Northwest Aerospace News June | July Issue No. 3 | Page 31

Not all of the research results in
projects moving forward, but “a lot
of times, the academics leverage the
information and data that come from
these projects and then go apply for
DARPA (U.S. Department of Defense)
money or NSF (National Science
Foundation) money.”
Jesse M.
Spokane
Member-owner
For Echodyne, the process was so
positive that the company decided to
apply for another JCATI grant, this
time teaming up with a Washington
State University researcher on a proj-
ect to look at ways to sort all the data
streaming in through their metama-
terial radars. They were waiting on a
funding decision as this edition went
to press.
“JCATI’s just a really nice mecha-
nism,” said Finan. “It’s a streamlined
process, fairly straight-forward and
simple. Low bureaucracy.”
The poster session gives both students
and industry a chance to learn about
JCATI funded projects.
As a result of the project, Finan says
Echodyne is making long-term plans
to further develop the concept after it
brings its initial products to market.
JCATI will announce its current grant
recipients in mid-to-late June, and will
take applications next March for next
year’s grants, Hacker said.
In the meantime, she said, aerospace
suppliers should think about putting
proposals together: “If you have
something that your company has been
wanting to test or try, this might be a
way to do that.”
That’s how JCATI is supposed to
work, Hacker said.
Boeing has won a number of JCATI
grants, and so have bigger suppliers
like Zodiac and Esterline. But the ma-
jority are smaller companies that don’t
have the capacity to do much R&D,
she said.
“The goal is that the industry walks
away with something that helps them,
and the academics can act on the rela-
tionship as they see fit,” she explained.
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OWN
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other beat banking at a bank. 82 years
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JUNE | JULY 2018 ISSUE NO. 3
31