Posts Tagged ‘Department of Energy’

Article courtesy of the NMSU News Center

By Janet Perez

The business of ensuring the nation’s security has evolved into a vast and intimidating industry, but that doesn’t mean entrepreneurs and innovative researchers are shut out of the field.

The 2011 National Security Technology Conference & Expo, hosted by New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Center, is committed to helping entrepreneurs and researchers create networks, get valuable advice about venture capital and log face time with representatives from some of the biggest names in national security.

“This conference and expo will provide a venue for technology entrepreneurs and researchers to network with and learn from federal agencies, contractors and venture capitalists,” said Garrey Carruthers, dean of the NMSU College of Business and vice president for economic development.

The conference, sponsored by the Arrowhead Technology Incubator in support of a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration, takes place Sept. 12 at the Las Cruces Convention Center, 680 E. University Ave.

Kathy Hansen, chief operating officer of the Arrowhead Center, said the conference aims to bring technologies being developed in labs to the attention of commercial ventures, as well as take technologies being developed by small businesses and expose them to potential customers.

One small business ready to make its National Security Technology Conference & Expo debut is the Navitus Group, a current client of the Arrowhead Technology Incubator. Josh Kauffman, the CEO and chief technology officer of Navitus, has developed a battery management system that is capable of handling high-current loads. The system also is constantly monitoring and maintaining the battery, which can make it stronger and increase performance.

With a booth at the expo, this is the first time Kauffman and Navitus are taking on the role of vendors.

“I’m usually on the other side – the guy walking around looking at other companies and their technologies,” he said. “The exposure and the clientele that are going to be walking through this conference are just too much not to be there.”

Small businesses will have booths at the expo alongside major entities, such as Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Hansen hopes small businesses and researchers in the region will take advantage of the exposure the expo offers as a way of bringing attention to their products.

“Many times, smaller businesses have a hard time knocking on the door and getting into DOD (Department of Defense) or DOE,” she said. “One speaker will talk about how DOD and DOE need to go to technology incubators such as Arrowhead in order to get access to those technologies being developed by small businesses.”

This year, the organizers of the National Security Technology Conference & Expo have opted to focus the event on the fields of cyber security, energy and aerospace.

“We tried to pick the areas that were the hottest topics, and energy is hot and certainly we have local businesses and researchers at NMSU involved in that,” Hansen said.

Also this year, a group of private investors and venture capitalists will be on hand to discuss what business sectors and technologies they are interested in funding.

“That’s very important, because a lot of ideas and technologies die for lack of that funding.” Hansen said. “Of course, the venture capitalists are usually later-stage funding. They are going to be funding technologies that look like they have near-term commercial potential.”

Kauffman understands all too well the importance of venture capital funding. His company already has received an initial investment of $200,000 and he credits the incubator at Arrowhead, particularly Chris Penner, director of business incubation, for helping him reach that milestone.

“I don’t have any doubt that the incubator has helped tremendously,” Kauffman said, “I think we would have gotten there eventually, but I think the incubator has accelerated that – and I’m talking accelerated by years.”

That statement underlines Hansen’s assertion that business incubators are a vital part of the economy.

“There is a much higher success rate for businesses that have been incubated than those that have not,” Hansen said. “Of course, our end goal is to grow the region, do economic development here and try to grow the number of jobs.”

For more information on attending or purchasing a booth at the 2011 National Security Technology Conference & Expo, visit arrowheadcenter.org.

Article courtesy of NMSU News Center

Writer: Jay Rodman, 575-646-1996, jrodman@nmsu.edu

New Mexico State University photo

New Mexico State University is significantly expanding its capacity to accomplish critical algal biofuel research with the recent installation of a new photobioreactor system from Solix BioSystems at the university’s Fabian Garcia Research Center in Las Cruces. The system promises to accelerate the university’s emergence as a leader in this important research area.

