Within the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Engineering is a department that got its start working with NASA in the 1980s. Since then, the Engineering and Innovative Technology Development (EITD) team has continued to work with NASA and with other federal partners such as the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as with local partners such as the UAB Heersink School of Medicine.
The EITD, which employs more than 30 people, is a full-service organization that assists customers with services and products through all phases of development, from concept and construction to implementation and operation.
This department has also served as a launching ground of sorts for many UAB innovations. Staff at the Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HIIE), UAB’s technology transfer office, often refer inventors to the EITD when they need help bringing an idea to life.
“A lot of our inventors, particularly clinicians, have creative ideas that they just don’t know how to execute because they’re not engineers,” said HIIE Licensing Associate Wink Crittenden. “The EITD has a team of engineers who are tremendous problem solvers. I refer people to them because I’ve seen the quality of work that they do.”
Astronauts aboard their spacecraft, returning to Earth with UAB-built systems on board.
Andres Morales, a mechanical engineer with the EITD, said he has been able to work on a wide variety of projects for the EITD, including a bioreactor, a three-dimensional printer for cardiac tissue and a device to help surgeons when removing kidney stones.
Morales said the EITD-HIIE partnership has been “incredibly valuable.”
“The referrals from HIIE have led to successful collaboration, increased our visibility on campus and expanded our impact within the UAB community,” he said.
The EITD offers many popular services, including rapid prototyping, Agile software development, engineering analysis, engineering support for grant writing, full life-cycle space vehicle payload development and mission support, and fabrication, assembly and testing.
Morales said the EITD includes mechanical, electrical and software engineers, as well as experts in systems integration and prototyping.
He said the EITD is available whenever needed to help propel UAB discoveries to the next level.
“The EITD is a resource for turning innovative ideas into reality,” Morales said. “Whether it’s developing cutting-edge biomedical devices or supporting space missions, we are here to help bring your projects to life.”
To find out more about the EITD, visit the department’s website.
-- Jan. 23, 2025