Kentucky State faculty, staff, students, and recent graduates recognized through statewide innovation and commercialization programs

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Innovation often begins with a practical question: What problem needs solving, who can benefit, and how can research, Extension, entrepreneurship, and student learning help move an idea into use?

Compelling answers to that question were visible June 17, when Kentucky State University faculty, staff, students, and recent graduates were recognized during the Kentucky Commercialization Ventures Innovation Celebration.

The event highlighted programs that help researchers, students, staff, and emerging entrepreneurs test ideas, assess market potential, and move promising concepts toward practical use. For Kentucky State, the recognition reflected how innovation is woven across disciplines and roles — from aquaculture, controlled environment agriculture, and environmental studies to computer science, athletics, residence life, business, and startup partnerships.

Dr. Patrick Erbland, assistant professor of aquaculture technology and management; Arnold Katende, senior Extension associate for horticulture, controlled environment growing; and Nischal Sapkota, a Kentucky State graduate student, were recognized as IMPACT Award winners.

The IMPACT Competition encourages ideas that can improve social, health, or economic conditions and gives students, faculty, and staff at KCV partner institutions the opportunity to compete for awards of up to $25,000 for their institutions to help bring those ideas forward.

Dr. Jamaal Jackson, associate athletic director of academics and student support, was recognized as a Mid-South REACH Cycle 3-5 winner. Mid-South REACH, or Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub, is a National Institutes of Health-funded program that supports biomedical and health-related innovations through education, mentorship, and financial support.

Other Kentucky State participants advanced ideas through customer-discovery programs designed to help innovators answer an essential early question: Does this concept solve a real problem for the people it is intended to serve?

Through Launch Blue’s UAccel, a University of Kentucky-based regional I-Corps program, and LaunchIt, a University of Louisville program within the NSF-funded Mid-South I-Corps Hub, participants completed early commercialization training focused on market need, user feedback, and product validation.

The Kentucky State group represented several areas of University work and study, including computer science, aquaponics, agricultural and biological systems, environmental studies, and student entrepreneurship.

The University’s presence also extended to INVENT Startup Internships, which connect participants with startup companies working on emerging technologies. Keon Henderson, Kentucky State’s 2026 salutatorian and a recent business administration graduate, participated through Essential Innovations.

Henderson brought the perspective of a student-athlete and entrepreneur, having served as a two-year captain and starter for the men’s basketball team while also developing an athlete consulting and media solutions company. As well, Erica Jones participated through FreshFry (BOROS), and Kshitij Poudel worked with AquiSense.

Chandra DeRamus, Extension agent for Family and Consumer Sciences in Hardin County and interim Extension associate for Family and Consumer Science, represented Kentucky State through the KCV Innovation Fellows program. The fellowship provides commercialization training, networking, and coaching for participants interested in helping innovative ideas reach the marketplace.

The celebration also connected to a broader effort to strengthen research and innovation systems at the University. Kentucky State is a partner in KCV EDGE, a National Science Foundation-supported initiative focused on research infrastructure, research administration, and external funding capacity. The KCV EDGE Year 2 Impact Report identifies Dorothy Daley, director of Sponsored Programs, as Kentucky State’s KCV EDGE champion and co-principal investigator.

For Kentucky State, those efforts support the infrastructure behind the people and ideas recognized at the June 17 celebration.

As an 1890 land-grant institution, Kentucky State’s innovation work is practical by design: research that can be tested, teaching that can prepare students for changing fields, Extension that can reach communities, and partnerships that can turn promising ideas into public benefit. The KCV recognition offered a statewide view of that work — and of the faculty, staff, students, and recent graduates helping move it forward. Additional information about Kentucky Commercialization Ventures is available at kycommercializationventures.com.