Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/54910
NATHAN SCHWAGLER facilitating a creative thinking session during a class held in collaboration with USF Center for Entrepreneurship faculty Expeditions (INTX), which allows professors to teach in real- time via satellite from anywhere in the world to students connected to the Internet. Sponsored by Cobham with additional Corridor funding, the project helped Katsaros refine his project management skills and eventually secure a position as a senior technical writer with Cobham. Working through the MGRP project provided Katsaros the "unique opportunity to see the entire process of Tech Transfer evolve from ideas and prototypes all the way to unveiling on the commercial market." Jared Ehrhart, Ph.D. Medical Sciences, used the skills spinoff, WiPower, gave him an invaluable experience in bringing an idea from the drawing board to a finished product. Developing the company's wireless charging pad not only helped him "appreciate the importance of good product development and industrial design," but also landed him a position performing research and development work in the area of wireless power for Qualcomm, which acquired WiPower. Perhaps one of the most beneficial aspects of the Matching Grants Research Program comes from the employer's side. After working with skilled young talent, many Corridor companies expand their team by adding on the same students they've mentored. Having the opportunity to evaluate the capabilities of students who conduct high-level research for their firm is much more valuable than a run-of-the-mill internship program. In its 15 years, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council's MGRP has facilitated more than 160 student hires into those participating companies. At UCF, Ph.D. candidate Alex Katsaros took part in a multi-year project to develop a program called Interactive he learned from his MGRP student research project to land a job with the partnering company, Saneron CCEL Therapeutics Inc., as a post-doctoral research scientist and study director. There, he is continuing the work he started as a student researcher from the other side where he says his earlier work in investigating treatments of Alzheimer's disease have helped make an easy transition to his new setting. As UCF Ph.D. candidate Tanmay Bera reflected, "In research, one fails more often than not." Hypotheses don't stand up to testing, other variables come into play and long-term experiments unravel under further study. Most of those failures spur researchers to get back on their feet, approach challenges differently and continue in their passion for discovery. In the end, the hurdles that come with scientific research always bring about their share of successes. For the students who participated in the FHTCC's Matching Grants Research Program, the research project itself was the reward and the one "college experience" they would never take back. florida.HIGH.TECH 2012 15