Partners
UT Research Park hosts a steadily growing number of partner companies leveraging their presence in the park to forge stronger collaborations with the University of Tennessee.
Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc., provides innovative design solutions and integrated expertise in the primary practice areas of civil engineering, ecological sciences, environmental engineering and sciences, survey, waste management and water resources.
The firm is consistently ranked among the Top 500 Design Firms and Top 200 Environmental Firms by Engineering News-Record and has more than 20 offices across the United States, including Nashville and Sevierville in Tennessee.
Because of the continued relationship with UT, Chris Foster, assistant project manager in the survey department, has worked on two engineering senior design projects with UT students. Foster provided land survey support and mentorship. He also assisted in the computer-aided design (CAD) of the plan sets.
The first project involved the stream and bank stabilization and bridge design at the historic Alex Haley Farm in Clinton, Tennessee. The second project addressed the replacement of a bridge crossing on a local farmer’s property in Blount County in Tennessee.
CEC secured a valuable intern who was an undergraduate student at UT and is now pursuing a master’s degree in environmental engineering. He worked for CEC over summer break in the company’s Nashville office.
In addition, CEC Knoxville has worked on multiple projects with UT providing survey, ecological and civil engineering services.
The headquarters of the UT Institute for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing (IAMM HQ), is a 140,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art research facility. Launched in 2022, IAMM supports ~160 UT faculty members from five colleges - Agriculture, Architecture & Design, Arts & Sciences, Engineering, and Veterinary Medicine - conducting world-class research in advanced materials and next-generation manufacturing. IAMM HQ houses the research programs of 65 IAMM faculty and several hundred research staff, postdocs and students, as well as promising new startups participating in the incubator and accelerator programs of the Spark Innovation Center. IAMM HQ also hosts state-of-the-art research cores providing materials growth and characterization services for the IAMM community andfor external clients and collaborators; these cores include an electron microscopy center, diffraction facility, advanced photoelectronic spectrometer facility, polymer characterization lab, electromagnetic properties lab, microprocessing research facility, and a molecular beam epitaxy core.
OrthoTennessee is the region’s largest provider of orthopaedic care and services with over 400,000 patient visits annually at 16 East Tennessee locations. University Orthopaedic Surgeons is one of four physician group divisions of OrthoTennessee and includes 13 orthopaedic surgeons providing the region’s only Level I orthopaedic trauma and orthopaedic oncology services as well as comprehensive subspecialty orthopaedic care. In addition to physician offices, physical therapy and other services, the facility at UT Research Park includes the University Orthopaedic Surgery Center, a freestanding ambulatory surgery center specializing in providing outpatient care. For more information about University Orthopaedic Surgeons, visit online at www.uosortho.com. To learn more about OrthoTennessee, which earned a “Top Workplace” ranking from Knox News and Knox.biz in 2021 and 2022 based on employee surveys measuring company culture, visit www.orthotn.com.
RegScale, an enterprise-wide compliance and security software company, has decades of experience in national security and highly regulated industries and moved to the UT Research Park for the numerous collaboration and growth opportunities. RegScale specializes in automation to solve complex digital transformation challenges, lower operating costs and increase digital security and has already begun collaborations with the Haslam College of Business and Tickle College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
University Health Pharmacy, a specialty pharmacy owned by UT Medical Center, focuses on specialty care and care of patients with rare diseases. Through UH Pharmacy, UT Medical Center participates in phase II and phase III clinical trials, which enables a more straightforward process for FDA approval of developed medications.
Established in 1955, Volkswagen Group of America is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, with headquarters in Herndon, Virginia. Volkswagen’s operations in the United States include research and development, parts and vehicle processing, parts distribution centers, sales, marketing and service offices, financial service centers, and its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Volkswagen’s first innovation hub in North America will be housed at the UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm. The collaboration involves research opportunities for doctoral students and space in the Innovation North building. Initial work will focus on developing lighter vehicle components made from composite materials and the electrification of vehicles.
Volkswagen has been a valued partner of the University of Tennessee since opening its Chattanooga Assembly plant in 2011. UT Chattanooga and Volkswagen developed an MBA program allowing Volkswagen employees to earn the degree by taking classes at the plant or on campus.
