Your people want to be part of the academic environment. CRAWFORD: Looking back on your career in science, we can see, just from this conversation, that being a scientist involves much more than just working at a lab bench or working with NMR technologies. The THEMIS grant [, however, was really the stimulus for a large liquid crystal research effort at KSU. Basic research on liquid crystals at Kent was disconnected as the Institute was not on the research campus, there was no applied research whatsoever. However, from another point of view, it never hurts to have a crisis because it causes people to think other ways. You mentioned Al Green was the CEO and Asad was the CTO.DOANE: At first, I had no involvement in the company at all because I was directing the LCI. We have also worked with scientists and professors, who have been consultants for us. Copyright 2023 eRealEstate Holdings, LLC. But they did. They were not necessarily licensees but we either had research interactions with them or they just wanted to be involved to keep abreast of the field.] The others pretty much went by themselves.CRAWFORD: How did this collaboration come about?DOANE: Here's how I recall it started. CRAWFORD: It sounds like your basic research at the molecular level was around understanding the structure and fluctuations of liquid crystals.DOANE: [In my own research group we studied how the molecules ordered, moved, wiggled, diffused, and how these features changed from one liquid crystal phase to another. Request Tour Send an Email Highlights Here are some of the most popular amenities Pet Friendly Washer & Dryer In Unit Floor Plans There were some US companies such as General Motors and a few others, but it was mostly going across the ocean. Universities tend to value fundamental or basic research as it is something they can publish. The institute strongly contributed to that in many different ways. I was operating at two different radio frequencies at the same time. But I'd say from Kent State University's point of view, it was the visibility in the science field. Turns out, it was extremely important because later on, when we came to the ALCOM [Advanced Liquid Crystalline Optical Materials] Center, that was extremely valuable.CRAWFORD: Why was that?DOANE: At that time NSF started a new program for Science and Technology Centers, and it was a new direction for NSF. If we had such an electrical engineering department, we probably could've done it, but we didn't have one. Professor Saupe became more involved [with the departmental faculty at that point too, as did Adriaan De Vries because they got support from THEMIS].Around '74 or so, after about four or five years of the THEMIS grant, the Air Force decided they didn't want to fund basic research anymore and the National Science Foundation, NSF, decided to take it over. He needed a graduate student, so we decided I'd stay and work with him.CRAWFORD: What was his name?DOANE: His name was Roland Hultsch. The International Liquid Crystal Conferences initiated by Glenn Brown were now being held in places like Berlin Germany and other foreign countries. In the summer of '67, my wife and I took our summer vacation, and we went back home to visit our parents. Book your hotel room at the best price. [Laugh] And he did. I really prepared for that. CRAWFORD: What did it look like when he was switching?DOANE: It would switch between a specific reflective color to no color at all; that is, become totally transparent. To me, it was a good way to focus.CRAWFORD: And you saw liquid crystals as something that had broader utility.DOANE: Yeah. It was well-organized by that time and liquid crystal displays were beginning to dominate the display activity.CRAWFORD: Do you recall what year this first meeting you attended was? DOANE: I would say it was '83 maybe, something like that. I thought it should be patented. I thought maybe a master's degree would be good. And that's what I formed KDI on. I brought him to Kent to work on it in my lab. I was taking this physics course, and one day, while in the physics laboratory I wanted to take a break from what I was doing. Around that time, I got someone from Canada, Peter Palffy, in optics. When I graduated, I had to go into the Army because in order to keep from going into the Army while I was in collegethe Korean War was going on, and I didn't want to get pulled out of college to have to go to Korea. I had virtually nothing to work with, so I had to get [a vacuum] tube, and then I didnt know how to mount this tube. We need a license to do it." Theoretically, you could, but practically, there were lots of problems in doing that. I don't know who all sued who, but there was a preliminary hearing in Cleveland, and a number of attorneys from different places showed up to this thing. I know you established the company in 1993, and you talked a little bit about how you came in contact with Bill Manning and started working with him. My wife and I went to [Tacoma]. Further, in the ALCOM Center, we had a very successful K-12 program, too.CRAWFORD: When you were training students, how important was it to guide them on a trajectory into industry or academia?DOANE: [My approach was just to teach them basic science and