{"id":31201,"date":"2026-09-11T14:33:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/?p=31201"},"modified":"2026-09-12T09:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T14:50:12","slug":"with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/","title":{"rendered":"With $6 million NSF grant UWM will reimagine how research moves from lab to the marketplace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Universities produce discoveries that could improve lives, strengthen the economy and address societal challenges. But promising research often struggles to make the leap from the laboratory to practical use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new four-year <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/awardsearch\/show-award\/?AWD_ID=2612263\">National Science Foundation grant<\/a> aims to change that. Led by Ilya Avdeev, director of the UWM Lubar Entrepreneurship Center and professor of mechanical engineering, the UWM TRANSLATE initiative will rethink how UWM connects research with businesses, communities and other organizations \u2014 and how the university supports researchers in moving their work toward real-world applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"h-deep-innovation-expertise-longtime-college-of-engineering-support\"><strong>Deep innovation expertise, longtime College of Engineering support<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">UWM&#8217;s long history of cultivating entrepreneurial training began in 2012 when Avdeev; Nathaniel Stern, professor of art &amp; design and mechanical engineering; and Brian Thompson, then-head of the UWM Research Foundation; launched the Student Startup Challenge, helping students in any discipline turn ideas into business plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their efforts grew into NSF-funded I-Corps programs, teaching graduate student researchers to commercialize discoveries, and ultimately, the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center, a campuswide launchpad for entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this interview Avdeev explains that the new grant is designed to redesign our system of research translation and ultimately create a model that other urban public research universities can use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What is the <\/strong><strong>TRANSLATE initiative trying to accomplish?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are three overarching goals. The first is to strengthen UWM\u2019s ability to translate research into things that have a visible impact on Wisconsin and the world. That could mean traditional outcomes such as licensing technology or creating startups, but research can be passed on in many other ways too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second goal is to make our research more &#8216;use-inspired.&#8217; We want to increase the research that actually fills industry needs. This is where we see the biggest opportunity for change and the opportunity to design something new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the third goal is to become a nationwide model for effective research translation at an urban public research university. There are only a few grants like this in the country, so we have an opportunity to learn from what we do here and share that knowledge.<br><br><strong>How is this different from what universities already do to move research into the marketplace?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The traditional forms are the licensing of technologies, new startups and companies formed. Those methods are important, but we want to look at the entire system and find the gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, do the incentives researchers have align with research translation? Do tenure and promotion criteria recognize it? Are there opportunities for faculty development and sabbaticals that support it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;re going to look for barriers and gaps and ask how we can redesign the system so that research transfer becomes part of the university&#8217;s culture, rather than something that happens on the side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>How will UWM identify the kinds of research the world needs?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We want to build stronger relationships with industry and other organizations so we can understand the problems they are trying to solve. Many faculty members want to work with industry, but they don&#8217;t necessarily know what the technology gaps are or what companies are looking for. Industry isn&#8217;t going to share that information easily. Those conversations only happen when a strategic partnership builds trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;re going to explore several ways of building those connections. One involves UWM&#8217;s existing industry partnership centers, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/csi\/\">Connected Systems Institute<\/a>. Another involves our alumni. Alumni working in different industries can help us create an ongoing picture of what those industries need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;re also going to look at industry advisory boards. They already help inform curriculum, but we want to explore how they could also help identify research needs and opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What kinds of support will researchers receive?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Training will be a major part of the initiative. We&#8217;ll have programs for students, faculty and university leaders so they can learn what research translation is and how to identify and pursue opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;ll also create an accelerator for translational research. Promising faculty projects could receive between $50,000 and $100,000 to help move them toward either community solutions or industry use. The first three projects identified in the proposal are from engineering labs that already include industry partners. They include a robotic arm that helps with patient rehabilitation, an aquatic phosphate sensor that works on contact, and an AI-powered tool that aids in cybersecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There will also be mini-grants, travel support and funding for industry mentors. <strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Is there room for all disciplines to be involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes. It&#8217;s designed to be campuswide and largely discipline-agnostic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, we expect there will be