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The University of New Haven, with its internationally recognized faculty researchers, is well on the way to becoming a strong research institution.

The state of Connecticut, with its wealth of industries — including aerospace, defense, finance, insurance, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, and healthcare, and the people who run them — is a success story, but to maintain its success, it needs to be constantly fed with new innovations that are commercialized.

Do the parties of the first part interact with the parties of the second part? Not so much, unless they meet at a party.

It’s a situation begging to be remedied, and that’s just what a recently awarded National Science Foundation grant is being earmarked to do.

Led by Ron Harichandran, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, Dean of the Tagliatela College of Engineering; Ganesh Balasubramanian, Ph.D., Lambrakis associate professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering; and Chris Standish, executive director of Research Administration, the three-year, $400,000 grant — (EPIIC) — will be used to introduce faculty in emerging technology areas to stakeholders in specific companies, other universities, and community organizations that are related to the faculty members’ disciplines.

We’re talking actual contacts, and the faculty will then be incentivized to keep these relationships going through fellowships.

The University of New Haven is part of a five-institution cohort that will benefit from EPIIC. Bradley University, Pennsylvania State University - Harrisburg, Widener University, and Wilkes University are the other members of the cohort, with each receiving $400,000 over three years. Several other cohorts around the country will also begin their EPIIC journey, with each cohort addressing its own particular needs for innovation and research.

With EPIIC funds, the University of New Haven will develop its capacity for technology transfer, bringing its research to practice through engagement with industry and commercialization. The Office of Advancement and the Career Development Center will support faculty to engage with regional companies to showcase University research. Through the creation of marketing tools for outreach, and infrastructure for technology-transfer management, EPIIC will lay the foundation for new and exciting growth at the University, as well as possible new revenue streams.

The grant dovetails perfectly with the plans to renovate a 130,000 square-foot commercial space adjacent to campus to become a pioneering Center for Innovation and Applied Technology. This initiative will bring together companies and students for groundbreaking collaboration and innovation.

Connecticut: Get ready for an EPIIC economic boost.