Blue Ocean Grants Awards – Phase 1

We’ve named the Phase I winners for the first Blue Ocean Grants and Challenges. This open innovation program seeks novel ideas and technologies with the ultimate potential to change the world for the better.

Phase I grants are issued to fund initial evaluation and development of ideas and technologies to the proof of concept phase. Our Ocean Optics Chief Technology Officer, Jason M. Eichenholz, along with a board of photonics experts for 13 worthy recipients.

The Grantees

Jarkko Antila
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
MEMS-based Mid-IR spectrometer

Christopher Fraker
Diabetes Research Institute
Maintaining oxygen levels during cell culture

Matthew Gunn
Aberystwyth University
A simple, robust and economical hyperspectral imager Hyperspectral imager

Guifang Li
CREOL, The College of Optics & Photonics
Tunable mid IR  laser sources

Zhiwen Liu
The Pennsylvania State University
Reflection-type G-Fresnel

Hans-Peter Loock
Queen’s University
Mercury fiber-optic probe

Robert Pal
Durham University / FScan LTD
Handheld prostate cancer screening

Bill Parker
Creative Microsystems
Nanoliter optical sensing

Nadia Pervez
Chromation Partners
Compact pH sensing system

Scott Rowe
Ocular Prognostics, LLC
Measuring macular pigment

Maurizio Tormen
CSEM SA
MEMS wavemeter

Ian White
University of Maryland
Inkjet-printed SERS dipsticks

Liang Zhang
University of Washington
Early childhood caries detection system

Development Grantees

Kristen Maitland
Texas Engineering Experiment Station
Spectrally encoded depth scans for early cancer detection

Dominic Murphy
Fusion Photonics, Ltd.
Spectrifire fiber Fourier transform spectrometer

Dustin Ritter
Engineering World Health Organization
Medical Oxygen Concentrator measurement

Eric Smith
FMIP
Realtime spectroscopy in the produce industry

Frank Rutten
Keele University
On-site detection of asbestos

Kate Sudgen
Aston University
Fiber Bragg grating sensing

Bo Yang
USF College of Marine Science
Optical pH sensors