Inventor Spotlight Archives - MSU Innovation Center

drone

Student Startup of the Year: AG3 Labs Builds LowCost Drone Swarms for Realistic Training 

By Keith Rouse

AG3 Labs, a student-founded startup, develops low-cost, highly maneuverable drone systems for military and defense training. Designed to fly in coordinated swarms with repeatable flight patterns, these drones serve as realistic aerial targets, enabling teams to train against agile unmanned threats common in modern conflicts.  Unlike multipurpose drone platforms containing advanced sensors and computing systems, AG3 Labs …

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MSU Professor and Researcher selected as NASA Science Team Members for two Satellite Missions

College of Agriculture & Natural Resources

Narendra N. Das, Ph.D., Associate Professor in BAE and CEE, is serving on two NASA satellite missions as a Science Team member. Dr. Narendra N. Das, an Associate Professor in the Departments of Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan State University (MSU), has been appointed as a NASA Science Team …

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health

The Spartans championing better health for all in Michigan

MSU Today

Content note: This story addresses topics that include gun violence and suicide prevention. For many MSU health sciences researchers, addressing underrecognized issues and including under-treated communities in their work is essential to building a healthier Michigan where no one is left behind. Their efforts are part of a long arc of change in medical research. …

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Reel Free

Healthcare Innovators Shine in Patient Safety Technology Competition at CES 2025

Jewish Healthcare Foundation

The Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI) announced the winners of the 2025 Patient Safety Technology Challenge Grand Awards at CES® 2025 in Las Vegas, recognizing innovative solutions that enhance patient safety in healthcare. Among the notable runners-up was Reel Free, a team from Michigan State University that previously won a Challenge-sponsored award at ASU in …

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Dr. Chengcheng Fang EVs

2025 MSU Corporate Connector Award-Dr. Chengcheng Fang’s Battery Innovations Are Powering the Future of EVs 

Electric vehicles (EVs) have revolutionized transportation, but their reliance on batteries presents several persistent challenges. These batteries are heavy, and limited by energy-density, fast-charging capability, and low temperature performance, and a major contributor to “range anxiety”—the fear of running out of charge before reaching a destination or charging station, particularly on long, desolate roads.  Dr. …

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Elad Harel in the lab Biology

MSU expert: Using light to hear biology

MSU Today

Elad Harel is used to shining a light on the mysteries of the natural world. Working at the cutting-edge of ultrafast spectroscopy — the application of short laser pulses to analyze the dynamics of molecules — the Michigan State University associate professor’s research aims to reveal how microscopic phenomena impact large complex systems. One promising frontier …

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EV

The future of EV batteries

MSU Today

This story was originally published on Automation Alley. One of the biggest hurdles for the public in adopting electric vehicles is limited battery performance. Current EV batteries aren’t perfect, so at Michigan State University, we are using fundamental material science and new chemistry research to produce batteries with improved energy density and safety. Our research …

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soil SWRT Alvin Smucker

SWRT: MSU Professor’s Innovative Technology Designed to Improve Crop Production with Less Water and Nutrients

East Lansing, MI — With climate change disrupting food availability and quality on the rise, a Michigan State University soil biophysics professor’s subsurface water retention technology—or SWRT—is poised to positively impact crops worldwide. Dr. Alvin Smucker of the Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences developed the SWRT technology with his colleagues after six years …

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Bacterial Alchemy: Transforming Microbes into Nutraceutical Factories 

East Lansing, MI – Björn Hamberger, an associate professor at Michigan State University (MSU) in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, tells the story of a pre-homo sapiens man buried in a cave in Iraq surrounded by many flowering plants. “We know some of these plants today as powerful antimalarials,” says Hamberger. Humans knew …

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Using Activated Biochar and Plasma to Combat PFAS

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a family of manufactured chemicals used in various industrial and consumer applications for over 60 years. They are often used in products such as non-stick cookware, stain-resistant carpeting, and firefighting foam. PFAS are extremely persistent in the environment, meaning they do not break down easily, leading to them being …

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