UMaine Graduates Win NSF Science Grant, Cited by Portland Press Herald
Revolution Research Inc., an Orono-based company founded by UMaine graduates Nadir Yildirim and Alex Chasse, will receive $225,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to create a prototype for the first 100 percent eco-friendly thermal insulation foam board, reported in an article in the Portland Press Herald. The award will allow the team to rent space and buy equipment for their own laboratory.
Chase, who graduated from UMaine in 2013 with a degree in civil engineering, is working as a researcher at the university’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center. The company — founded last year — won the UMaine Business Challenge, and a $5,000 award for their business plan.
Yildirim credited the UMaine Foster Center for Student Innovation for the skills he learned that enabled him to be an entrepreneur.
“They taught me not to fear and how to feel the passion. The passion is the strongest part,” he said. “You should believe in what you’re doing, focus on it. No fear. Otherwise, you will get stuck at some point. You need to trust in yourself 100 percent.”