IDEA AWARDS
IDEA Awards closing date: June 30th 2025
The Innovative Disclosures and Entrepreneurial Activities (IDEA) Awards recognize entrepreneurial individuals who have developed innovative approaches to research, teaching, and service. The competition, started in 2015, is hosted by the University’s Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization (OIPC). Any innovation developed by University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) or University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) faculty, staff, and students using university resources or as part of a class is eligible for the IDEA Awards. An innovation could be, for example, a new method of doing something, a product, a composition, or software. To be eligible for the IDEA Awards faculty, staff, and students need to have disclosed their technology through UAF’s Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization (OIPC) at https://uaf.edu/oipc/disclosure/.
2024 IDEA Award winners
The 2024 awardees will be presented on Jan 8th at the EPSCoR/INBRE IGNITE Workshop.
2022-2023 IDEA Award winners
Winners for the 2022 - 2023 academic year were awarded retroactively on September 5th, 2024 . All IDEA winners were recognized for their disclosed innovative approaches to research, teaching, and service. The winners highlighted the diversity of disclosed innovations during the 2022 – 2023 academic years.
Passive eDNA Sampler
Impact Award: Best Alaska Social Impact Disclosure
Inventors: Dr. Jessica Glass, George Deal, Andrew WIlson, Maris Goodwin
This award represents the most socially impactful disclosure for the 2022-2023 academic year. It was developed by Dr. Jessica Glass from the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences with UAF engineering students George Deal & Andrew Wilson, and Master of Science fisheries student Maris Goodwin. Dr. Glass et al. developed a cost effective device to capture environmental DNA and sediment from water bodies.
Fusion Peptide
Inspiration Award: Best Faculty Innovation Disclosure
Inventor: Dr. Maegan Weltzin
This award represents the best faculty disclosure for the 2022 – 2023 academic year. It was developed by Dr. Maegan Weltzin Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. Dr. Weltzin engineered a target selective dual drug delivery system that is able to deliver cargo into the brain by a single intravenous injection. The peptide has potential to enhance treatment for neurological disorders and to alleviate depressive symptoms without the drawbacks of traditional antidepressants, offering a potentially faster-acting and more effective treatment option.
Low-Profile Aperature-Coupled Microstrip Patch Antenna
Tomorrow's Innovator Award: Best Grad Student Disclosure
Inventor: Mitchell Hay
This award represents the best graduate student disclosure for the 2022 - 2023 academic year. It was developed by Mitchell Hay, PhD Candidate in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. Hay developed a compact microstrip antenna that operates across a wide range of frequencies and emits circularly polarized signals. The form-factor of this antenna is smaller than most commercial options that exhibit comparable performance, enabling engineers to array of up to four antennas on one face of a CubeSat. The design is planned for use on an upcoming satellite mission developed in the UAF Space Systems Engineering Program. Other aerospace or telecommunications industries would benefit from the small wideband planar antennas.
Dustfall Column Test
Commercialization Award: Best Overall Disclosure
Inventors: Dr's. Billy Connor and David Barnes
This award represents the best overall innovation disclosure for the 2022 - 2023 academic year. It was developed by Billy Connor, Director of the Arctic Infrastructure Development Center, and David Barnes, Research Professor with the Water and Environmental Research Center. Together they built and prototyped a tabletop dust fall column to test the efficacy of dust palliatives in road dust management to improve the quality of life of those living along gravel roads. The innovation is the first test method of its kind that predicts the performance of dust palliatives applied to the road surface. The Alaska Department of Transportation has adopted the test methodology as a standard for the evaluation of dust palliatives (Alaska Test Method 316). Several palliative suppliers from across the US have tested their products using the Dust Column with others expressing interest.
Plier Tool for Small Form Factor Pluggable
Creative Award: Best Staff Disclosure
Inventor: Timothy Illguth
This award represents the best staff-led disclosure for the 2023 - 2024 academic year. Timothy Illguth was responsible for managing satellite communications with NASA's Near Earth Network, which extends its operations to support missions as far as Mars, now he is the founder of Golden Heart Innovations. Illguth designed specialized pliers tailored for engaging and disengaging cable connectors in fiber optic applications addressing the limitations of traditional needle nose pliers.