Volkswagen also is a member of the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI)—The Composites Institute. IACMI has supported UT researchers, Volkswagen engineers and their collaborators in the creation of a novel composite liftgate for the Volkswagen Atlas that reduces weight by 35 percent as well as reducing investment cost.
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The Spark Innovation Center assists early stage technology companies gain their footing. We provide startups with the right kinds of support they need to become successful companies and continue to grow here in East Tennessee.
Active Energy’s core innovation in icephobic heat exchange (IHEX) leads to a low cost and highly efficient air conditioning system for large commercial buildings that reducescooling bills by up to 80%. Active Energy will be partnered with chiller OEMs to take its product to market, and will be responsible for manufacturing and delivering the IHEX modules, which act as the enabling component of an "ice chiller", to its partnered chiller OEMs.
American Nanotechnologies Inc. (ANI) isdeveloping technology to isolate high-value semiconducting carbon nanotubes from raw sources which contain amixture of metallic compounds. Will Fitzhugh is participating in ORNL’s Innovation Crossroads program, is collaborating with UT’s Center for Materials Processing, and has submitted several SBIR grant proposals that are under review.
Founder: Dr. William Fitzhugh
Chem Chip, LLC produces working electrodes based upon carbon nanospike material science innovation. They have an exclusive license from ORNL, a CNMS User Agreement, and their management team includes aco-inventor of the technology. Chem Chip hasrecently received an NSFPhase I SBIR award and is applying for several additional non-dilutive grants.
Founder: Brandon Iglesias
CQ Insights is a healthcare data analytics firm offering expert knowledge and technology for improving patient treatment and services. The company provides data analyses and solutions in a context that defines, measures, and improves satisfaction for all stakeholders within the medical profession. CQ Insights analyzes a collection of real-world data from surgeons, hospitals, and academic medical centers to enhance decision-making processes, patient experiences, and reduce costs.
Eonix reduces the time and cost to develop new materials for batteries and ultracapacitors using a novel high throughout, semi-autonomous technique. Their most recent discovery is a non-flammable electrolyte for use inlithium ion batteries. Don DeRosa has graduatedfrom ORNL’s Innovation Crossroads program, has been awarded grants from NYSERDA, NSF, and the U.S. Army, and is teaming with ORNL and UT researchers on a major DOE proposal.
Founder: Dr. Don Derosa
Neptune Fluid Flow Systems has developed a novel method for preparing thin films of soft material solution for cryo-TEM work, a new analytical tool of great interest to the scientific community. While they work at ORNL’s Innovation Crossroads program on material science applications, Trevor McQueen and Winnie Liang will be also working with researchers in UT’s Biology Department and at JIAM to prepare biological samples. They have also been awarded a DOE SBIR Phase I grant and a ReVV grant from the State of Tennessee.
Founders: Dr.Trevor McQueen and Dr. Winnie Liang
Quantum Lock works by connecting all locks in a facility to a central point of communication for enhanced detection with a real time ledger of entry information. The system then createscompletely random unpredictable digital keys using something called a quantum random number generator along with secure communication so that only those with authorized access can enter a room or cabinet. Our communication protocols ensure that every authorized user has their own unique random key for each room that changes with each entry. This important step eliminates the need for master keys. Our software is built with connected security and efficiency in mind and designed to be user-friendly and automated to prevent human error. This design saves the facility from having to interrupt work-flow with lock interrogation. These security features keep a facility’s people and resources safe while improving staff transparency, detection, and efficiency.
Qubit Engineering Inc., is a quantum computing company that has developed new optimizationtechniques to improve the efficiency of wind energy. Dr, Marouane Salhi and two co-founders at UT are working with several very large wind energy companies on beta tests, and have recently applied for an SBIR award and to be a part of cohort 5of ORNL’s Innovation Crossroads program.
Founder: Dr. Marouane Salhi
SkyNano, LLC produces high purity carbon nanotubes from ambient CO2 for use inmultiple markets. An Innovation Crossroads graduate, Anna Douglas has also won an NSF SBIR Phase I grant, a $2.5 million DOE award, and has her first commercial customer. She will be utilizing the SEM tools at UT’s Joint Institute for Advanced Materials she continues to scale up her technology.
Founder: Dr. Anna Douglas