The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) has recently finalized award decisions for the SPARK Technology Commercialization Fund Program. A unique program within the OVPR\u2019s internal funding opportunities, SPARK supports innovative proof-of-concept studies seeking to translate research discoveries into products, processes, and other commercial applications. Its overarching mission is to advance promising faculty inventions towards the market, where they can have a positive impact for the University, society, and the state\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
We have seen a three-fold return on investment from previous SPARK recipients, with several startups formed and over $4 million in extramural follow-on funding to date. We have high hopes for the potential future successes of this cycle\u2019s recipients as well.<\/p>\n
The 2019 SPARK awardees who competed in a highly selective competition were:<\/p>\n
Mark Brand<\/strong>, UConn, <\/em>Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture Baikun Li<\/strong>, UConn, <\/em>Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Ruth Lucas<\/strong>, UConn, <\/em>Department of Nursing Paul Nahass<\/strong>, UConn, <\/em>Department of Materials Science and Engineering James Rusling<\/strong>, UConn, <\/em>Department of Chemistry Kepeng Wang<\/strong>, UConn Health, <\/em>Department of Immunology Simon White<\/strong>, UConn, <\/em>Department of Molecular and Cell Biology Dennis Wright<\/strong>, UConn, Department of Pharmaceutical Science For more information about SPARK, visit the\u00a0program website<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Follow UConn Research on <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/a> & <\/em>LinkedIn<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Past SPARK recipients have won over $4 million in extramural follow-on funding and have formed several startups after receiving the $50K proof-of-concept grant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":155217,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2224,1866,2226,1877,2076,1868,1864],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2140],"class_list":["post-155215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cahnr","category-engr","category-clas","category-nur","category-research","category-meds","category-pharm"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 05:45:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/155217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155215"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=155215"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=155215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDeveloping High Output Vegetative Propagation Methods for an Improved Northern Bayberry<\/em><\/p>\n
\nEnhancing Durability and Accuracy of Solid-state Ion Selective Membrane (S-ISM) Nitrogen Sensors for Long-term Monitoring of Wastewater Systems: with Septic Tanks as the Initial Demonstration Site<\/em><\/p>\n
\nField Testing the Breastfeeding Diagnostic Device with Synchronized Biomechanical and Biomarkers<\/em><\/p>\n
\nMedical Devices for Real-time Radiation Dosimetry at Sub-millimeter Spatial Resolution<\/em><\/p>\n
\nBioCap-harvest for Self-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers<\/em><\/p>\n
\nUsing GM-treg Cells for the Treatment of Crohn’s Disease<\/em><\/p>\n
\nRepurposing the FDA Approved Itraconazole and Posaconazole to Treat Picornaviral Diseases<\/em><\/p>\n
\nPropargyl-Linked Antifolates (PLAs) for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)<\/em><\/p>\n