Award Data

There is a troubling decline in the number of US citizens training to become scientists and engineers. There are insufficient numbers of qualified science teachers in the middle schools, where interest in science must be kindled. Technology enhanced learning environments (TELEs), which could improve science education, are not being widely deployed. This Phase I project will customize a TELE to a) ...

Up until the early twentieth century, several commodity chemicals were produced by the pyrolysis of hardwoods (e.g., methanol, acetic acid, acetone) or the extraction of softwoods (turpentine, terpenes, rosins, pitches, and tars). The expected long term increase in petroleum and natural gas prices will cause a gradual but steady return to biomass feedstocks over the next several decades. Other dri ...

There is a troubling decline in the number of US citizens training to become scientists and engineers. There are insufficient numbers of qualified science teachers in the middle schools, where interest in science must be kindled. Technology enhanced learning environments (TELEs), which could improve science education, are not being widely deployed. This Phase I project will customize a TELE to a) ...

Processing of vegetable oils is complicated by the need to remove free fatty acids. Washing with caustic is a viable process but is inefficient because fatty acids and caustic form soaps which cause emulsions. These emulsions cause a yield loss of 1-1.5% or 160-240 Million lb/yr of soybean oil alone. The purpose of this project is to improve yields and energy efficiency in vegetable oil processing ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will study effective models for carrying out assessments employing challenging puzzle-like questions that incorporate distractor analyses in which meaning is assigned to complex responses. Such distractor analyses apply where there is the possibility that the test taker can give alternative correct, partially correct, and incorrect an ...

Rapid, exploratory diagnostics are needed for the identification of bacteria in complex food and water samples. This project focuses on development of a novel, rapid system for molecular identification of bacteria.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I research project addresses the manufacturing and testing of an agricultural byproduct (biomass) as a high performance cement (HPC) for highway applications. There are several benefits of using this processed byproduct, such as significantly increasing the compressive strength, reducing heat of hydration to prevent concrete cracking, and enhan ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I research project aims to develop, validate and bring to market an innovation that has the potential to dramatically enhance the return on investment from audit of fraud or non-compliance cases. In most audit detection domains, resource intensive evaluation of cases, such as costly audits, is the principal means of monitoring (and thus enhancin ...

Embryos with predetermined sex will obviously double the female calving efficiency in dairy industry. The ultimate goal of the project is to development an efficient system for the large scale production of sex predetermined cattle embryos using several emerging technologies including sperm sorting by flow cytometry, IVF and rapid-cooling cryopreservation (vitrification) of embryos. Through Phase ...

Farms are faced with increasing problems managing manure from animal operations. Alternate innovative methods to deal with the handling and distribution of the manure solids materials and nutrients are needed to allow farms to economically comply with increased regulations. The purpose of this project is to further the development of a concept to utilize farm animal waste material in a manner that ...