Five UT Faculty Teams Receive Chancellor's Innovation Fund Awards

Five teams led by faculty members at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, each received $50,000 at an April 7 award ceremony for the Chancellor's Innovation Fund. This year's awards span the fields of agricultural technology, architectural design and building technology, biomanufacturing, electrochemical energy systems and regenerative medicine.

Now in its third year, the Chancellor's Innovation Fund strengthens UT's entrepreneurial impact by bridging publicly funded academic research with private financing or licensure, creating clearer pathways for faculty to commercialize technologies developed through their research. Awardees use the seed funding to refine their technologies, build and test prototypes, validate solutions and assess market opportunities as they advance their work toward real-world application.

Faculty recipients are selected through a competitive process that culminates with a five-minute presentation describing the benefits of their project and how they would use the funding. The UT Research Foundation supports the program by evaluating proposals and providing dedicated coaching sessions. Each technology is evaluated on its ability to address unmet market needs, its proposed development plan, and the potential impact of funding on its commercialization.

"Turning research breakthroughs into real-world technologies is a key way in which we fulfill our responsibility as a land-grant university," said Deb Crawford, vice chancellor for research, innovation, and economic development. "This initiative closes critical gaps between discovery and impact."

These projects were selected for awards:

Madhu Dhar and Steven Newby: Bioinks for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

Madhu Dhar, research professor, and Steven Newby, research assistant professor, both in the College of Veterinary Medicine, have designed a novel replacement for standard steel and titanium surgical implants that can be used in animals and humans.

Their method uses a novel bioink—a nontoxic biodegradable resin compatible with healthy living cells. It can be tuned to mimic different tissues in the body and can be mixed with nanoparticles that support health outcomes. It will be used to rapidly 3D print implants tailored to patients' specific needs.

The award funding will help the team demonstrate the ink in action and prove its viability in animal surgical procedures. They will fabricate implants using the Medical Device Innovation Core and the Dhar lab at the UT Center for Precision Health. Ultimately, they envision surgeons printing implants on-site to repair bones, cartilage, skin, and nerves, restoring patients' quality of life.

Maged Guerguis: OTTO Prefab and the U-Panel System for Net-Zero Smart Homes

Maged Guerguis, associate professor and McCarty Holsaple McCarty Endowed Professor in the College of Architecture and Design, is using robotic fabrication and advanced manufacturing to transform the construction of energy-efficient high-performance homes.

OTTO Prefab, developed with support from the UT Research Foundation, Autodesk, and MIT's Center for Advanced Production Technologies, rapidly manufactures high-performance building panels that integrate wall structure; insulation; smart sensors; and mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. Guerguis applies topology optimization algorithms to print structural material only where it is needed to bear stress, reducing material use by up to 40%.

With the CIF award, Guerguis plans to fabricate a complete high-performance net-zero pilot home by 2027. The panels will be manufactured off-site and installed on-site, demonstrating a faster, more affordable and more predictable construction method. Guerguis aims to scale up rapidly, with the goal of building an entire high-performance neighborhood by 2030.

Scott Lenaghan and Alex Pfotenhauer: Self-Replicating RNA for Spray-on Pesticides

Scott Lenaghan, associate professor of food science in the Herbert College of Agriculture, serves as co-director of the Center for Agricultural Synthetic Biology. Together with Research Assistant Professor Alex Pfotenhauer, he is innovating a next-generation pest control technology to protect Tennessee agriculture and bolster global food security.

The technology is designed to silence specific genes in targeted insect and pathogen species. It kills pests without modifying the plant's DNA and without using chemical pesticides that could harm beneficial insects or lead to pesticide resistance.

Lenaghan and Pfotenhauer's solution, developed along with CASB Co-Director Neal Stewart, lasts longer and is more cost-effective than similar technologies. Farmers will apply it only once each year to protect their crops. The CIF funds will enable the team to complete greenhouse studies to prove the concept and attract potential buyers.

Cong Trinh: Biomanufacturing Natural Butyl Acetate

Cong Trinh, chemical engineering professor and Ferguson Faculty Fellow in the Tickle College of Engineering, partnered with biotechnology entrepreneur Mounir Izallalen to pioneer a fermentation process for manufacturing butyl acetate. This molecule, which naturally occurs in fruits, serves as a high-value ingredient in applications ranging from food flavorings to pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and solvents used in microchip production and automotive coatings.

Butyl acetate has long been produced through chemical synthesis using petroleum-based feedstocks. Trinh's latest innovation expands the applications of his patented modular cell technology to provide a cost-effective alternative: a bioprocess that uses renewable feedstocks and fermentation, requires less energy than chemical synthesis and does not generate metal contamination.

The CIF funds will help Trinh and Izallen scale up production and conduct market research to identify target sectors, customers and price points. They aim to strengthen a vibrant biotechnology and biomanufacturing hub in East Tennessee.

Feng-Yuan Zhang, Matthew Mench, and Weitian Wang: Low-Cost Electrolyzers and Energy Storage

Feng-Yuan Zhang, a professor of mechanical engineering in the Tickle College of Engineering, leads a team that works with government, industry and university collaborators to drive breakthrough innovations in electrode and electrolysis technologies. These technologies play an increasingly important role in efficiently converting water and waste into clean alternative fuels such as hydrogen.

The current high-cost complex process for manufacturing electrodes must become more efficient to provide the clean fuel supply to meet the projected growth in America's energy demand.

The team's innovative new process cuts the number of fabrication steps from 10 or more to three while improving electrode performance. It results in electrolyzers that last longer, produce clean fuel with greater energy efficiency and reduce the use of rare noble metals by 90%.

With support from the CIF award, the team will scale up the technology with the long-term goal of strengthening American manufacturing and establishing Tennessee as a hub for advanced electrode and clean fuel production.

Provided by University of Tennessee at Knoxville