BLACKSBURG, Va., Feb. 6, 2007 – A new industry affiliates program will improve business access to information and students from the Space Science and Engineering Center at Virginia Tech.
The Virginia Tech Space Science and Engineering Center (VSSEC) received $805,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in early 2005 to create an interdisciplinary center for space research in the College of Engineering. Wayne Scales of Blacksburg, Va., professor in electrical and computer engineering, and Joseph J. Wang of Blacksburg, Va., associate professor in aerospace and ocean engineering, are the leaders of the initiative, which is based in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering.
The Virginia Tech Space Science and Engineering Center research involves investigation of the physics of the earth’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere. The associated physical processes are driven by charged particles emanating from the sun in the form of a solar wind, which produces so-called space weather. The aurora borealis is one of the most visible manifestations. Space weather phenomenon adversely affects spacecraft, satellites, and astronauts as well as communication, navigation, and power systems on Earth. VSSEC research therefore supports various spacecraft engineering and technology development projects. The Virginia Tech Space Science and Engineering Center also supports research and teaching in Virginia Tech's nationally known programs in wireless telecommunications, power systems engineering, remote sensing, advanced space propulsion, and spacecraft dynamics and control.
The affiliate program will offer two levels of partnership to private companies who seek a working relationship with VSSEC students and faculty members. Level I partners will be provided early access to research results from research sponsored by the affiliate program, and may participate in non-confidential discussions with faculty members about VSSEC research.
VSSEC will provide specific assistance with student recruiting and will assist partners in establishing a graduate co-op program through the university. Individual partners may support a VSSEC graduate student through a fellowship program, which could include membership on the student’s thesis or dissertation committee and summer internships for the student at the partner’s business.
Level II partners have these same benefits, plus early access to intellectual property. Level II partners have three months to decide whether they want a nonexclusive, royalty-free, nontransferable license for internal, noncommercial use of an invention, or whether they want to negotiate a nonexclusive, nontransferable, royalty-bearing license for commercial use.
VPT Inc. in Blacksburg, Va. has signed up as the first industry member of the partnership program. VPT Inc. designs and manufactures electronic power converters used in satellite applications and is also a member of the Virginia Tech Center for Power Electronic Systems (CPES) industry-university affiliate program. According to Dan Sable, president of VPT Inc. and chairman of the Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) of the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, "Such programs provide support for education and research and help advance the industry by transferring information through the employment of students who are not only skilled, but attuned to an industry segment's interests and needs. As a side benefit, it trains future electrical, computer and aerospace engineers in the use of VPT products for space applications."
For more information about VSSEC and the affiliates program, contact Wayne Scales at 540-231-5622 or Joseph J. Wang at 540-231-8114.