“Energy security and sustainability are global challenges,” said Vimal Chaitanya, vice president for research at NMSU. “With the demand for energy in developing nations projected to far outweigh that in the industrialized nations, it is critical to develop clean-energy options. Otherwise, developing countries will have no choice but to implement ‘business-as-usual’ approaches to energy production, with serious negative impacts on the global environment.

“We are happy to be engaged in developing approaches that will not only grow the local economy in New Mexico, but will maintain U.S. leadership in the global environment and energy security while reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil.”

Funds to purchase the system came from a recent $2.3 million U.S. Air Force grant. Long range operational costs will be covered by a $49 million Department of Energy grant that established the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts consortium.

The Solix BioSystems Lumian AGS4000 is an algae cultivation system with a 4,000-liter production capacity that allows faster and denser production of algae than open “raceway” systems. In the new photobioreactor, algae culture will grow in enclosed panels suspended in an open 61-by-11-foot water filled basin. Control of various factors, such as temperature, carbon dioxide content and nutrient supply, is very precise and the panels are designed to optimize solar exposure. The result is a system that can accelerate the rate of carbon dioxide absorption, and therefore the rate of algae growth, up to 10 times the rate of raceways and can produce up to three times the density of algae per liter of water.

“The NMSU team plans to experiment with algae cultivation using the high performance AGS4000 to produce improved algal ‘seed’ culture for cultivation ‘scale-up’ in less expensive raceway systems,” said Peter Lammers, NMSU research professor and technical director of the university’s Algal Bioenergy Program. “Optimizing those steps will allow us to develop cultivation practices for both improved control of ‘weedy’ algae and maximizing oil content.”

Solix engineers, working with NMSU researchers and facilities personnel, completed the initial setup of the complex system April 8. Lammers said the system should be fully operational sometime in May.

In the context of NMSU’s multifaceted algal research agenda, the photobioreactor has a dual purpose, Lammers said. Not only will it help answer major research questions about how best to raise algae in the southern New Mexico climate, it will assume an expanding role as a production facility.

The standardized algal biomass it generates will be used for research on algal oil extraction and fuel conversion technologies, as well as the development of algal co-products such as high-protein animal or fish meal and fish-oil replacements.

“The economics of algae-derived fuel will be very difficult without generating revenue from every portion of the algae biomass,” Lammers said.

Among the researchers in four NMSU colleges whose work will be supported by the new system are Wiebke J. Boeing, Shanna Ivey, Tanner Schaub and Adrian Unc in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; Meghan Starbuck in the College of Business; Wayne Van Voorhies in the College of Arts and Sciences; and Shuguang Deng and Nirmala Khandan in the College of Engineering.

The Lumian AGS4000 will help researchers answer many critical questions, including: What varieties of saltwater algae thrive in southern New Mexico? What combination of factors will optimize their lipid content? Can industrial carbon dioxide and brackish water be used in their cultivation? Can municipal and/or agricultural waste be used as nutrients? What is the best way to extract the lipid content of the algae and refine it into fuel? How can the production process be engineered to make it economically viable? Can the non-lipid biomass be used to feed livestock? Can water from the Solix system be used to irrigate certain plants?

For more information about NMSU’s role in the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts, visit research.nmsu.edu/naabb.

The 2^nd Annual National Security Technology Conference will be held at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces on March 2-4, 2010.  The conference is hosted by the National Security Technology Incubator (NSTI) operated by the Arrowhead Center at New Mexico State University. NSTI is funded by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration division. NSTI promotes the development of new and expanding technology business in New Mexico.

The conference will introduce companies to major contractors and government decision makers working in the national security sectors. Panels will address various teaming arrangements and potential funding opportunities, and includes a classified session on cyber security. If you are a technology company wishing to do business in this region’s billion dollar industry, you should plan on attending and/or exhibiting.

Detailed information including the conference agenda, speakers and contractors attending, and registration information is available on the NSTI conference website.