{"id":49,"date":"2012-10-13T12:00:08","date_gmt":"2012-10-13T16:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/sites\/gsm_spr12\/?p=49"},"modified":"2014-06-02T14:59:35","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T18:59:35","slug":"research-on-the-horizon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2012\/10\/13\/research-on-the-horizon\/","title":{"rendered":"Research on the Horizon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"research_horizon_feature\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Georgia Southern\u2019s Herty Advanced Materials Development Center takes University research to the next level<\/h3>\n

In a move impacting the future of research and economic development in the state of Georgia for generations to come, Governor Nathan Deal signed legislation transferring management of the Herty Advanced Materials Development Center in Savannah, Ga., to Georgia Southern University. Effective July 1, this merger blends the unique large scale development and manufacturing capabilities of Herty and the scientific expertise of Georgia Southern faculty and students.<\/p>\n

According to Georgia Southern President Brooks Keel, Ph.D., this strategic alignment is a win-win situation for all involved. \u201cThis new partnership has generated the potential for the University to engage in global research opportunities,\u201d he said, \u201cand provides an outstanding opportunity for us to combine Georgia Southern\u2019s broad base of engineering and scientific expertise with Herty\u2019s leadership and reputation in advanced materials innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Founded in 1938, Herty\u2019s clients include global corporations, as well as numerous Fortune 500 companies, focused in the transportation, forest and paper related products, building materials, energy and the environment and bio-products industries. The facility is one of only a small number offering lab and pilot scale development and small production-line capability for test marketing. Herty\u2019s project managers and operators have produced products from literally hundreds of varieties of fiber blends.<\/p>\n

Georgia Southern now has the opportunity to integrate faculty research interests with Herty\u2019s industrial development capabilities. \u201cHerty allows the University to accelerate its research interests in the material sciences and provides an avenue for applied research and development that most universities without dedicated research parks can only dream of,\u201d said Charles Patterson, Ph.D., vice president for research and economic development and dean of the Jack N. Averitt College of Graduate Studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got all the building blocks for a strong industry research and development presence \u2013 now the challenge is to leverage the opportunity,\u201d said Don McLemore, Ph.D., director for the Office of Industry Relations and Economic Development. McLemore knows Herty well, having served as the Center\u2019s chief operating officer from 2005-2011, and he is currently linking industrial research projects and economic development opportunities with the University and Herty.<\/p>\n

These \u201cbuilding blocks\u201d include the talents of more than 100 Ph.D. scientists and engineers said McLemore, and he suggested that the University also has the opportunity to expand its base of scientific expertise by hiring additional researchers to teach in various colleges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a real opportunity for Georgia Southern to fill a gap,\u201d Keel added. The industry is looking for well-educated scientists and engineers who have practical capabilities to solve problems and support the growth of commerce all across the state of Georgia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, Keel said the merger advances Georgia Southern\u2019s research mission and elevates the University\u2019s established research programs. \u201cStudents stand to benefit through potential internships and hands-on learning experiences with Herty\u2019s clients,\u201d Keel added.<\/p>\n

THE HISTORY OF HERTY<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cIn many ways, this merger reunites Georgia Southern with our history,\u201d said Keel, mentioning Dr. Charles Herty\u2019s groundbreaking experiments in a pine forest in 1901, the future site of the First District A&M School.<\/p>\n

During Gov. Deal\u2019s statewide tour promoting economic development, he signed Georgia Senate Bill 396 into law on the steps of the Marvin Pittman Administration Building on Sweetheart Circle. This historic and meaningful event represented a homecoming of sorts for Herty, the chemist and revolutionary researcher who saved the turpentine and rosin chemical industry more than a century earlier in the northeast corner of the Circle.<\/p>\n

Herty\u2019s pioneering invention of a simple cup-and-gutter system \u2013 at the site later renamed Herty Pines — collected resin without harming pine trees, and ultimately saved the nation\u2019s naval stores.<\/p>\n

