Dr. Tom Martin, dean of Eastern Kentucky University’s (EKU) College of Business, has been honored with the Thomas M. Martin Visionary Award by Kentucky Commercialization Ventures (KCV) at its inaugural Innovation Celebration in June. The award recognizes Martin’s role in shaping the vision for KCV’s founding.
An initiative of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation, KCV partners with Kentucky universities and colleges to advance research and create pathways to commercialization.
KCV was born out of Martin’s idea to create a statewide partnership supporting research at regional universities.
“As a regional institution, our primary role at EKU is instruction, but we are still a faculty deeply engaged in research, and are compelled to accelerate and apply innovation. University R&D at all levels, in all disciplines, has been a key driver of our country’s economic, cultural, and intellectual vitality,” said Martin.
Before Martin was named dean, he served as associate provost for research and economic development at EKU, and McFaddin encouraged Martin to pursue his innovative idea. Martin pitched a partnership between the University of Kentucky and EKU to strengthen EKU’s research capabilities, focusing on STEM disciplines and protecting intellectual property. After this partnership was announced in 2018, it quickly became recognized as a blueprint for the state, and KCV launched in 2020.
Starting with an investment by the state, KCV received an $8.25 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support research infrastructure at Kentucky higher education institutions.
“By itself, that would be a tremendous accomplishment, but Derrick Brent, the former deputy under secretary of commerce for intellectual property, called what Executive Director Kayla Meisner and her team at KCV are doing across the state, a model for the rest of the country to emulate,” said Martin. “ No other state has this kind of statewide partnership.”
Research projects at EKU that are partnered with KCV include:
“To have my name attached with a mission that supports faculty, students and institutions across the Commonwealth to build the culture that allows those Kentucky ideas to go further—is incredibly meaningful,” said Martin.
Martin, a 1993 and 2001 EKU graduate, leads the College of Business, and its mission as part of the School of Opportunity, with a student-centered commitment to developing leaders through applied and interdisciplinary instruction, research, and collaboration, positively impacting the world.
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