Federal Laboratory Consortium Research Articles

United States Military-Industry-University Nexus: the Sustainable Research and Development Collaboration

This research explores the effectiveness of collaborative Research and Development (R&D) frameworks within the military-industry-university nexus of the United States, with a focus on innovative technologies that offer sustainable solutions. The paper uses Desktop Review as the research methodology to explore past literature and government reports on best practices and key factors contributing to disruptive technological advancements and sustainable practices within the US military. Some of the findings include best practices that promote collaborative R&D and sustainable innovation within the military such as Federal Laboratory Consortium, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR). The paper concludes with strategic recommendations and actionable insights aimed at optimizing collaborative R&D approaches to enhance sustainability, efficiency, and impact ful innovation in military technology. In conclusion, the research advances the ongoing dialogue and action aimed at optimizing the synergy between the US military, industry, and academic research institutions. The research intends to harness the potential of academia and industry to drive advancements in military technology while ensuring strategic national capabilities and long-term sustainability.

Formation Challenges of Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing

David Wood is a Senior Staff Scientist and University of Tennessee Bredesen Center Adjunct Faculty Member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), researching novel electrode architectures, mass transport phenomena, solid-liquid surface chemistry, advanced processing methods, manufacturing science, and materials characterization for low-temperature fuel cells, PEM electrolyzers, and lithium-ion batteries, and has been employed there since 2009. He is also the former ORNL Fuel Cell Technologies Program Manager (2011–2018), the former Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing Team and Group Leader (2015–2017), and a well-known energy conversion and storage researcher with an industrial and academic career that began in 1995. From 1997 to 2002, he was employed by General Motors Corporation and SGL Carbon Group, excelling at applied R&D related to automotive and stationary PEFC technology. Later work (2003–2009) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Cabot Corporation focused on elucidation of key chemical degradation mechanisms, development of accelerated testing methods, and component development. Dr. Wood received his BS in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University in 1994, his MS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kansas in 1998, and his PhD in Electrochemical Engineering from the University of New Mexico in 2007. He was part of two LANL research teams that won the DOE Hydrogen Program R&D Award for outstanding achievement in 2005 and 2009. He was also part of the Cabot Corporation Direct Methanol Fuel Cell team, which won the Samuel W. Bodman Award for Excellence in 2008. Dr. Wood was also the 2011 winner of the ORNL Early Career Award for Engineering Accomplishment and led a team that won both a 2013 R&D 100 award and 2014 Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) award with Porous Power Technologies. He has received 19 patents and patent applications, authored 93 refereed journal articles and transactions papers, and authored 2 book chapters. Jianlin Li is a R&D Staff and University of Tennessee Bredesen Center Adjunct Faculty Member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). His research interest lies in materials synthesis, processing and characterization, electrode engineering, and manufacturing for energy storage and conversion. Dr. Li received his BS in Materials Chemistry and his MS in Materials Science from University of Science and Technology of China in 2001 and 2004, respectively, and his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida in 2009. He is a recipient of several prestigious awards including two R&D 100 awards and one Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) award. He has received 14 patents and patent applications and authored 96 refereed journal articles and 3 book chapters. Seong Jin An is a Principal Engineer at Samsung Electronics leading rechargeable battery platforms for smartphone applications and has been employed there since late 2017. He had researched solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) in the lithium-ion battery as a guest at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) (2014–2017). He worked at Samsung SDI in South Korea as a senior engineer developing PEM fuel cell stacks (2003–2011) and GS Fuel Cell in South Korea developing fuel processors for PEM fuel cell systems (2001–2003). He received his BS in Chemical Engineering from Seoul National University of Science and Technology in 1999, his MS in Chemical Engineering from Yonsei University, Seoul in 2001, his MS in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh in 2014, and his PhD in Energy Science & Engineering from University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2017. He studied PEM fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries with fellowships during his MS and PhD programs. He has received over 200 patents and authored 21 refereed journal articles and transactions papers.

