Faculty researchers share their experiences turning discoveries into marketable products

Four engineering faculty members with technology transfer success stories discussed the challenges of the commercialization process during a March 14 dinner celebrating the 10^th anniversary of the von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement. The von Liebig Center offers seed funding and advisory services and is part of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego.

“If we do research and just put it on the shelf to collect dust, we’re not doing our job,” said Frieder Seible, dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering. “We need to transfer our discoveries from the research lab to society.” During the dinner, which was hosted by the UC San Diego Chancellor’s Associates, Seible said the von Liebig Center had transformed the culture of the engineering school, giving students and faculty an entrepreneurial mindset. The Chancellor’s Associates are generous group of alumni, parents and friends who give $2,500 or more each year to be used at the Chancellor's discretion to fund the university's greatest needs.

Stephen Flaim, who is deputy director of the center and one of its several technology and business advisors, talked about the so-called Valley of Death, a gap between the laboratory and the marketplace that can fell even the most promising technology. Lacking funding and a connection with private sector investors and collaborators, researchers can easily get stuck. “There is a gap before the gap,” said Flaim. “That gap is the step from the university out to the private sector. What we did here at the von Liebig Center was figure out a mechanism and an infrastructure that allowed us to make the technologies inside a university recognizable at an earlier stage.”

Read our story about the success stories of UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering professors David Kriegman, computer science and engineering; Rene Cruz, electrical and computer engineering; Sujit Dey, electrical and computer engineering; and Geert Schmid-Schönbein, bioengineering. You can learn more about the cutting edge student research happening in faculty labs, including those of Schmid-Schönbein, Dey and Cruz at Research Expo April 12. Here's a snapshot of what their students will be presenting during the poster session:

TRYPSIN AND MMP-9 LEVELS INCREASE IN PLASMA AND LUNG AFTER HEMORRHAGIC SHOCK: POTENTIAL MECHANISM FOR MEMBRANE RECEPTOR DAMAGE
Student(s): Angelina Esther Altshuler
Professor(s): Geert Schmid-Schönbein

QUERY-BASED MODELS AND ALGORITHMS FOR DISTRIBUTED INFORMATION DISSEMINATION
Student(s): Efecan Poyraz
Professor(s): Rene L. Cruz

ADAPTATION OF VIDEO ENCODING TO ADDRESS DYNAMIC THERMAL MANAGEMENT EFFECTS
Student(s): Seyed Ali Mirtar
Professor(s): Sujit Dey

DYNAMIC BASE STATION RECONFIGURATION FOR BATTERY EFFICIENT VIDEO DOWNLOAD
Student(s): Ranjini B Guruprasad
Professor(s): Sujit Dey

MODELING, CHARACTERIZING, AND ENHANCING USER EXPERIENCE IN CLOUD MOBILE RENDERING
Student(s): Yao Liu
Professor(s): Sujit Dey

USER INTEREST ESTIMATION BASED ON VIDEO WEBPAGE CLASSIFICATION
Student(s): Chetan Kumar Verma
Professor(s): Sujit Dey

VIDEO CACHING IN THE WIRELESS CLOUD: ALGORITHMS AND IMPACT ON DELAY AND CAPACITY
Student(s): Hasti Ahlehagh
Professor(s): Sujit Dey