![\"mtap2\"](\"http:\/\/d45h139.public.uconn.edu\/sites\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/mtap2.jpg\")
<\/a>Four small Connecticut companies are partnering with UConn engineering faculty members and staff to advance their manufacturing processes, thanks to a special program established by UConn\u2019s Office of Economic Development<\/span><\/a><\/span> called the Manufacturing Technical Assistance Program (MTAP).\u00a0 MTAP, now in its second year, is aimed at supporting Connecticut\u2019s manufacturing sector with new opportunities for revenue and employment growth at smaller Connecticut companies. The MTAP is funded through the support of the Connecticut General Assembly and Governor Dannel P. Malloy. \u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cThis program is helping to spur innovation within the state\u2019s manufacturing sector. MTAP allows the university to play a leadership role in helping the private sector access the innovative research that is being conducted on campus,\u201d says UConn\u2019s Vice President for Economic Development, Dr. Mary Holz- Clause.<\/p>\n
During its first year of operation in 2013, UConn\u2019s MTAP \u2013 administered by the Office of Economic Development \u2013 awarded funds to six teams of small, innovative manufacturers and their UConn research partners.<\/p>\n
The four 2013 MTAP recipients partnering with School of Engineering researchers include Storrs, CT based Amastan Inc<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>, a manufacturer of advanced nanomaterials used in U.S. growth sectors and defense industries such as optics, fuel cells, missile domes, armored glass and lasers; Uncasville, CT based Faria R&D a research subsidiary of the Thomas G. Faria Corporation<\/span><\/a><\/span>, whose state-of-the-art gauges are used in commercial, industrial, recreational, military and marine markets; Meriden, CT based Jonal Laboratories<\/span><\/a><\/span> which designs and produces seals, including high temperature silicone rubber seals, o-rings and elastomer-to-metal bonding products used in the aerospace industry; and Foster Corporation<\/span><\/a><\/span>, a manufacturer of biomedical polymers and compounds for the biotech, medical device and pharmaceutical industries.<\/p>\n Amastan President and CTO Dr. Kamal Hadidi says the MTAP-funded work was delayed by a switch in their UConn faculty collaborator. The project is now back on track with the assistance of Mechani<\/span>cal Engineering associate professor Dr. Ugur Pasaogullari, an expert in multi-physics multi-scale computational modeling <\/span>who is developing a process model involving a plasma torch used in the company\u2019s manufacturing operations, with the aim of improving the process efficiency and usable torch life.<\/span><\/p>\n David Hickey, President and CEO of Faria Corporation, notes that the company\u2019s 2013 MTAP is helping to shorten the company\u2019s time to market for an innovative Android operating system technology.<\/p>\n Faria R&D partnered with Computer Science & Engineering graduate student Anas Al-Okaily and undergraduate student Amadeusz Nasuta, whose efforts are overseen by Instrumentation & Computer Engineer John Fikiet of UConn\u2019s Engineering Electronics Lab.\u00a0 Mr. Fikiet explains that the project involves the development of a working prototype of a novel \u201cMach 7\u201d instrument capable of accepting almost any input parameter, from analog to various digital formats, and displaying and storing the data.\u00a0 The device must also connect to special features such as GPS, map programs, and multimedia as needed.\u00a0 Mr. Fikiet notes that the complex, ongoing project involves both hardware and software of differing formats, and when it is complete, \u201cthe instrument will be state-of-the art for data collection and display of information used in military, commercial and recreational markets.\u201d<\/p>\n Assistant professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Anson Ma is partnering with Jonal Laboratories to enhance the properties of the base rubber used extensively in the company\u2019s seals for different industry segments, according to Jonal Laboratories\u2019 President, alumnus Marc Nemeth (B.S. Accounting \u201974; MBA \u201984).\u00a0 Commenting on the MTAP, Mr. Nemeth remarks, \u201cWe have been very pleased with the work carried out with MTAP support and plan to continue our collaboration with Dr. Ma, who we have come to regard as an important member of our team. Certainly, we expect to expand our interactions with UConn in the years ahead: we view this as the beginning of a deep relationship with UConn,\u201d he says. \u00a0<\/p>\n Foster Corporation of Putnam, CT is working with professor emeritus Montgomery Shaw and Dr. Ma to develop a novel dosage form for drug delivery. \u00a0<\/p>\n Also receiving 2013 MTAP funds were Alphachromics Inc. and Reconstructive Solutions.<\/p>\n To learn more about MTAP, please visit http:\/\/innovation.uconn.edu\/programs\/mtap\/<\/span><\/a><\/span> or contact Natalie D\u2019Oyen, Associate Director for UConn\u2019s Technology Exchange Portal at natalie.doyen@uconn.edu<\/span><\/a><\/span> for details.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Four small Connecticut companies are partnering with UConn engineering faculty members and staff to advance their manufacturing processes, thanks to a special program established by UConn’s Office of Economic Development called the Manufacturing Technical Assistance Program (MTAP). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":224297,"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":[1866],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[51],"class_list":["post-17598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engr"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 05:38:08","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\/17598","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224305,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17598\/revisions\/224305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/224297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17598"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=17598"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=17598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}