CofC Professor Named SCRA Applied Researcher of the Year
The South Carolina Research Authority named Joe Carson the Applied Researcher of the Year. The National Institutes of Health gave his federal Small Business Innovation Research proposal a 'unicorn score.'
Joe Carson was recently named the Applied Researcher of the Year at the South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) annual summit in Columbia, South Carolina.
The College of Charleston astrophysics professor is the brains behind one of TIME magazine’s Top 10 Science Discoveries of 2009, and the founder of Pensievision, a medical device startup and SCRA Member Company that incorporates NASA satellite technology into a low-cost, handheld 3D imaging device to address the third most common cancer worldwide and the leading cause of cancer death in women in developing economies: cervical cancer.
RELATED: Find out more about Joe Carson’s work with Pensievision.
As a testament to the critical need that Carson and Pensievision are fulfilling, their federal Small Business Innovation Research proposal received a rare perfect score from the NIH – something unheard of, which is termed the unicorn score.
The SCRA summit’s theme was “Founders First,” and celebrated the hard work of founders growing our state’s innovation economy. It was a time for SCRA-supported and -funded entrepreneurs, startups, project leaders and members of the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to come together, network and learn more about how to grow their businesses successfully. The success of these startups results in economic growth and new jobs for the state that pay 70% higher than the state’s average.
Chartered in 1983 by the State of South Carolina as a public, nonprofit corporation, South Carolina Research Authority fuels the state’s innovation economy through the impact of its comprehensive services to technology-based startups, academia and industry. SCRA provides funding and support to accelerate the growth of academic startups; high-quality lab and administrative workspaces; facilitation and funding for partnerships between and among industry, startups and academic institutions; assistance and funding for the relocation of technology-based companies to South Carolina; and coaching and funding for startups that may also receive investments from its affiliate, SC Launch Inc.
