JCATI Awards Press Release, FY 2012-2013
January 31, 2013
For more information, contact:
- Mehran Mesbahi, Executive Director, Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation at mesbahi@uw.edu
- Timothy Stevens, Board Chair, Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation at tstevens@triumphgroup.com
Research Center Promotes Washington Aerospace Industry Innovation
"New Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation awards $1.24 million in grants to fund university/industry collaboration"
SEATTLE— The Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation (JCATI) announced today that it has awarded 16 projects a total $1.24 million to solve technological questions important to the Washington aerospace industry in its first round of grant awards. In its first round of grants, the newly established JCATI Board of Directors chose projects from a variety of aerospace-related technological challenges, ranging from how to improve the performance of composite materials to how to measure snowpack from an unmanned aerial vehicle.
“We received 58 proposals totaling $4.4 million,” said Timothy Stevens, Chair of the JCATI Board of Directors and CEO of Triumph Composites in Spokane. “The Board was impressed by the quantity and quality of the applications.”
“I am so impressed that in its first round of grant applications, this new research center was able to attract so many high quality proposals,” said Governor Jay Inslee. “This demonstrates the tremendous appetite within Washington’s aerospace industry to innovate. I am very pleased that we now have a mechanism to match companies up with the rich resources available at our state’s universities.”
The 2012 Legislature adopted SSB 5982 establishing the Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation (JCATI) at the University of Washington and Washington State University to pursue joint industry-university research that can be used by aerospace firms. The grant process was open to any of the state’s six baccalaureate institutions, however. The JCATI’s gubernatorially appointed nine-member board rated the proposals on technical/scientific merit, relevance to the Washington aerospace industry, matching funds or in-kind support from industry, feasibility of completion before the end of the current biennium, and plans for longevity beyond the grant period. One of the 16 selected projects came from Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., where researchers are collaborating with aircraft interiors supplier Zodiac Aerospace to identify the cause and find solutions for excessive warping in the manufacturing of composite materials panels.
“This is a real problem for us. Western has the equipment and the brains that can help us figure out a solution,” said James Del Pinto, vice president of research and engineering for Zodiac Aerospace. “Given Zodiac’s large presence in Washington, it is only natural that we would look to the state’s universities to help us solve our technological questions. We anticipate this will lead to future collaborations and, hopefully, even better Zodiac products.”
The JCATI Board is already beginning work on its second round of grant funds which will be made available in late 2013.
For more information about the JCATI, visit jcati.org.
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