UT at Chattanooga mini-grants help researchers bridge the gap from concept to prototype
“This is where the risk is highest. We’re stepping in and saying, ‘We believe in you. Take it as far as you can,'" said UTC's Harris Chair of Excellence in Entrepreneurship.
Small, early grants often determine whether a research idea gains momentum. At the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), that support comes from the MOCS Innovate! Harris Chair Seed Fund for Innovation. The mini grant program, now in its fifth year, helps UTC researchers turn early concepts into real inventions.
Dr. Thomas Lyons, the Harris Chair of Excellence in Entrepreneurship, created the program to give faculty the guidance and early funding they previously lacked. This year, five researchers received awards of $3,500 to $4,000 to advance projects that are typically too risky for traditional investors.
“This comes out of an intentional effort on the part of several of us to create a research commercialization program here at UTC,” said Dr. Lyons. “Six years ago, there was no such program. We were seeing researchers struggling with what they were supposed to do.”
The 2026 awardees include:
- Megan Cales, who is refining the Brooks Band, a wearable device that gives discreet haptic feedback to help individuals regulate voice volume.
- Dr. Medhi Khaleghian, who is developing a multispectral drone system to improve data collection in urban and agricultural environments.
- Dr. Shahnewaz Karim Sakib, who is building an AI platform that automates course design, rubrics, and accreditation alignment to reduce faculty workload.
- Dr. Maged Shoman, who is testing a network of mobile microhubs and delivery robots aimed at solving the expensive last mile of grocery delivery.
- Dr. Weidong Wu, who is creating a web-based system that automates ABET assessment reporting and produces ready-to-submit documents.
The program also funds student roles in the Rollins College of Business to help researchers with customer discovery and market research. Awardees can present their progress at UTC’s Spring Research and Arts Conference.
Lyons said the goal is to help researchers move forward during the most uncertain phase of innovation and learn how to create value.
“This is where the risk is highest,” he said. “We’re stepping in and saying, ‘We believe in you. Take it as far as you can.’”
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