In the 1930s, Herty made another research discovery with southern pines, discovering that newsprint and paper could be made from the fast-growing trees. Due to those findings, Herty is largely considered the founding father of the pulp and paper industry, and the tree farming industry. In 1938, the Georgia legislature recognized Herty for his significant research contributions by establishing the Herty Foundation (later renamed the Herty Advanced Materials Development Center).<\/p>\n

INNOVATION AND IMPACT<\/b><\/p>\n

Herty\u2019s areas of expertise have expanded from early work in tree-based natural fibers to include process and product development, technical analysis, economic analysis and laboratory testing for projects and products employing a broad spectrum of natural and synthetic materials. One example is their production of pellets from pine trees. \u201cHerty has aided several companies in the development of processes for drying, resizing, blending, specialized treatment and pelletizing of pine. In several projects, multi-ton quantities of pellets have been produced and shipped to Europe to be used as fuel for generation of electricity,\u201d said Herty\u2019s Director Jill Stuckey, who also serves as the director for Georgia\u2019s Center for Innovation in Energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHerty\u2019s aim is to accelerate the commercialization of new concepts, new products and new businesses,\u201d said McLemore, and the Center has conducted development for a variety of different products. One project, in collaboration with the U.S. Mint, explored the capabilities of printing currency with Braille for the visually impaired. Herty also worked with the company P2i to test a new plasma coating technology, which is used on products ranging from running shoes and clothing to hearing aids. \u201cIf a product – such as running shoes – is treated with this ultra-thin polymer layer, it doesn\u2019t absorb liquids,\u201d said McLemore, about the liquid repellant nano-technology. Companies such as Hi-Tec, Adidas Golf, Nike, Magnum and Ecco have used this technology, as well as the global hearing aid market.<\/p>\n

Herty\u2019s longevity, expertise and knowledge in the field of pilot testing have made it the natural choice for companies looking for ways to improve efficiency and give them an advantage in the marketplace. According to Stuckey, companies eager to introduce a new product to the market utilize Herty\u2019s equipment and testing capabilities before a launch. \u201cWe work out the small details, so a company will know with certainty that a product is going to work before spending millions of dollars to construct a facility,\u201d she said. \u201cWe take a lot of the mystery out of it for them,\u201d she added, describing the process.<\/p>\n

PARTNERSHIP POTENTIAL<\/b><\/p>\n

Georgia Southern\u2019s Herty Advanced Materials Development Center has opened the door for potential partnerships, especially with the significant manufacturing cluster growing between Statesboro and the coast. \u201cThese companies need engineering skills, manufacturing skills and materials knowledge \u2013 all which we can provide,\u201d said McLemore.<\/p>\n

Another essential component of the partnership is the promise of economic development, said Patterson. \u201cIf a company is interested in a compound that can be extracted from pine trees, Herty can advance that process in the lab to demonstrate proof-of-concept as well as bring the process to the commercial (manufacturing) scale. In addition, working hand-in-hand with our economic development professionals in the region and the state, we want to attract industries to the region that can benefit from our rich abundance of biomass,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Bringing Herty under the umbrella of Georgia Southern will help the University become a driving force in accelerating the region\u2019s future economic development, said Keel. This includes encouraging companies to relocate to the state and hire Georgians, and Herty\u2019s new CEO and president Dr. Alexander Koukoulas has plans to continue this growth. Koukoulas, the former managing director of ANL Consultants, LLC, a private consulting firm supporting the pulp and paper, biomaterials and bioenergy industries, began his duties on Nov. 1. His goals are to enhance the Center\u2019s existing industry relationships as well as forge new strategic worldwide partnerships.<\/p>\n

Keel is excited about what the future holds for the Georgia Southern Herty Advanced Materials Development Center, as the University continues toward its goal of achieving national comprehensive research institution status.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that these two entities have come together, Georgia Southern has the opportunity to be at the center of all of the development in our state,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are so many distinct advantages — not only can companies utilize the piloting capabilities of Herty, but also benefit from our faculty researchers. Georgia Southern is aligned with a facility that can grow ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Georgia Southern’s Herty Advanced<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-fall-2012"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}