Magnetometer Enclosure
Young Innovator Award (formerly: Nanook Award)
Inventor: Jonah Barkley-Griggs
This award represents the best innovation disclosure for the 2023- 2024 academic year by an undergraduate student. It was developed by physics department student Jonah Barkley-Griggs with guidance and advice from Dr. Dogacan Ozturk, Masters student Austin Cohen, and Dr. Don Hampton. Barkley-Griggs designed a 3D printable vessel for housing Reeve Engineers' magnetometer kit, including sensors and electronics. The open-access design emphasizes accessibility and collaboration to increase understanding of geomagnetically induced currents.
Winners for the 2021 - 2022 academic year were handed out at the September 28th 2022 ICEJam event. All IDEA winners were recognized for their disclosed innovative approaches to research, teaching, and service. The winners highlighted the diversity of disclosed innovations during the past academic year, 2021 – 2022.
Commercialization Award: Best Overall
Fuel Inventory Monitoring System and Method
Inventors: William Thomson and Robert Bensin
This award represents the most overall innovation disclosure for the 2021 – 2022 academic year. It was developed by William Thomson (Project Lead) and Robert Bensin (Senior Research Engineer) on behalf of the Alaska Center for Energy and Power. Together they built and prototyped a fuel inventory management system that allows for the remote measurement and management of fuel containers. Such an innovation increases fuel efficiency and management for remote communities and users.
Inspiration Award: Best Faculty
Mariculture Site Assessment Toolkit
Inventors: Dr. Schery Umanzor
This award represents the best faculty disclosure for the 2021 – 2022 academic year. It was developed by Schery Umanzor, Assistant professor at the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. Dr. Umanzor developed a toolkit and accompanying handbook that enables the precise assessment of maritime condition for seaweed growth. Umanzor’s innovation was developed as part of Alaska ICE Seed Fund to commercialize innovation and is currently being licensed to an external party. Through it, Umanzor directly expanded the capacities of maritime aquaculture farming both in and outside of Alaska.
Long-Term Uninterruptible Power Supply
Inventors: Jay Helmericks and Lukas Blom
This award represents the best staff innovation disclosure for the 2021 – 2022 academic year. It was developed by Jay Helmericks (Lead Engineer) and Lukas Blom (Operations Manager), both staff at the Wilson Alaska Technical Center. Together they developed an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to provide backup power on the order of days for electronic system during main source outages. Previous solutions were lacking reliability and durability inconsistent with customer needs. Blom and Helmericks’ innovation directly solves and improves long-term UPS for remote communities.
Tomorrow's Innovator Award: Best Graduate Student(s)
Forecasting Residential Energy Consumption
Inventors: Chinmay Shah
This award represents the best graduate student disclosure for the 2021 – 2022 academic year. It was developed by Chinmay Shah, PhD Candidate at UAF’s College of Electrical Engineering. Dr. Shah built a residential power load forecasting technique that reduces the amount of data required for artificial intelligence to improve efficiency in power distribution network systems. Through it, he improved the deep learning training times for residential appliance modeling and the ease of energy management for arctic residents.
Nanook Award: Best Undergraduate Student(s)
Machine Learning Models for Solar Wind Data Gaps
Inventors: Jasmine Kobayashi, Dogacan Ozturk, and Hyunju Conner
This award represents the best innovation disclosure for the 2021 – 2022 academic year by an Undergraduate student. It was developed by Jasmine Kobayashi, Undergraduate Research Assistant, Dogacan Ozturk, and Hynuju Connor (both Assistant Research Professors) on behalf of the Geophysical Institute. Kobayashi developed different interpolation methods that resulted in the lowest root mean square error for data gaps between 30 to 60 minutes of NASA Dataset. This innovation impacts and directly contributes to NASA data modeling of solar winds and auroras.
Impact Award: Best socially impactful disclosure
Isotopic Fingerprinting of Opioids
Inventors: Matthew Wooller
This award represents the most socially impactful disclosure for the 2021 – 2022 academic year. It was developed by Matthew Wooller, Professor at the UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences Alaska Stable Isotope Facility. Dr. Wooller proposed to build a national isotopic database that captures the unique “fingerprint” of opioid drugs, both prescribed and illicit. Such a database will allow for the track-and-trace of opioid drugs, increasing visibility of drug movement and the tracing of potentially illegal opioid suppliers.
Winners for the 2020 - 2021 academic year were handed out at the September 28th 2021 ICEJam event. All IDEA winners were recognized for their disclosed innovative approaches to research, teaching, and service. The winners highlighted the diversity of disclosed innovations during the past academic year, 2020 – 2021.
Commercialization Award: Best Overall
Anticholinergic Formulation and Method
Inventors: Dr. Kelly Drew and Dr. Bernard Laughlin
This award represents the best invention disclosure for the 2020 – 2021 academic year. It was developed by Dr. Kelly Drew, UAF Institute of Arctic Biology and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Dr. Bernard Laughlin, UAF Institute of Arctic Biology. The invention is based on drug discovery research and centers on the combination of 3 drug classes that show synergy in control over metabolic rate, heart rate, and blood pressure. The formulation and method has applications for cardiac arrest, stroke, and space travel.
Inspiration Award: Best Faculty
Multiple Temperature Borehole Fluid Sampler
Inventor: Dr. Geoffrey Wheat
This award represents the best Faculty-led disclosure for the 2020 – 2021 academic year. This was developed by Dr. Wheat, University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. Temperatures at oceanic boreholes may reach extremely high levels (~190oC) and so new samplers are needed to study in situ conditions of these boreholes. The innovation, the Multi-Temperature Fluid Sampler (MTFS), is a syringe-style fluid sampler that employs thermal response of shape memory alloys. Multiple samples may be taken at varying temperature ranges, with applications in scientific research and petroleum discovery.
Hydrostatic Fuel Vent
Inventor: Gabriel C. Dunham
This award represents the best Staff-led disclosure for the 2020 – 2021 academic year. This was developed by University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences's Gabriel C. Dunham. Gabriel is the Marine Advisory Program Lead based in Juneau, Alaska. Commercial boats may sink and cause contamination from fuel leaks and so Gabriel developed a device capable of retrofit to automatically close off fuel vents from release to a body of water. This innovation prevents contamination and pollution from marine accidents.
Tomorrow’s Innovator Award: Best Graduate Student(s) and Post-doctoral Researcher(s)
Social Vulnerability Indices for Alaska Block Groups
Inventor: Dr. John Harley
This award represents the best graduate students and post-doctoral researcher-led disclosure for the 2020 – 2021 academic year. This was developed by University of Alaska Southeast's Dr. John Harely. This innovation out of Center ICE's Immediate Innovation for Coronavirus Project request for proposals. CDC maps risk for communities to COVID-19 and other communicable diseases through social vulnerability indices (SVIs) and Dr. Harley saw a need to develop equations and interactive map to calculate SVIs for fine-scale variation in Alaskan distribution of people and to identify at-risk populations.
Young Innovator Award: Best Undergraduate Student(s)
Dynamic Arctic Wastewater Connection and Testing Rig
Inventor: Russell Buckholz, Jason Gresehover, Michaela Jackson, Uziel Perez, and Cate Whiting
This award represents the best UAF and UAS undergraduate student(s)-led disclosure for the 2020– 2021 academic year. This was developed by University of Alaska Fairbanks undergraduate team of Russell Buckholz, Jason Gresehover, Michaela Jackson, Uziel Perez, and Cate Whiting. This innovation was developed by the student team from their civil engineering senior design and research project. Arctic communities are prone to unpredictable shifting of soil due to climatic conditions such as permafrost and heaving. Wastewater lines are susceptible to breakage resulting from permafrost warming, ground settlement, or subsidence. Research team developed a wastewater connection that accommodates movement as a result of settlement and subsidence
Winners for the 2019 – 2020 academic year were handed out at the September 16th 2020 Innovation and Entrepreneurship event as part of UAF Honors College. All IDEA winners were recognized for their disclosed innovative approaches to research, teaching, and service. The winners highlighted the diversity of disclosed innovations during the past academic year, 2019 – 2020.
