Indiana State University Newsroom

Thanks to a National Science Foundation grant, faculty at Indiana State University developed software to help engineering and technology students improve their diagnostic skills. Now a second grant from the same organization will help promote opportunities to achieve more widespread use of the tool.

The foundation's Innovation Corps for Learning (I-Corps L) Program provides researchers and educators with additional support - in the form of mentoring and funding - to accelerate projects that can attract third-party funding. The latest grant will provide a team in Indiana State's College of Technology with training needed to make a clear "go or no go decision" regarding the software's scalability and sustainability, a transition plan - if the decision is made to move forward - and demonstration of the technology for potential partners.

"This is exciting research with real-world potential for more efficient system diagnosis in the increasingly complex field of heavy industry," said Robert English, dean of the College of Technology. "We are proud of our faculty and staff for securing not one, but two National Science Foundation grants in support of this important work."

"The goal of this grant is to form and implement a strategy to scale our prior project using the business model and entrepreneurial approach of building start-ups", said Yuetong Lin, principle investigator for the research and associate professor of electronics and computer engineering technology.
Jason Dean, the entrepreneurial lead of the team, said, "We went through a very rigorous process of customer discovery in a seven-week period, and ended up as the only team in this I-Corps L cohort to target industry, instead of academia, non-profit organizations, or government agencies, for support in expanding our innovation."

Indiana State's presentation, which included a video, drew praise from a tough audience - other educators and researchers from 26 institutions - during a National Science Foundation workshop in Washington, D.C. Aug. 24-25. Peers described the software as "a great product" that can help industry, especially smaller firms, address the need for "walking around knowledge" and help manufacturers who would be "in big trouble" if they lost even a few talented employees.

Other team members are A. Mehran Shahhosseini, associate professor of mechanical engineering technology, M. Affan Badar, professor of mechanical engineering technology, and Tad Foster, professor of human resources development.

Video: https://youtu.be/Eua2_PYo0dA

Contact: Yuetong Lin, associate professor of electronics and computer engineering technology, College of Technology, Indiana State University, 812-237-3399 or yuetong.lin@indstate.edu

Writer: Dave Taylor, media relations director, Office of Communications and Marketing, Indiana State University, 812-237-3743 or dave.taylor@indstate.edu