UAA adds first student inventor to Patent Wall of Fame

What you don't want to do when you're enjoying a leisurely day of fishing on the Kenai is reel up and hightail it out of there because a furry visitor is looking for fast food. Alaskans love their fish and their bears, just not at the same time, thanks.

So, a few years ago, when it was time for UAA Honors College student Alex West to drum up an undergraduate research project, she was thinking like an Alaskan. Raised on the Kenai Peninsula by two wildlife biologists, she knew properly managing fish waste goes a long way toward keeping fishing hot spots bear-free.

"My dad was the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge manager and the Russian River-one of the areas they cover-has a lot of issues with human-bear interactions and fish waste," said West. "They've looked at different things-hand grinders, trying to encourage anglers to pack the whole thing out or cut [carcasses] in small pieces and throw them back."

The hand grinders haven't been popular. And even the responsible anglers who try to throw chopped up carcasses back into the river run into trouble. Slow currents or eddies catch the bigger pieces and churn them right back up on shore, a smelly come-and-get-it dinner bell for area bears.

A hydro-powered fish waste grinder

After settling on civil engineering as her major-a mash-up of art, science and math, her three favorite subjects-West wanted to find a way to guarantee some time away from a desk. She found hydrology and hydraulics, a field she has continued to study as a graduate student at UAA.

Her undergraduate Honors project idea dovetailed with her research interests: designing a fish waste grinder that could float in a waterway. West designed the grinder to harness the power of the currents to chop up fish waste and return those nutrients to the ecosystem.

She found willing community partners in U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Alaska Department of Fish & Game and others concerned with waterway health and safety to help her with her project.

Becoming Alex West, the inventor

West was completing her project in 2011 when her Honors College advisor, Ron Spatz, mentioned her work to Dr. Helena Wisniewski, UAA's vice provost for research and graduate study.

"After discussions with Alexandra I felt that her invention met the three important criteria for pursuing a patent. It was novel, non-obvious and useful," said Wisniewski. "In addition, she shared with me that she had observed a need firsthand that her device could benefit fishermen, and the environment, with the potential to contribute to the economy. She believed in her invention and its benefits, and her enthusiasm was wonderful."

That her idea was patentable came as a surprise to West. Once the initial shock wore off, she was ready to work with UAA to make it a reality. Over the next few months, she provided the UAA Office of Research with copies of her two-dimensional models and filled in all the pertinent details.

Three years later, in September 2014, West got the call that her invention had made it through the hurdles to be assigned U.S. patent number 8,833,682 B2.

West's patent is the fifth, and newest, addition to UAA's Patent Wall of Fame. Her invention shares wall space with previous innovations from UAA faculty and staff-gaze tracking and iris scanning (Bogdan Hoanca and Kenrick Mock), introducing genetic material into mammal cells (Eric Holmberg), demineralizing bone (N. Jane Shelby and partners) and a message/advertising embedding method (Helena Wisniewski and partners).

She is the first UAA student to make the patent wall, but there are several more hot on her heels with patents pending, said Dr. Wisniewski.

"I never thought it would get to this point," West said with a laugh. Her schedule is packed, working full time for PND Engineers and writing her graduate thesis, but she's looking forward to working with an interagency group to make her invention a reality in the next three to five years.

She would love to see some UAA engineering students tackle the challenge as their senior design project. In addition to refining the hydraulics designs, students could flex their structural engineering and applied engineering science and technology expertise and collaborate with community and government entities to determine environmental impact.

"I'll stay involved," West said, a sentiment that was echoed by the vice provost. Wisniewski lined out the next steps-build a prototype, test it and develop a marketing strategy.

With the help of committed community partners and some additional engineering talent, West is optimistic about the future of her invention. "If we can get students working on it in the next year and get a more complete design, then have an actual engineer stamp it and get it fabricated, we'll try to get it built!"

Written by Jamie Gonzales, UAA Office of University Advancement