Street smarts

The University of Nevada, Reno is not just about teaching students.

External service which often translates into service to business and industry accounts for about 10 percent of its faculty's work.

"We get calls from individual inventors," says Dr.Allen Gates, a professor and interim chairman in UNR's mechanical engineering department."We meet with them to see if an idea is viable, or violates the laws of physics."

For instance, Gates put together a team to evaluate the power ascender, a battery-powered device to aid climbers developed by Bonanza Products, a subsidiary of Quoin International Inc.

in Carson City.

Cathy Jacobson, chief executive officer of Bonanza Products, says the company was drawn by the availability of facilities at UNR for testing of composites used in the ascender.

"We're going to hire the Department of Mechanical Engineering for further work," she says."As professors, they go to seminars and stay abreast of all the latest products and techniques."

Plus, she says,"We work with young interns who are potential employees.

It's a win-win-win situation all the way around." Haws Corp., a Sparks-based manufacturer of drinking fountains and other water systems, turned to Dr.

Dean Adams, director of environmental engineering at the department of civil engineering, for consulting help on water purification while designing a product that is still in the development process, says Michael Traynor, chairman.

"His assistance got us going," says Traynor.

Diablo Inc.

of Minden, a developer of thin-cell microcircuits used in radar systems, jet fighters and telecommunications,worked with Dr.Moncef Tayahi at UNR's department of electrical engineering.

"We worked with a manufacturer in Taiwan who was having trouble with glue bonding," says Richard Stone, an engineer and sales representative with Diablo."Turns out the marine environment affected the bonding of the glue in the microelectronics."

The university's work isn't limited to counseling existing companies.

Richard Bjur, director of the technology transfer office at UNR,works with faculty who come up with new inventions.He helps inventors protect their patents and apply them locally.

For example, says Bjur, technology to remove arsenic from drinking water began as a research interest of Dr.Manoranjan Misra, chairman of the chemical and metallurgical engineering department at UNR.

The work developed to the stage where Misra and his team were working with a Reno company, EaglePicher Filtration & Minerals, a division of EaglePicher Inc.

"Dr.Misra and his team helped us develop a chemical treatment that becomes a magnet for arsenic," says Dave Keselica, president of the minerals division."In 2006, new mandates by the Environmental Protection Agency will require an 80 percent reduction of arsenic in drinking water."

Eagle Picher aims to bring its product to market to meet that target date.

Tiny start-ups also turn to the university for help.

Rod Jorgensen, a counselor at the Bureau of Business and Economic Research in the University's Small Business Development Center, helps businesses find the right location.

"When we went for financing, the bank referred us to the center," says Mimi Butler, who with husband Greg, owns Buenos Grill in Reno."They helped us with demographics, business plan, and even helped with getting the bank loan.

They helped identify the competition and traffic flow."