UNM Rainforest Innovations is proud to announce the four proposals selected to receive gap funding through the Wellborn Gap Fund. Each submission is evaluated based on merit and uniqueness of the technology as well as its potential for commercialization. Selected proposals may receive funding up to $25,000 to help advance their technologies from concept to market readiness.
The Wellborn Gap Fund supports the advancement and commercialization of innovative technologies developed at the University of New Mexico (UNM). The fund addresses the critical phase when inventions are not yet market-ready and obtaining federal funding can be difficult, helping inventors advance their work to proof-of-concept, improve patent applications, or attract investor interest. This year marks the sixteenth call for proposals aimed at supporting early-stage, unlicensed UNM technology that have been disclosed to UNM Rainforest Innovations.
This year, four proposals were chosen for funding:
| PI Name | Proposal Title | School/Department | Funds Awarded |
| Ganesh Balakrishnan, PhD, Professor | Metamorphic Quantum-dot Photonics | School of Engineering: Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering NM EPSCoR | $25,000 |
| Steven Graves, PhD, Associate Dean for Research & Innovation, Professor | SWIFT-Scan: Standing-Wave Integrated Functionalized Traps for Scanning Analysis of High-Value Micro- and Nanoparticles | School of Engineering: Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering | $25,000 |
| Aaron Neumann, PhD, Associate Professor | Culture-Free Hyperspectral Autofluorescence Detection of Viable Candida auris on Hospital Surface Swabs | School of Medicine: Department of Pathology | $25,000 |
| Wenbin Wan, PhD, Assistant Professor | ResFlight: Energy Efficient Resilient Estimation and Control Kit for Autonomous Drones | School of Engineering: Department of Mechanical Engineering | $25,000 |
Congratulations to this year’s awardees! We look forward to seeing how your work continues to develop and advance towards commercialization.
For more information on the Wellborn Gap Fund, also visit: https://innovations.unm.edu/wellborn-gap-fund/