunosuppression drugs, which they would otherwise need for the rest of their lives.

Likewise, Trent has a long a history of collaborating on technologies, particularly in . Some of his notable inventions include AS1411, novel PFK inhibitors for fighting the spread of cancer and his natural product hand cream for DNA repair, now licensed to and in clinical development by Repairogen.Ěý

Robert S. Keynton, interim executive vice president for Research and Innovation, said this year has been a at UofL. In 2019, he said, UofL saw more research disclosures of new innovations, more commercialization deals and more innovation income.

Keynton also noted several success stories that had gained attention over the past year: One team, he said, developed a new method of , extending its shelf life for the battlefield, rural areas and even space travel. Another team developed a way to , which could have huge impacts for our environment. And yet another is helping people .

“The work you do is significant,” he said. “The work you do is important. The work you do has impact. And I’m proud to be part of it, both as the Interim EVPRI and as an inventor myself.”

Check out some of our innovators:Ěý

The customer service center, called “Launch,” is staffed by about 50 UofL students from a variety of disciplines, and there are plans to add more. The students get on-the-job experience working alongside those already in the industry.

“We learn by doing things — we teach each other,” said Launch associate, Abdulaziz Arrak. He hopes to join Cardinal Health full-time after he graduates from the UofL College of Business in May.Ěý

Launch started as an idea two years ago. Cindy Adkins, Cardinal Health’s VP of Customer Support Services, said the Dublin, Ohio-based company was looking to expand in Kentucky to support its growing business.

“We knew we needed great talent to round out our team,” she said. “And with a great university in our backyard, we decided to start right there.”

The students perform customer service activities, and collaborate on market research and other strategic and special projects in the space, leased from the University of Louisville Foundation on the third floor of the Cardinal Station building on Central Avenue.

“This partnership is a tremendous benefit for our students,” said UofL President, Dr. Neeli Bendapudi. “Not only does it create flexible, meaningful employment, but it provides our students a great opportunity to work with a leader in the health care industry without leaving our campus.”

Launch is the latest addition to UofL’s industrial partnerships, which include FirstBuild, in collaboration with Haier’s GE Appliances, and ĚýThe goal is to help corporate partners innovate and grow while creating educational and job opportunities for students.

“We continue to work aggressively to secure other collaborative ventures, attracting companies that lease space on our campus, hire students and faculty, and look to further our research,” said Interim Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation, Robert S. Keynton. “So we’re so proud to have another cardinal, Cardinal Health, join us here on the Belknap campus.”

Watch a video on the announcement . Students are encouraged to submit applications online at cardinalhealth.com.

Carnegie’s ranking is considered highly prestigious in the higher education community. UofL is one of only 120 U.S. institutions to achieve the highest ranking in this latest survey, which is based on the 2016-17 academic year.

“This designation validates the hard work of our faculty, staff and students to make discoveries that change, improve and even save lives” said UofL’s Interim Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation Robert Keynton. “It also validates our continuing efforts to develop the next generation of researchers and innovators.”ĚýĚý

Schools that conferred 20 or more research/scholarship doctoral degrees and had at least $5 million in research spending are considered for the top Research 1 designation. UofL awarded 159 research/scholarship doctoral degrees and had more than $177 million in research expenditures in 2016-17.

It’s part of a pilot program called , or Accelerating Women and Underrepresented Entrepreneurs: Accelerate Entrepreneurial Success, which is in its first year of providing networking, training and other support.

Speakers with UofL ties, including some founders, were highlighted at the program’s Commercialization and Entrepreneurship Summit in Indianapolis on Oct. 5.

One of those presenters was Maggie Galloway, CEO of Louisville-based health tech company , which she co-founded as a UofL MBA student. She said programs like AWARE:ACCESS are important because “the odds are against female and minority founders.”

reports that just 2 percent of venture capital went to female startup founders in 2016. According to , a recent study of more than 60,000 startups found just 88 were led by black women — about 4 percent of the 2,200 total women-led tech startups in the U.S.

“Women and underrepresented researchers have great innovations, but have lagged in successful federal grant funding programs for early stage startup companies: SBIR and STTR awards,” said UofL’s Dr. Rob Keynton, lead investigator. “We’re trying to change that with this program.”

Galloway said the program isĚý an extension of UofL’s current support for entrepreneurs, such as technology licensing, the FirstBuild makerspace and the LaunchIt business accelerator.

“UofL’s involvement in this program shows that UofL is not only committed to the commercialization of great UofL technologies, but also supportive of the entrepreneurs driving the commercialization,” she said.

Another presenter is Dr. Angelique Johnson, who founded her health-tech company, MEMStim LLC, . She said programs like AWARE:ACCESS also support women and minorities who want to found companies in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.

“This program is important, because too few women and minority entrepreneurs are going into the STEM space,” she said. “We need more attention placed on this critical issue.”

The AWARE:ACCESS program, funded through a National Science Foundation grant, is a partnership between UofL, Indiana University and Missouri University of Science and Technology.

NSF program director, Dr. Jesus Soriano, said he hopes AWARE:ACCESS “will enable more underserved groups to get entrepreneurship training and achieve their technological and commercial potential, as well as help enhance U.S. leadership in science and engineering.”

MEMStim is now working to translate its technology to the clinical marketplace. After its founding, Inscope went on to win , and soon, will launch its first device into the market at the American College of Emergency Medicine conference.