The Arkansas Research Alliance (ARA) of Little Rock is awarding grants to 25 projects across the state, totaling $1.86 million. The grants represent the third round of ARA’s Impact Grant program, but this is the first time the awards have been made available to researchers outside of the ARA Academy of Scholars and Fellows.
Bryan Barnhouse, president and CEO of ARA, said the organization had almost 40 applications for the program, and were able to fund 25 of them across all six of its partner institutions.
Most of the awards are $75,000 each, with two slightly less. Recipients include researchers from the University of Arkansas, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Arkansas State University, University of Arkansas for Agricultural Sciences, UA Little Rock and UAMS.
In addition to expanding the reach outside of the ARA Academy, this round of Impact Grants required an industry match for the first time. ARA contributed $60,000 per project, while researchers were required to secure an additional $15,000 from industry partners.
This served to enhance the ARA’s mission of industry-research collaboration, Barnhouse said.
“One of our primary criteria was seeing some level of engagement with industry, and the majority of funded proposals have actual dollars committed from industry, showing they are bought into the impact of this work,” Douglas Hutchings, ARA Academy and Impact Grant program director, said during an interview.
The industry match requirement was not a barrier to participation, according to Barnhouse. He said many of the researchers already had established relationships with companies.
“We didn’t necessarily set up the relationships between the investigator and the company themselves. They already had that relationship or a conversation going on. This just accelerated activity,” Barnhouse said. And the partnerships span businesses of all sizes. “We have companies that are participating in this round of impact grants that are large and small. $15,000 is a big capital investment for some of these companies. For others, it’s not so much.”
Hutchings said a lot of the private businesses who invested see a “pathway” to benefit from the research projects.
The funded projects align with the seven growth opportunities outlined in ARA’s report released last year, “Enabling an Innovation Led Future for Arkansas.”
Among the 25 funded projects are innovations in multiple industries across the state, including health care, poultry, agriculture, steel manufacturing, transportation, lithium and electric vehicles, artificial intelligence and the supply chain.
According to Barnhouse, the federal government has historically been the “lion’s share” funder of research, with some participation from the private sector. However, recent federal directives, including a potential cap on National Institutes of Health funding, have created uncertainty in the research community.
“We can’t just pause and stop knowledge creation,” Barnhouse said. “People still have ideas. These are our friends and our neighbors and our community members who have committed their life’s work to these research fields and, in many ways, to seeing the benefits of them translate into some kind of economic potential.”
Building on the Impact Grants, ARA also plans to develop seminars designed to bring the private sector and academic researchers together. The organization envisions hosting a series of five summits around the seven growth opportunity areas.
“We know this works,” Barnhouse said. “Our next stage to foster even more growth and connectivity between universities and industry is to host these summits to really set the table and invite researchers and industry representatives to sit down together and understand what they need from one another.”
ARA hopes that these summits will lead to even more collaborative projects, with the possibility of setting up an Impact Grant-like program specifically for summit participants who find opportunities to collaborate.
“Should they find an opportunity to collaborate, we would bring some funding to the table to incentivize them to work together and mitigate any risk that, especially the private sector might have around working with universities,” Barnhouse said.
The 25 research projects are as follows:
- Healthier Aging with Plant-Based Nutraceuticals at Arkansas State University; This project explores natural plant compounds to promote healthier aging and prevent chronic diseases, addressing health challenges faced by Arkansans.
- Next-Generation DC Grid Protection Technology at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville; This proposal develops silicon carbide-based circuit breakers that improve the safety, reliability and efficiency of direct current electrical grids in collaboration with Wolfspeed of Durham, North Carolina.
- Smart Robotics for Efficient and Autonomous Packaging at U of A; This project partners with Walmart Inc. of Bentonville to create a sophisticated robotic arm with computer vision and artificial intelligence to boost speed and efficiency in fulfillment centers.
- Advanced Anti-Biofilm Therapy for Better Wound Healing at UAMS; This project will advance a novel compound, which has already demonstrated biofilm disruption, significantly reducing infection risks and improving healing outcomes.
- Creating Antibacterial Stainless-Steel Surfaces at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock; This project tackles bacterial contamination in food processing and health care industries by developing antibacterial stainless-steel surfaces.
