William Makowski
Track
Innovation
Faculty Mentors
Thomas Martin
Professor,
Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Andy Schaudt
Chief of Staff, and Interim Leader of the Motion and Context Analytics,
Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
Assistant Professor of Practice, Department of Management,
Pamplin College of Business
How will the Innovation Fellowship help you advance and grow as a professional?
The Innovation Fellowship is an opportunity for continued support as I try to commercialize research and launch a custom fit bicycle helmet company.
Briefly describe the technology you are working to commercialize. What problems does your technology solve? What impact do you expect it to have on the marketplace?
Through primary and secondary research I’ve found a problem with bicycle helmet fit for riders. In response to the problem, I developed a better product development workflow for improved fit, through a recombination of technologies. The technologies include scanning, surface generation, mesostructure design and production, resulting in new methods of product development for bicycle helmets and other personal protective equipment. The resulting process and technology involves thermoplastic mesostructures that can be repeated and additively manufactured, with comparable impact mitigating characteristics to traditional foam helmets.
How did you become interested in pursuing technology commercialization?
Prior to coming to Virginia Tech I worked for a motorcycle apparel company where I served as a technical apparel designer, as well as a product developer for the bespoke set of limb armor, D3o Aero Pro. For the project I conducted market research, competitor product analysis and evaluated energy absorbing materials for injury prevention. The end result was the development of D3o Aero Pro: the lightest, most flexible, breathable and best vented limb armor on the planet, passing all EN-1621 conditioning. The project was the foundation for my interest in personal protective equipment, as well as the process of going from an initial idea to a final product.
What commercialization activities and training opportunities have you already engaged in through Virginia Tech and other relevant organizations? How have these resources assisted you in advancing your commercialization efforts?
Some of the commercialization activities I've participated in so far include the submission of an Invention Disclosure to VTIP and the awarding of Proof-of-Concept funding from LINK + LICENSE + LAUNCH. In Fall 2021, I completed LAUNCH Startup Labs and formed a preliminary team to explore a possible startup opportunity. This team went on to complete the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Regional Short Course, supplemental entrepreneurial programming offered by LAUNCH, and then was accepted into the competitive NSF I-Corps National Cohort program in summer of 2022. In regards to customer discovery, my paper titled “A Research Focused Approach to Customer Discovery” was accepted for the 2022 IEEE ProComm Conference.
Who will you be working with during this fellowship at Virginia Tech? What expertise and skills do your collaborators and mentors bring to help you advance your training and professional development?
The primary mentors I’ll be working with are Professors Thomas Martin and Andy Schaudt. Tom Martin has spent over a decade researching mass customization, tailoring wearable electronics to the individual, as well as processes for better fit. In addition, Tom is on the executive committee for the Human Centered Design interdisciplinary Ph.D. program, in an effort to promote and apply interdisciplinarity in academia. Andy Schaudt’s work at the institute seeks to directly impact citizens and serve the community through research and commercialization efforts. For vulnerable road users there are rising fatalities, which is receiving high visibility at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. A passive safety approach for vulnerable road users through the development of new bicycle helmet technologies supports these goals.