SIU Innovation Expo is Sept. 23

The Saluki Times

August 15, 2014

 

CARBONDALE, Ill.  -- The upcoming 2014 SIU Innovation Expo will showcase the ideas and inventions of Southern Illinois University faculty and foster ties between them and the business and industry community. 

The Sept. 23 expo, “Making Better Megawatts, Mousetraps and Medicine,” is a system-wide event that will feature faculty from SIU campuses in Carbondale and Edwardsville and the SIU School of Medicine.  The public session opens at 1:15 p.m. at the Morris University Center at SIU Edwardsville.  Two of the goals of the sixth annual expo, which is open to the public, is to encourage collaboration and strengthen ties between SIU inventors and business and industry partners. 

Following a welcome by SIU President Randy Dunn and keynote presentation by George B. Vermont, from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships, about 25 faculty members from throughout the SIU system will display their research and innovations through posters, prototypes and other demonstrations and displays.  

The variety of work in the showcase ranges from managing lithium-ion batteries to new processes for using carbon dioxide, and from producing high value chemicals and fuels from coal and biomass to plant biotechnology.  Other expo highlights include a new antibiotic, identifying equine microbiomes (the microscopic organisms living on horses), alternative energies, and potential Parkinson’s disease treatments.  

“The expo will raise awareness of the important technological advances taking place at SIU Carbondale, SIU Edwardsville and the SIU School of Medicine.  It will also expedite growth of new businesses and licensing relationships throughout a wide region,” James Garvey, SIU Carbondale’s interim vice chancellor for research and graduate dean, said. 

Registration for the 2014 Innovation Expo is free.   

A complete list of participants and registration information is available at tie.siu.edu.   To make reservations, or for additional information, contact the SIU Edwardsville Small Business Development Center at 618/650-2929 or by email at sbdcedw@gmail.com. 

Event sponsors include various units within SIU Carbondale and SIU Edwardsville, the School of Medicine, the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center, and Metro East area law firms Dentons, Husch Blackwell, and Polsinelli.