- Probiotic Therapies to Sustain Arkansas Aquaculture at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; This initiative develops probiotic treatments to combat Edwardsiellosis, a costly bacterial infection threatening Arkansas’ $700 million aquaculture industry.
- Enhancing Cold Supply Chain Efficiency with IoT-Enabled Smart Sensors at U of A; This project applies smart sensors to improve Arkansas’s cold supply chain in partnership with J.B. Hunt Transport of Lowell and the Global Cold Chain Foundation.
- Advanced Probiotic Delivery Systems for Animal Health at U of A; In collaboration with CelluDot of Fayetteville, this team is developing probiotic carriers designed to improve animal health by efficiently delivering probiotics in animal feed, reducing the need for antibiotics.
- AI and Innovative Feeds to Boost Bass Farming at UA Pine Bluff; This project leverages AI to optimize fish feeding strategies, reducing feed waste and improving growth and health in largemouth bass farms.
- Revolutionary Materials to Transform Technology at U of A; This partnership with Intel of Santa Clara, California, aims to discover advanced materials that could improve technologies like medical ultrasound devices and next-generation electronics.
- Robots to Boost Arkansas Blackberry Farming at U of A; This project will develop affordable robotic platforms combined with AI to detect ripe blackberries, improving harvesting efficiency and reducing labor costs.
- Smart Technology to Improve Cancer Treatments at U of A; This project uses AI combined with biology-based modeling to identify optimal drug combinations for melanoma.
- Low-Cost Melanoma Detection for Rural Arkansas at U of A; This project, in collaboration with Lumo Imaging of Rockville, Maryland, will develop affordable and portable skin-scanning technology using advanced cameras and AI to detect melanoma early.
- High-Energy Batteries for Electric Vehicles at U of A; Partnering with Arkansas-based Interf LLC, this project is developing high-energy lithium metal batteries that can nearly double driving range compared to current EV batteries,
- Turning Arkansas Lithium into Profits and Jobs at U of A; This project develops new technology to economically extract lithium from Arkansas brines, making previously uneconomic lithium deposits viable in partnership with USA Lithium LLC.
- Nanotech Innovations for Arkansas Urban Farming at UA Little Rock; This project will help Arkansas urban farmers grow healthier, more nutritious food in limited spaces by using safe nano-materials.
- Better Healing with Arkansas-Made Bone Regeneration at UA Little Rock; Focused on improving outcomes for individuals with serious bone injuries, this project evaluates bone regeneration technology in partnership with Arkansas-based NuShores Biosciences.
- Barge Detection for Enhanced Transportation and Logistics at U of A; This project develops a barge detection system leveraging data and satellite imagery in collaboration with the Western Arkansas Intermodal Authority.
- Aeroponics: Future Farming for Healthier Supplements at U of A; This project explores sustainable vertical farming (aeroponics) methods to grow milk thistle, a valuable herb known for liver-protective properties.
- Expanding Biologics Manufacturing through Advanced Separation Processes at U of A; In partnership with Pel-Freez Biologicals of Rogers, this project develops advanced processes for separating biologics from existing production streams.
- Advanced Structural Testing for High-Strength Steel Fabrication at the U of A; This initiative collaborates with Lexicon Inc. of Little Rock to develop and test weld details for high-strength steel connections exceeding current industry standards.
- Smart Cameras for Healthier Arkansas Swine Farms at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture; This project develops a smart camera system that monitors the health of pregnant pigs.
- AI to Protect Arkansas’s Poultry Industry at the U of A; This initiative partners with Cobb-Vantress of Siloam Springs to use genomics and AI to combat bacterial infections in Arkansas’s poultry industry.
- Upcycling Arkansas Rice Waste into Sustainable Packaging at the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture; Partnering with Riceland Foods of Stuttgart, this project converts rice hulls, usually discarded waste, into biodegradable packaging materials
- Boosting Efficiency and Sustainability in Arkansas’s Conveyor Industry at the U of A; Partnering with Jonesboro-based Hytrol Conveyor Co., this project aims to develop graphite-based coatings that reduce friction, energy consumption and maintenance costs.
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