JCATI symposium attendees listening to John Hamilton from Boeing present“ Challenges in Aviation Innovation.”
As a small company, Echodyne has to keep its team focused on its prime business lines, but“ there’ s so many cool areas the technology can be applied at,” Finan said.“ Things that are definitely on our road map, but we don’ t have time or resources to look at ourselves.”
But by applying for – and winning – a grant from JCATI, Echodyne was able to have a research team from the University of Washington explore other potential uses for its metamaterial radar array.
That’ s what JCATI( or“ juh-CAH-tee,” as insiders call it) is all about, said the center’ s Director, Beth Hacker.
JCATI was established by then-Washington Governor Chris Gregoire in 2012. It grew out of the state’ s efforts to woo Boeing, which was considering options for establishing a new out-of-state plant for its 737 MAX program. The 737 MAX – which took its first flight in March – ended up in Renton, after the company and Machinists Union District Lodge 751 agreed to a contract extension, but JCATI was brought to life anyway, with a mission of helping Washington State aerospace companies take advantage of the brainpower at Washington’ s colleges and universities.
It works like this:
Washington companies – or those with a major in-state presence – are eligible to submit research proposals to JCATI annually. Sometimes they’ ve already established a connection with a university researcher; sometimes Hacker helps connect them with a professor with specific expertise.
The proposals are reviewed by a mix of academic and industry experts in the specific field, and the center’ s board of directors – a mix of university and industry experts, all appointed by the state’ s governor – who then pick the proposals to be funded.
Each year, the center provides about a dozen grants, of up to $ 100,000 each, to hire either graduate students or college seniors to work on the company’ s project, under the supervision of the university researcher.
It’ s a win-win-win-win, Hacker says: The academics get real-world data to further their own research goals; their universities gain intellectual property; the companies get additional expert help researching specific problems or opportunities; and the students get direct aerospace industry experience – or sometimes even job offers – in the early stages of their careers.
28 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS