Technical Assistance, Outreach, and Technology Transfer

Project Directors:

Angela Colar
angela.colar@gtri.gatech.edu

J. Craig Wyvill
craig.wyvill@gtri.gatech.edu

Technology Transfer
ATRP continued an active technology transfer program. Three issues (Environmental, Safety, and Automation) of the program’s newsletter PoultryTech were published. Subscriptions to the newsletter totaled more than 1,500 subscribers, including more than 240 subscribers from foreign countries. Two research projects (Augmented Reality and Foreign Object Detection) received extensive coverage in trade publications and on several websites. A full-length feature article on the Biosensor and its potential use for avian influenza (AI) detection was published in Georgia Tech’s research magazine, Research Horizons. The FY 2005 Annual Report was published; the ATRP Program Brochure was updated; and a brochure was produced for the new Food Processing Technology Building. The ATRP website was also enhanced with an expanded corporate-like design and updated project videos.

ATRP once again participated in the International Poultry Exposition, the Georgia Poultry Federation Spring Meeting, and the Night of Knights, preparing exhibits for all three. Poultry World continued to be a major draw at the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry, Georgia. Working with the Georgia Poultry Federation, Georgia Tech helped coordinate the more than 140 volunteers who staffed the exhibit and also updated most of the displays in the exhibit. In conjunction with the Georgia Poultry Federation, the National Chicken Council, and the National Turkey Federation, ATRP hosted the 2006 National Safety Conference for the Poultry Industry in Chattanooga, Tennessee, attracting more than 90 safety professionals and vendors from across the United States. The program also provided tours of the new Food Processing Technology Building and demonstrated research projects to three student groups (52, 5th graders from Creek View Elementary School, Alpharetta, Georgia; 7, 8th-11th graders from a Home School Group, Woodstock, Georgia, participating in the Science Olympiad; and 20, 9th-12th graders from various schools in Columbia County, Georgia, participating in a Youth Leadership Class).

Technical Assistance
Thirty-one technical assists were provided to firms and individuals in the poultry industry across the state. These assists ranged from simple inquiries regarding information or help needed to address a problem to extensive on-site consultation, in which researchers collected data and provided a full report on their findings and recommendations. The program uses input from these assists to gauge situations calling for new research initiatives.