Commercialization Award: Best Overall
Vertical Comet: A Novel Electrophoresis Assay
Inventors: Dr. Andrej Podlusky and Robert Williams
This award represents the best invention disclosure from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and the University of Alaska Southeast for the 2019 – 2020 academic year. It was developed by Dr. Andrej Podlutsky, UAF Institute of Arctic Biology and Department of Biology and Wildlife and Mr. Robert Williams, UAF graduate student. The invention is used for the detection of fragments of DNA due to damage or potentially intentional DNA manipulation. Their solution to the problem of interlab variability of results by eliminating the need for the imaging and analysis phases. Their innovation has been submitted as a U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/078,853 : Electrophoresis Array. Research supported by National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.
Personal Protective Equipment Mask: Emission Testing Methodology
Inventors: Dr. Orion Lawlor and Dayne Broderson
This award represents the best invention disclosure from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) for the 2019 – 2020 academic year. It was developed by Dr. Orion Lawlor, UAF College of Engineering and Mines, and Mr. Dayne Broderson, UAF Alaska Center for Energy and Power. Their invention is an enhanced PPE testing method to introduce emissions and test fit and fabric. A three-dimensional model developed to mount and tesk masks and quantitativel measure particle emission during respiration. The innovation was developed as part of Immediate Innovation for Coronavirus Project, with funding support from University of Alaska Center for Innovation, Commercialization, and Entrepreneurship and Office of Naval Research .
Spike Award: Best UAS: None for 2019 – 2020 academic year.
Inspiration Award: Best Faculty
Spruce Sap Extrusion Wax
Inventors: Prof. Wendy Croskrey, Dr. William Howard, Dan LaSota, and Christen Bouffard
This award represents the best Faculty-led disclosure from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) for the 2019 – 2020 academic year. This was developed by Prof. Croskrey, University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) College of Liberal Arts. Locally resourced spruce pitch wax was used to replace the petroleum-based models for use in molding and casting and to build sustainable products. Prof. Croskrey developed the innovation as part of UAF Chancellor’s Innovation in Technology and E-learning (CITE) Program as a 2018 - 2019 Fellow. The invention built recipes for wax casting and filament extrusion to enable students to modify local resources for their working practices.
ORCA – Onsite Realtime Collection and Acquisition
Inventors: Michelle Wilber, Edward Toal, Alan Mitchell, Dayne Broderson, Ben Loeffler, Erin Whitney, and Chris Pike
This award represents the best Staff-led disclosure from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) for the 2019 – 2020 academic year. This was developed by University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP) Research Engineer Michelle Wilber and her team. ORCA is an affordable plug-and-play technology to obtain power generation data from remote powerhouses. The invention will aid communities in the development and effective integration of renewable energy.
Tomorrow’s Innovator Award: Best Student and Post-doctoral Researcher(s)
Laminar Liquid Microjet Spectroscopy Cavity
Inventors: Jonathan Kamler
This award represents the best UAF and UAS students and post-doctoral researcher-led disclosure for the 2019 – 2020 academic year. This was developed by University of Alaska Fairbanks PhD student Jonathan Kamler. With the invention, waterjet acts as a waveguide to deliver the laser energy. It can detect very low concentrations of contaminants, such as PFAS, in water. The liquid Raman spectroscopy approach is on par with the sensitivity of HPLC or LCMS. The invention reduces cost and improve sample processing speed.
Winners for the 2018 – 2019 academic year were handed out at the April 26th Innovation Day at the BP Design Theater on the 4th floor of the Engineering Learning and Innovation Facility.
