Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Ardmore firms win seven OCAST Intern Partnerships

May 16, 2012

Seven applicants, including four private firms and two projects from the University of Tulsa, have been approved for funding under the OCAST Intern Partnerships program. The Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) awarded the winning applicants a total of $191,900.

Internships are awarded for up to two years. The latest awards support undergraduate student internships in sensor technology, energy exploration, battery technology and hyperthermia therapy for cancer patients.

Since 1998, the OCAST Intern Partnerships program has assisted Oklahoma businesses in locating hard-to-find technology trained employees. OCAST pays half of the cost for an undergraduate intern to work in a research and development setting.

The program is designed to develop collaborations among Oklahoma business owners, university professors and undergraduate students. Some of the students become full-time employees of the sponsoring businesses following graduation.

Recent program awards follow:

Tulsa

Energy

• Advanced Harsh Environment Sensors for Intelligent Downhole Applications. Principal investigator Goutham Kirikera will oversee two student interns at Sercel-GRC Corp. This project targets the design, manufacture and commercialization of two products to increase the efficiency of hydrocarbon extraction. Products include a gauge capable of withstanding pressures in excess of 15,000 psi at temperatures up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and a sensor communicator module with no downhole electronics. $15,000

Environmental Technologies

• Design of Next Generation Chemical Injection System for Cooling Water Treatment. The University of Tulsa and Advantage Controls will work with one intern under the direction of principal investigator Kaveh Ashenayi. The intern will focus on developing a more efficient pump for injecting chemicals required to reduce scaling and corrosion within a cooling tower. $23,400

Medical

• Deep Tissue Hyperthermia Therapy in Abdominal and Pelvic Cancers. Robert Sheaff will oversee work by two interns in a project with Cancer Treatment Centers of America and the University of Tulsa. The project features a device that uses high temperatures to kill cancer cells. Interns will collect the data in a form that will help physicians make determinations based on quality of life, safety and efficacy. $60,000

Aerospace Manufacturing

• NORDAM Thrust Reverser Division. Catherine Cyran will serve as principal investigator for an intern at NORDAM, an aerospace firm currently developing integrated propulsion systems for next-generation large cabin business aircraft. The intern will be involved in nacelle ventilation and cooling and inlet dry air and flight icing performance tests. $20,100

Oklahoma City

Energy Generation/Distribution

• Fault Tolerant Battery. ATC New Technologies will hire two interns under the direction of Bryan Schultz to develop more robust batteries that can tolerate multiple faults and still function. The technology is designed to promote automatic rerouting around damaged battery cells without need for human intervention. Work will be conducted in concert with faculty associated with development of an electric vehicle at the University of Oklahoma. $18,500
• Renewable Energy Storage. ATC New Technologies principal investigator Bryan Schultz will direct two interns conducting research into the “second life” of high voltage vehicle batteries. Essentially, batteries are taken from vehicles, analyzed and re-purposed for grid energy storage. $24,900

Ardmore

Semiconductors

• Hydrogen Assisted Semiconductor Surface Cleaning and Passivation. Khalid Hossain of Amethyst Research will direct an intern in using hydrogen-termination for cleaning of semiconductor surfaces. The process will improve current methods of growing thin films on semiconductor wafers used in products such as computers, solar panels and other electronics. $30,000