With support provided by the Office of Institutional Advancement (OIA) and the Office of Research and Creative Achievement (ORCA), we are happy to announce our continued funding initiative called FEAT. The program is designed to help broaden the technology pipeline, while also assisting with later stage technology commercialization. It is available to UMBC’s entrepreneurial PIs to advance their technical concept, or their idea (social/behavioral/policy related) in conjunction with technology, towards commercial success, and out to meet societal needs. FEAT is flexible to assist UMBC researchers in obtaining additional commercialization funding, and providing mentorship services.

FEAT will support things like prototype builds, market surveys, business plans, CEO support, mentoring assistance, special facility or equipment access -whatever your specific needs are to obtain your next commercialization funding (MII, MIPS, SBIR/STTR, Momentum Funds, etc.).  This program will also enable UMBC, through OTD and bwtech, to identify for faculty existing resources, as well as provide new resources (like Market databases) based on faculty requests.

Proposal and Award Requirements:  UMBC PI eligible applicants must submit a one-page proposal which details the following:

• A non-confidential summary of the idea and its value proposition. What sets you apart from the competition?
• Describe how the funding will result in the project receiving additional internal or external funding [ABCE CENTRE fund, OTD Technology Catalyst Fund, TEDCO Maryland Innovation Initiative, UMD I-Corps , Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS), SBIR/ STTR program basics ] or advancing the technology to disclosure, licensing, or the creation of a start-up company.
• A list of goals you hope to achieve. What specific threshold(s) will you cross?
• The amount of funds needed for the project using a budget table.
• When you will need the funds and when you expect the work to be completed.

• Deliverable – After the project is completed, awardee will provide a brief summary of how the funding assisted in the advancement of the technology. This can be relatively short (MII requirement satisfied, proposal submitted, award received, technology licensed, start-up formed).

Deadlines: Rolling submission, due the first Monday of the month, monthly reviews. Submit your one-page proposal to Enidia Santiago-Arce at esantia2@umbc.edu. Reviewed monthly, proposals are funded at the level deemed necessary to achieve the goals outlined in the proposal.

A dust aerosol size surprise

Using satellite data, Zheng studies dust as it travels from Africa across the Atlantic Ocean. His findings show that dust particles are on average larger than most scientists expected. Other emerging research using samples collected from ocean-mounted buoys has also shown that large particles can stay aloft for weeks or months—much longer than researchers had assumed. 

“Particle size on average generally decreases over time during transport,” Zheng says, “but our study shows that it remains relatively constant as dust transports over the North Atlantic until it reaches Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.”

He also identified seasonal shifts in particle sizes. Current climate models assume a constant rate of particle shrinkage as dust travels across the Atlantic, and they completely overlook seasonal dynamics, so Zheng’s discoveries are pushing experts to rethink how aerosols are represented in climate models.

Today Zheng is expanding his work to investigate particle size variability over land, an even more complex dynamic than over the ocean.

Left: Zheng also recently received the NASA Goddard Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award. (Courtesy of Zheng)