Commercialization Award: Best Overall
Arctic Dual Hood for Heat Recovery Ventilation
Inventors: Dr. Tom Marsik, Riley Bickford, and Dr. Rorik Peterson
This award represents the best invention disclosure from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and the University of Alaska Southeast. This work was supported by Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC) and Office of Naval Research and through collaborations between CCHRC and UAF College of Engineering and Mines student and faculty. Dr. Marsik is the Research Director for the Cold Climate Housing Research Center and has a joint position with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he serves as an Associate Professor of Sustainable Energy for the UAF Bristol Bay Campus and Alaska Center for Energy and Power. Riley Bickford is undergraduate mechanical engineering student as well as an employee of CCHRC and Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP). Dr. Rorik Peterson is an Associate Professor in UAF’s College of Engineering and Mines (CEM).
MyoEon 1 - Complete nutrition for ideal body composition, functional capacity and metabolic health
Inventors: Prof. Robert (Trey) Coker, Robert Wolfe, and Freddy Wolfe (both at Essential Blends)
This invention was developed under a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Small Business Innovative Research grant and consists of a meal replacement that provides free form, vegan-sourced amino acids to protect muscle during weight loss. Its profile overcomes anabolic resistance in the elderly at the molecular transcription and translation sites of muscle protein. Dr. Coker is an Associate Professor of Biology: Clinical Nutrition and Exercise Physiology at the Institute of Arctic Biology (IAB) and the Department of Biology and Wildlife in the College of Natural Science and Mathematics (CNSM). Trey is co-owner and managing partner of Essential Blends, LLC with co-founders Dr. Robert and Freddy Wolfe.
Nematode Biosensor for Shellfish toxin home kit
Inventors: Dr. Matthew R. Pawlus and Shane Bennett
This project was developed as part of a collaboration between Dr. Pawlus and undergraduate Shane Bennett supported through a Biomedical Learning and Student Training (BLaST) grant. Current algal toxin testing methods for shellfish are inefficient, inconvenient, and cost-prohibitive for recreational/subsistence shellfish gatherers. There is a need for a simple, inexpensive, portable, method of detecting toxins in shellfish is necessary for consumer health. “Low-tech” nematode bioassays using C. elegans are an incredibly sensitive and inexpensive way to detect a variety of harmful toxins quickly in shellfish tissue. The team constructed a home-based kit based on C. elegans bioassays can promote the recreational and subsistence use of shellfish and increase food security in remote regions of coastal Alaska. Dr. Pawlus as an Assistant Professor of Science at the Ketchikan Campus of the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) and Shane Bennett is an UAF/UAS undergraduate environmental engineering student.
Inspiration Award: Best Faculty
BlueH2 - Ocean Carbon Capture Reactor
Inventor: Dr. Andrew McDonnell
Dr. McDonnell is an Associate Professor of Chemical Oceanography in the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS). His research focuses on ocean biogeochemical cycles, marine particle dynamics, ocean acidification, oceanographic optics, and Alaska’s blue economy. His invention focused on a modular apparatus for the electrolytic production of hydrogen, oxygen, and alkalinized seawater for use in energy and industrial applications.
Universal Payload Mount for Griffon SeaHunter
Inventor: Sam Jeffries
This was for the best invention disclosure from UAF and UAS staff. The winner was Sam Jeffries, a mechanical engineer at Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI) in the Geophysical Institute (GI), UAF. Sam developed an engineering mount for the Griffon SeaHunter unmanned aircraft system to integrate variety of payloads for scientific data collection and operational missions. This invention eliminates the need to make a new mount for every new payload for the large UAS, SeaHunter.
Tomorrow’s Innovator Award: Best Student and Post-doctoral Researcher(s)
Inventors: Riley Bickford, Cory Florence, Sam Kendall, and David Woo
This was for the best invention disclosure from UAF and UAS students and post-doctoral researchers. The invention, Avy Pouch, was a collaborative venture with Entrepreneur Ray Huot and UAF students Riley Bickford, Cory Florence, Sam Kendall, and David Woo and was part of the UA Community Challenge. The students, all avid backcountry users and UAF mechanical engineering seniors, developed a new avalanche airbag system, an alternative design to Ray’s. The future of this student-designed Avy Pouch is currently being determined and may help Ray towards his goals. The invention consists of a Universal harness allows for attachment to any backpack, weighs 5.5 lbs. and is Designed to meet the European Avalanche Airbag Standards