Greetings!

James Rankin

Greetings from the vice provost for research and economic development.

I hope that you enjoy The Arkansas Catalyst, the second monthly newsletter from the office of research and economic development.

The newsletter will be used to highlight exciting research and economic development activities on the University of Arkansas campus.

This issue features BiologicsMD, a promising U of A-affiliated company at the Arkansas Research and Technology Park, highlights a collaborative study by engineers at the U of A and Virginia Tech University, and showcases the vitality U of A’s technology licensing office.

Each month will feature university researchers, and new research funding. The newsletter will introduce you to staff in different office departments, including research support and sponsored programs, research compliance, technology licensing and the Arkansas Research and Technology Park. We will also use the newsletter to announce new researcher tools.

The office of research and economic development is working to enhance the university research enterprise, including multi-disciplinary research. Future newsletters will also focus on the six interdisciplinary research strengths at the U of A: health, energy and environment, nanoscience and engineering, supply chain logistics and transportation, food safety, and American art, architecture and the humanities.

We hope that this newsletter will be useful to the research community. If you have suggestions on topics that should be included, please let us know.

Sincerely,

Jim Rankin
Vice Provost for Research and Economic Development

Study Proposes Physical Internet

Russ Meller, University of Arkansas

The Physical Internet — a concept in which goods are handled, stored and transported in a shared network of manufacturers, retailers and the transportation industry — would benefit the U.S. economy and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study by engineers at the U of A and Virginia Tech.

If 25 percent of the U.S. supply chain operated with such an interconnected system, profits for participating firms would increase by $100 billion and carbon dioxide emissions from road-based freight would decrease by at least 33 percent.

Learn More

Technology Licensing Office

The university’s technology licensing office, a part of the office of the vice provost for research, is ideally situated to help U of A researchers move their discoveries from the lab to the marketplace. The office works in cooperation with the office of research support and sponsored programs and the University of Arkansas Technology Development Foundation. It also has close ties with Innovate Arkansas and includes a technology start-up entrepreneur and a patent attorney with nearly 20 years’ experience.

Lisa Childs, associate vice provost for research and economic development, said, “Our team is here to help U of A researchers leverage their world-class research into commercial applications, with the idea that we need to do what we can to grow the knowledge economy here in Arkansas for the benefit of the world.”

More about the office