Santa Cruz Works Awarded UCSC 2023 Community Changemaker

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On May 30, 2023, UC Santa Cruz held the inaugural Chancellor’s Innovation Impact Award Program dinner. This new program celebrates the university’s talented faculty, researchers, staff, students, and community partners for their outstanding contributions to innovation and creativity. The three award categories were:

Innovator of the Year

  • Russell Corbett-Detig and his team have developed a computational tool called UShER (Ultrafast Sample Placement on Existing tRees), which has become instrumental in the fight against COVID-19. UShER allows real-time tracking of SARS-CoV-2 and helps researchers identify new virus lineages.
  • Visualizing Abolition is the nation’s most ambitious and sustained art and prison abolition initiative. The project examines the ways people see and understand issues of mass incarceration, detention, and policing in the United States and abroad, challenging the prevailing social, economic, and political worldviews that prisons promote. The initiative was developed by Dr. Gina Dent and Dr. Rachel Nelson, with support from the Mellon Foundation.

Lifetime Achievement in Innovation

  • The Lifetime Achievement in Innovation award, which acknowledges a faculty member’s influential and innovative contributions with long-term societal benefits, has been bestowed upon Research Professors Emeriti of Biomolecular Engineering, David Deamer and Mark Akeson. As the co-inventors of nanopore sequencing, their pioneering work has revolutionized DNA and RNA reading, significantly influencing our understanding of human genetics. Their award includes a $5,000 grant, which they can allocate to a division, department, or lab of their choice to bolster innovative research endeavors.

Community Changemaker

  • Santa Cruz Works (“SCWorks”) has been awarded the Community Changemaker award for their remarkable contributions to regional economic prosperity in the Santa Cruz region through innovation and entrepreneurship. SCWorks has significantly aided UC Santa Cruz by enhancing awareness of their research and its global impacts, expanding SCWorks’s digital footprint during the pandemic, and connecting PPE-producing companies with the university. Their efforts have helped students and innovators develop entrepreneurial skills, evident in their instrumental role in establishing CruzHacks and supporting campus startups via SCWorks’s accelerator program. More than half of the first cohort were UCSC startups. Now in its fifth cohort, the program has supported more than 50 companies in starting their businesses in Santa Cruz, many from UC Santa Cruz. They also played a vital role in bringing Launchpad ’22 and Blue Innovation ’22 to campus, events aimed at supporting research, businesses, and stakeholders interested in water management and ocean climate solutions.

Read the Press Release: https://news.ucsc.edu/2023/06/chancellor-innovation-awards.html

Parallel Flight Technologies Inks Multi-Million-Dollar Aircraft Deal

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La Selva Beach, CA, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Leading heavy-lift drone developer, Parallel Flight Technologies, announces a significant deal involving the sale of 50 autonomous aircraft to India-based drone and robotics solutions provider, UAV Systems Private Limited (UAVS). Alongside the deal, Parallel Flight will also ensure seamless functioning of these platforms through its continuous maintenance, repair, and overhaul services. Deliveries under this agreement are set to commence in 2024.

This monumental agreement marks a pivotal step in Parallel Flight’s international expansion, strengthening its position as a top-tier UAV solution provider in India. The alliance will bring forth customer-centric solutions that blend cutting-edge technology, safety, high efficiency, and affordability across various industries.

UAV Systems Private Limited, supported by various prominent Indian conglomerates, is an expert in UAV solutions, demonstrating a solid track record in penetrating emerging markets with turnkey solutions. The Indian market exhibits broad acceptance of drone technology across sectors such as energy, agriculture, renewables, mining, conservation/reforestation, defense, law enforcement, and several other industrial logistics applications.

“We chose to collaborate with Parallel Flight owing to their unique technology, inventive approach, customer comprehension, and the commendable backgrounds of their team,” states Arab Khan, CEO of UAV Systems. He adds, “The proficiency of their scientists and engineers in creating outstanding heavy-lift drone technology fills a technology gap in India. We are excited about this partnership and anticipate the demand for Parallel’s units to increase to over 500 in the upcoming years.”

Read more here: https://www.santacruzworks.org/news/parallel-flight-technologies-inks-multi-million-dollar-aircraft-deal

Island Conservation and Parallel Flight Technologies Partner

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Island Conservation, a leading global nonprofit organization that restores and protects island-ocean ecosystems by removing destructive invasive species, has announced a strategic partnership with Parallel Flight Technologies, a California-based company specializing in heavy-lift drone and hybrid propulsion technology.

This partnership is expected to advance Island Conservation’s critical island restoration initiatives to new heights.

Islands are biodiversity hotspots that are home to an incredible range of birds and terrestrial animals, as well as abundant marine life in the surrounding ocean. However, they are also vulnerable to destructive invasive species, such as rodents that destroy natural habitat. Roughly 75 percent of reptile, bird, amphibian, and mammal extinctions combined have occurred on islands with invasive species as a primary cause. Removing this threat is crucial to ensuring ecological balance and diversity.

“Frequently, conducting invasive species eradications in order to protect these ecosystems involves huge logistical and resource challenges,” says David Will, Head of Innovation at Island Conservation. “Because of this, we have pioneered the use of drones in invasive rodent eradications to overcome the cost and skill barriers to conventional ground and helicopter-based approaches. However, we’ve reached the limits of what current all-electric drone technology can achieve.”

The solution lies in hybrid unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) with large payload capacities and long-range capabilities that can meet the demands of conservation interventions in remote locations. Parallel Flight Technologies offers a groundbreaking aircraft with hybrid propulsion technology that gives it a combination of lift, endurance and portability which are ideal to advance Island Conservation’s field efforts.

“We see this technology as a game-changer, and we believe that it will allow us to achieve our goal to restore globally important islands more efficiently, effectively and sustainably,” says Will.

The aircraft can carry and spread a total payload capacity of approximately 100 pounds (45 kilograms) for over 1.6 hours of flight time and can autonomously fly pre-programmed flight paths while accurately delivering bait at prescribed application rates. The hybrid propulsion technology is highly efficient and relies on locally sourced fuels, eliminating the need for costly, wasteful batteries. It also dramatically reduces the carbon footprint and power requirements of continuous aerial operations in remote locations.

“Our work with Parallel Flight Technologies is timely, inspiring and necessary,” says Penny Becker, Vice President of Conservation at Island Conservation. “The continued development and adaptation of Parallel Flight Technologies’ autonomous heavy-lift drone technology will enable a significant increase in safety parameters and exponentially increase efficiency over traditional methods. With this drone technology, we will be able to restore islands on a much larger scale and in remote places that were once prohibitive, protecting more island wildlife, oceans and communities.”

Islands are biodiversity hotspots. Restoring islands is repeatedly proven to be one of the best interventions for protecting biodiversity and creating resilient, thriving ecosystems. Photo: Island Conservation.

Read More: https://www.santacruzworks.org/news/island-conservation-and-parallel-flight-technologies-partner-to-revolutionize-the-restoration-of-islands-worldwide