opportunities in health professions and health sciences. They&#8217;re the frequent flyers in our NSF I-Corps program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;re also looking at what research translation means in areas such as architecture and the arts. Translation doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean a product or a startup. It could be an exhibition, a documentary or another way of bringing research to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ali Abedi, Vice Chancellor for Research, is co-investigator on the grant. So are representatives of <a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/lubar-entrepreneurship-center\/\">The Lubar Entrepreneurship Center<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/uwmrf.org\/\">UWM Research Foundation<\/a>, the Office of Research and the <a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/strategic-partnerships\/\">Office of Strategic Partnerships<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jennifer Gutzman, the LEC&#8217;s Kellner Entrepreneurship Fellow and associate professor of biological sciences, will lead development of skill-building programs focused on research translation for students, faculty and staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Joel Fogelson, UWM&#8217;s chief innovation &amp; partnerships officer will lead the industry pull aspect of this initiative. Finally, this initiative will be supported by translational experts at the University of Michigan \u2013 a grant partner and NSF I-Corps Great Lakes Hub collaborator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>How will you know if <\/strong><strong>TRANSLATE<\/strong><strong> is working?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first step will be establishing a baseline. We&#8217;ll create a dashboard that measures what NSF calls the university&#8217;s &#8216;research translation readiness level.&#8217; Then we&#8217;ll track that over the four years of the grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;re interested in very tangible measures: Has the time from a research idea to a product or solution been reduced? Has the proportion of use-inspired research increased? Are more faculty and students prepared to think about how their research can be translated? Have we strengthened our partnerships? But the biggest measure of success will be whether we&#8217;ve actually changed the system \u2013 and whether those changes can be sustained after the grant ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Universities produce discoveries that could improve lives, strengthen the economy and address societal challenges. But promising research often struggles to make the leap from the laboratory to practical use. A new four-year National Science Foundation grant aims to change that. &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":836,"featured_media":31204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[66,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-milwaukee-engineer","category-news"],"uwm_unpublish_requested":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.6 (Yoast SEO v28.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ilya Avdeev, director of the UWM Lubar Entrepreneurship Center and a professor, mechanical engineering, is leading a $6 million initiative from the National Science Foundation that will overhaul how UW-Milwaukee connects research with businesses, communities and other organizations. The aim is not only to improve tech transfer at UWM but also devise a model that other public universities can use to do the same.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"With $6 million NSF grant UWM will reimagine how research moves from lab to the marketplace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ilya Avdeev, director of the UWM Lubar Entrepreneurship Center and a professor, mechanical engineering, is leading a $6 million initiative from the National Science Foundation that will overhaul how UW-Milwaukee connects research with businesses, communities and other organizations. The aim is not only to improve tech transfer at UWM but also devise a model that other public universities can use to do the same.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-11T19:33:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-12T14:50:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2026\/09\/Avdeev-LEC26-grant-copy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura L Otto\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura L Otto\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Laura L Otto\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565\"},\"headline\":\"With $6 million NSF grant UWM will reimagine how research moves from lab to the marketplace\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-11T19:33:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-12T14:50:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1047,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/537\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Avdeev-LEC26-grant-copy.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Milwaukee Engineer\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\\\/\",\"name\":\"With $6 million NSF grant UWM will reimagine how research moves from lab to the marketplace - College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/537\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Avdeev-LEC26-grant-copy.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-11T19:33:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-12T14:50:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565\"},\"description\":\"Ilya Avdeev, director of the UWM Lubar Entrepreneurship Center and a professor, mechanical engineering, is leading a $6 million initiative from the National Science Foundation that will overhaul how UW-Milwaukee connects research with businesses, communities and other organizations. The aim is not only to improve tech transfer at UWM but also devise a model that other public universities can use to do the same.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/537\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Avdeev-LEC26-grant-copy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/537\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Avdeev-LEC26-grant-copy.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Between 2% and 3% of UWM's research each year is funded by industry, said Ilya Avdeev. The university would like to see that rise to 6%.