Intelligent Utility Locating Tool for Excavators

Currently, backhoe excavator operators have to depend on color-coded markings applied by utility locators to expect the location of utilities buried in the ground. As accidents prove time and time again, this method is unreliable. While more efforts should be spent on subsurface engineering and as-built documentation, excavators should have their own tools to see cables, wires, and pipes while working underground. This paper presents the result of work aimed at supplying backhoe operators with a device capable of scanning the ground for metallic objects. The fishfinder type tool is thought to be the last barricade against horrific accidents caused by the damage of buried utilities. The writers not only present the results of extensive tests in the laboratory and the field but also highlight that the outdated contractual principles used by the government, utility companies, and insurers establishes insurmountable barriers for transferring this novel technology into the industry. The relevance of the presented work is in the experimental data that has been collected and analyzed both in the laboratory and in the field. In his report to the Federal Laboratory Consortium, R. Sterling addressed the inherent problems related to the subsurface world of cities, towns, and even rural areas in the United States. He summarized succinctly what is known by everybody familiar with the construction industry dedicated to building and maintaining the lifelines of our 21st century society when he wrote: Over- head utility lines are becoming a thing of the past, except in rural areas. The urban has become a spider's web of util- ity lines, including phones, electricity, gas, cable TV, fiber optics, traffic signals, street lighting circuits, drainage and flood control facilities, water mains, and wastewater pipes. In some locations, major oil and gas pipelines, national defense communication lines, mass transit, rail and road tunnels also compete for space underground Sterling 2000. The U.S. Congress had become aware of the risks associated with damaging buried utilities even

Availability and Accessibility of the Nation's Research Infrastructure: The Transfer of Assistive Technologies by Federal Laboratories

The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer is a network of federal labs working to link federal lab technologies and expertise with the marketplace. Important factors leading to and impeding success in technology transfer are examined in terms of strategic partnerships, mission relevance, and transfer context. A history of federal laboratory technology transfer is offered, as well as mechanisms for federal laboratory technology transfer and a cautionary note about research and development and technology transfer. Special consideration is given to the assistive technology market and how federal labs can collaborate with the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitative Research in order to benefit people with disabilities by promoting the transfer of assistive technologies from federal labs. (CBS)

From ideas to market applications: dynamics of knowledge transfer and the role of champions

Technology transfer is a significant effort of the federal government and the intent of this effort is to transfer technologies developed in federal laboratories to the private sector for commercial use. The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer is a clearing-house for technologies developed through federal research laboratories. In addition, universities and other institutions use various mechanisms for transferring the technologies or knowledge to the private sector for civilian use. In this paper, the transfer of experimental and conceptual knowledge from research environment to civilian sector, covering aspects of engineering and social science is emphasized. The engineering examples deal with alleviating the nitrate pollution of rural domestic wells (a conceptual knowledge) and phytoremediation of hazardous wastes (an experimental knowledge). The social science examples deal with a culture assimilator for improving race relations (a conceptual knowledge) and a multimedia assimilator for global managers (an experimental knowledge). In each case, mechanisms and shortcomings involved in transfer-ring the knowledge for civilian use are demonstrated. We present a framework for knowledge transfer, and discuss the role of champions in knowledge transfer. We take the position that, though the attributes of the technology itself are important, knowledge transfer does require champions.

Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC): a model for public-sector technology transfer

Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC): a model for public-sector technology transfer

Lessons from history: Origins of the federal laboratory consortium for technology transfer

Editor’s Note: The Federal Laboratory Consortium today consists of over 600 member research laboratories and centers from 16 federal departments and agencies. The FLC brings these laboratories together with potential users of government-developed technologies in the private sector and state and local governments. The FLC also develops and tests transfer mechanisms, addresses barriers to the transfer process, provides training, highlights grass-roots transfer efforts and focuses on national initiatives where technology transfer has a role. The author played a pivotal role in establishing the Consortium and managing the network during its early years.

