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Geomechanics research group receives NSF I-Corps funding
November 19, 2021 - By Kim Delker
A research group in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at The University of New Mexico has received National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) funding to develop and market a new material invented at UNM.
Graduate students Ishtiaque Anwar and Mahya Hatambeigi, under the advisement of Professor John Stormont, are leading the project called “ESolv – a low-cost, non-toxic material for inexpensively sealing micro-cracks with a novel colloidal mix using ion migration technique.”
The patent-pending technology is the third invention from geomechanics lab in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering that has been awarded NSF innovation I-Corps funds.
Anwar and Hatambeigi also presented at the Fall 2021 UNM Rainforest Pitch Competition and received first runner up for the ESolv project.
The NSF I-Corps program uses experiential education to help researchers gain insight into entrepreneurship, starting a business, or industry requirements and challenges. Through I-Corps training, researchers can reduce the time to translate a promising idea from the laboratory to the marketplace, engaging with industry; talking to customers, partners and competitors; and encountering the uncertainty and excitement of creating successful innovations. The primary goal is to take innovations out of the university laboratory to explore the commercial potential.