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WKU Home -> News -> Release
 Northwest Nuclear LLC, a small business specializing in materials characterization, communications tracking technologies and services, and nonproliferation support, is the newest tenant in the facility at WKU’s Center for Research and Development. The Small Business Accelerator, which opened in January 2005, houses 12 companies plus the Central Region Innovation and Commercialization Center. The Accelerator recently received state funding to build eight more suites for clients, according to ICC Executive Director Buddy Steen. “The companies located in the WKU Small Business Accelerator provide excellent job opportunities that would not exist without this facility,” Steen said. “The Accelerator offers the infrastructure needed to create bottom line business reasons for these emerging companies to locate in Bowling Green.” The mission of the Central Region ICC is to facilitate the creation and growth of science and technology companies. The goal for the Small Business Accelerator is to attract emerging companies, grow them and then keep them in Kentucky, Steen said. “The Accelerator is full of excited entrepreneurs and we’re hoping to extend the spirit of entrepreneurism throughout our region,” he said. The facility offers 300, 600 and 1,200 square foot suites for clients and provides fiber-optic computer and communications networking. “We are a state-of-the-art facility that provides small companies with the amenities of large companies,” Steen said. Northwest Nuclear has 10 full-time and part-time employees with years of experience in government and commercial business endeavors, including research and development, design and production, program and project management, and support for international programs, according to Melinda Whitfield Humphrey, Kentucky District Manager. The company is currently under contract to develop an explosives detection system for the U.S. government and was attracted to the facility because the company has worked with WKU’s Applied Physics Institute on other projects, she said. “We are very excited to have an office in Bowling Green and are looking forward to growing in the community,” said Humphrey, who is a WKU graduate with a degree in physics. “Our growth depends on the success of our current contracts but the future is bright and we do expect to hire more employees.” Companies like Northwest Nuclear and Electronic Warfare Associates, another tenant at the Accelerator, benefit from being physically located in the same facility as some of WKU’s top research laboratories, such as WKU’s Applied Physics Institute and the Institute for Combustion Science and Environmental Technology, Steen said. “The combination of high-tech industry and the university’s world-class intellectual capital at the WKU Center for Research and Development elevates applied research at WKU and creates opportunities and jobs in our region,” Steen said. “We are prepared to host a broad range of companies at the Small Business Accelerator. Our tenant companies range from first-time entrepreneurs, professors and students that need a facility to test their business model to existing R&D companies that desire to locate in the area.” A few more suites are available at the facility and Steen is taking applications for the eight new suites that will be built this year. For information, visit http://www.centralregionicc.com or call (270) 901-3491. More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu. For information, contact Buddy Steen at (270) 901-3491. |