The basis for U.S. Department of energy technology transfer in the 1990s

This paper presents a historical background on technology transfer policy and programs, and their baseline measurement and evaluation in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the years 1981 through 1992. Specifically, an overview of Departmental research and development (R&D) laboratories briefly highlights the potential return on investment that could be gained through scientific investigation, R&D, and technology application. A historical description of federal technology transfer highlights the enabling legislation. Additionally, a discussion and summary of a 1985 Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) study provides a baseline assessment of technology transfer activities within DOE in the mid-1980s. The authors then discuss the findings presented by a landmark Energy Research Advisory Board Research and Technology Utilization study issued in 1988. Finally, the discussion focuses on the activities and subsequent contributions of the Technology Transfer Project Group, formed in 1990, and the Technology Transfer Field Task Force and the Technology Transfer Advisory Committee.

Federal intellectual property

This paper, presented to the fall 1992 meeting of the Federal Laboratory Consortium, is a discussion of the function of ORTAs, lawyers, and laboratory directors in the technology-transfer process. It describes what the relationship between these professionals should be like if they are to be proficient at enhancing US intellectual property resources.

Waste Acid Recovery System Cited for Technology Transfer

Spent acid streams that contain heavy metals are one of industry's most persistent waste treatment problems. More than 15,000 companies, large and small, generate over 8 billion lb per year of acid waste. A cost-saving method for reducing the volume and toxicity of this type of acid waste has been developed at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), operated by Battelle, and recently licensed to a private firm, Viatec/Recovery Systems Inc. The technology will be recognized by being presented the Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Technology Transfer in Pittsburgh on April 9. The process is called Waste Acid Detoxification and Reclamation (WADR). Evan O. Jones, Battelle PNL engineer and group leader of process technology development, led the pilot plant and technology-transfer phases of the project. Jones says the potential savings are estimated to be as much as $1.00 to $5.00 per gal of acid treated with the WADR process. Operations such as electroplating and surface finishing in the electronics, aerospace, automotive, metalworking, steel, and defense industries stand to benefit from this technology.

Teaming for national competitiveness

This article is based on a presentation given by Gary Cowger at the Federal Laboratory Consortium national meeting in Indianapolis in May of this year. Cowger is executive director of Advanced Manufacturing Engineering for General Motors Advanced Engineering. He was instrumental in developing quality processes for manufacturing and Cadillac's submission for the Malcolm Baldrige Award, which the company won in 1990.

Technology transfer in the navy: The historical background

This report reviews technology transfer in light of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980. Following a brief introduction, a section on “Definitions” explains the several meanings that the phrase “technology transfer” now carries in policy discussions. The next section, on “Passive Technology Transfer”, reviews traditional Department of Defense scientific and technical information programs that relate to technology transfer. A section on “Military Industrial Transfer” examines technology transfer from the Defense Department to private industry, expecially to defense contractors. A section on “The Stevenson-Wydler Act and Active Technology Transfer” describes the principal provisions of the new act and why Congress passed it. The next two sections, on “NASA’s Technology Transfer Program” and “The Federal Laboratory Consortium” outline the two existing Government programs Congress relied upon in developing ideas for the new law. A section on “Implementation of the Stevenson-Wydler Act”, discusses several important issues that must be considered by Navy laboratory management as the new law is put into effect in the Navy. Finally, a brief conclusion emphasizes the major point of the report: That Congress, in passing the Stevenson-Wydler Act, did not fully consider what relationship the new technology transfer programs it was requiring in the Executive Branch should bear to existing programs with similar purposes. If the public interest is to be served, the report argues, the Navy must consciously and carefully determine the proper nature of this relationship.

The transfer of Federal technology and the community college

The State of Ohio has developed a transfer mechanism using its technical and community colleges. A pilot program began in 1979. The program includes eleven of the State's technical and community colleges and the Ohio State University acting as program manager. This paper reports on a program which is a cooperative effort with the Federal Laboratory Consortium that represents some 200 Federal laboratories and the Ohio technical and community college network. The role of the Ohio Technology Transfer Organization (OTTO) is explained and Federal Laboratory Consortium demonstration projects are discussed.