USF innovator coming to TBIC this Wednesday, August 28th

Hello Inventors,

     The next Tampa Bay Inventors Council meeting features an innovator who is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Florida, City Commissioner of the City of Safety Harbor, and the Program Director of the Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System at the University of South Florida.  Dr. Clifford R. Merz received B.S. & M.S. degrees in Ocean Engineering, a M.S. degree in Civil Engineering/Water Resource Engineering, and also the Ph.D. degree in Engineering Science from the University of South Florida.  He will share his experiences as the President and founder of Dialytics, Inc., a technology start-up company focused on research and commercialization of salinity gradient based ocean energy technology.  Dr. Merz’s research focuses on providing advance severe weather warning to coastal regions and enhancing the water/energy nexus technical knowledge - including the application of renewable energy and water purification techniques. 

He will discuss what USF brings to the research/inventor community - with a look at groups such as the newly forming Florida Inventors Hall of Fame, Patents and Licensing, the National Academy of Inventors, the Tampa Bay Technology Incubator and USF Connect.  Although some of the USF resources are only for USF personnel, other services, workshops, and presentations are available to the public as well.  He will help define these opportunities to public inventors, including potential collaboration with USF researchers/inventors/start-up companies.  Dr. Merz is working to strengthen community development through closer connections between local businesses and surrounding school and educational training programs.  Please join me in welcoming him to TBIC this Wednesday, August 28^th at 7887 Bryan Dairy Rd, in Largo from 7-9 pm.  Get connected with the people who are making things happen right here in our community!

See you there,

Wayne

P, TBIC