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"With $6 million NSF grant UWM will reimagine how research moves from lab to the marketplace\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/\",\"name\":\"College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565\",\"name\":\"Laura L Otto\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7a25d6450ea441d1a0a92cfcac5c88d413d72cb7a72eb8721a3c4bc0b8b290f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7a25d6450ea441d1a0a92cfcac5c88d413d72cb7a72eb8721a3c4bc0b8b290f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7a25d6450ea441d1a0a92cfcac5c88d413d72cb7a72eb8721a3c4bc0b8b290f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Laura L Otto\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/author\\\/llhuntuwm-edu\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science","description":"Ilya Avdeev, director of the UWM Lubar Entrepreneurship Center and a professor, mechanical engineering, is leading a $6 million initiative from the National Science Foundation that will overhaul how UW-Milwaukee connects research with businesses, communities and other organizations. The aim is not only to improve tech transfer at UWM but also devise a model that other public universities can use to do the same.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"With $6 million NSF grant UWM will reimagine how research moves from lab to the marketplace","og_description":"Ilya Avdeev, director of the UWM Lubar Entrepreneurship Center and a professor, mechanical engineering, is leading a $6 million initiative from the National Science Foundation that will overhaul how UW-Milwaukee connects research with businesses, communities and other organizations. The aim is not only to improve tech transfer at UWM but also devise a model that other public universities can use to do the same.","og_url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/","og_site_name":"College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science","article_published_time":"2026-09-11T19:33:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-12T14:50:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2026\/09\/Avdeev-LEC26-grant-copy.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Laura L Otto","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Laura L Otto","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/"},"author":{"name":"Laura L Otto","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/#\/schema\/person\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565"},"headline":"With $6 million NSF grant UWM will reimagine how research moves from lab to the marketplace","datePublished":"2026-09-11T19:33:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-12T14:50:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/"},"wordCount":1047,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2026\/09\/Avdeev-LEC26-grant-copy.jpg","articleSection":["Milwaukee Engineer","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/","name":"With $6 million NSF grant UWM will reimagine how research moves from lab to the marketplace - College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2026\/09\/Avdeev-LEC26-grant-copy.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-11T19:33:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-12T14:50:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/#\/schema\/person\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565"},"description":"Ilya Avdeev, director of the UWM Lubar Entrepreneurship Center and a professor, mechanical engineering, is leading a $6 million initiative from the National Science Foundation that will overhaul how UW-Milwaukee connects research with businesses, communities and other organizations. The aim is not only to improve tech transfer at UWM but also devise a model that other public universities can use to do the same.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2026\/09\/Avdeev-LEC26-grant-copy.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2026\/09\/Avdeev-LEC26-grant-copy.jpg","width":750,"height":500,"caption":"Between 2% and 3% of UWM's research each year is funded by industry, said Ilya Avdeev. The university would like to see that rise to 6%."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/with-6-million-nsf-grant-uwm-will-reimagine-how-research-moves-from-lab-to-the-marketplace\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"With $6 million NSF grant UWM will reimagine how research moves from lab to the marketplace"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/","name":"College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/#\/schema\/person\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565","name":"Laura L Otto","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a25d6450ea441d1a0a92cfcac5c88d413d72cb7a72eb8721a3c4bc0b8b290f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a25d6450ea441d1a0a92cfcac5c88d413d72cb7a72eb8721a3c4bc0b8b290f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a25d6450ea441d1a0a92cfcac5c88d413d72cb7a72eb8721a3c4bc0b8b290f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Laura L Otto"},"url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/author\/llhuntuwm-edu\/"}]}},"meta_fields":{"_edit_lock":["1789348865:685"],"_edit_last":["836"],"feat_img_video":[""],"feat_img_gallery":[""],"feat_img_caption":["feat-img-caption-on"],"breadcrumbs_display":["breadcrumbs-on"],"otp_nav_display":["otp-on-mobile"],"post_layout":["post-layout-theme"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["25"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["30"],"_yoast_wpseo_seo_title_score":["28"],"_yoast_wpseo_meta_description_score":["83"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":["[\"University tech transfer, research to marketplace\"]"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["5"],"_thumbnail_id":["31204"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":["UWM tech transfer"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["Ilya Avdeev, director of the UWM Lubar Entrepreneurship Center and a professor, mechanical engineering, is leading a $6 million initiative from the National Science Foundation that will overhaul how UW-Milwaukee connects research with businesses, communities and other organizations. The aim is not only to improve tech transfer at UWM but also devise a model that other public universities can use to do the same."],"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":["71"],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1789224612"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/836"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31201"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31215,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31201\/revisions\/31215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}