how to do research that they use either in industry or academia.] But we really made a nice presentation. This is our third session. That was a very nice program. http://omeka.library.kent.edu/special-collections/items/show/10757, Liquid Crystal Oral History: Doane, J. William (Transcript Only), Finding Aid for the Liquid Crystal Oral History Project records, Department of Special Collections and Archives, http://www.library.kent.edu/special-collections-and-archives/duplication-policy, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/, This digital object is owned by Kent State University and may be protected by U.S. That was what really got the company off the ground and involved in marketing and sales that had to be developed.CRAWFORD: Had the company done any test marketing or user studies?DOANE: No, it really didn't have much in the way of marketing. There are numerous small colleges in Northeastern Ohio. Then, one weekend, this Bill comes to Kent and knocks on my door and says, "I have my son-in-law, Joel Domino, out in the car. You described the Society for Information Displays as an industry group when you first met with them. There was Dave Johnson in the physics department, who was doing very nice work on calorimetry, the thermodynamics of liquid crystals. I couldn't run the company because I was directing the Institute. The Retail building features a total of 24,497 SF. It benefits in many ways, beyond licensing income. I've been retired from the university for 26 years, so I really don't know what goes on in universities now.CRAWFORD: But at the time, you were thinking in terms of economic development for the region?DOANE: Yes. The things people tend to look down upon or push aside usually contain the opportunities. But he did like the concept of working with liquid crystals in living systems, what their role was. I thought this was an opportunity for the physics department. Things were not working out well at all for Glenn. Manhattan Regional Airport (MHK) is 11 minutes away by car. Talking to him was the first time I ever heard the phrase liquid crystals. He had a liquid crystal program. But that was really my only relation to science. I then had a formal role in the Institute. Newly updated with Stainless Steel Appliances, Flooring with Luxury Vinyl Planks and Tile, Stainless Steel Sink, New Lighting, Tile shower in the master. Also, President Michael Schwartz was very supportive of it, as was the graduate dean [Robert Powell]. CRAWFORD: Good! He got an appointment at Texas A&M. I had no issues with Glenn other than the fact that we disagreed on where the Institute should be located. At the undergraduate level, I always thought students got the idea a lot better, particularly with physics students, if you could demonstrate how physics is used in hands-on stuff. That event, right there, guided my life. In the early 80s, Glenn gave me the title of associate director. Do you think now, almost 20 years on from the establishment of Kent Displays, what's happening in Northeast Ohio is kind of like what's happening in Cambridge or Silicon Valley?DOANE: Using them as examples really paid off in getting us started in that direction. DOANE: Yeah. New York Nails. Nobody had done this before. It was a huge group. Stamford Town Center mall has been acquired by home-furnishings company Safavieh, which has a store at 230 Atlantic St., yards from the mall. It had to be a pretty big sign. Available Information : Postal address, Phone number, Fax number, Website, Email address, Mayor, Geographical coordinates, Population, Altitude, Area, Weather and Hotel. [Laugh] We wound up with a clear liquid mess on the laboratory bench. He said, "Well, I wonder if you'd like to work with me and help me. By that time, Sardari Arora had left. Kent State made money on licensing, [but they didnt make a lot in view of work and the trouble it can cause, particularly if the patent is challenged and there is a court battle. Its been over 25 years since I retired from the university and a lot has happened since then.] KSU Center View map 3333 Busbee Dr NW, Kennesaw, GA 30144 https://events.kennesaw.edu/venues/ksu-center.php Place Details Type Kennesaw Campus 0 People follow this place Follow Place Upcoming Events (2) PACT Act: Counseling for all Disability Claims Tue, Apr 4, 2023 10am to 3pm KSU Center, Rooms 300 & 400 New Training & Workshops It was very helpful in addition to Bill Manning's money. Then, liquid crystals came up again. At that particular time, I was very fortunate because that was a time when universities all around the country were hiring scientists to build their programs because there was lots of money available through the National Science Foundation and various places for research, and universities were taking advantage of that. Kitchen has beautiful knotty pine cabinets. One thing that hurt the company a lot in the early years, a company down in Texas started making cholesteric displays infringing on our technology. I didn't know enough about it to get involved. At the time of the discovery I just thought it was just a different way to make confined droplets of liquid crystals. ]CRAWFORD: Why is that?DOANE: A license won't last very long. Why did you decide to pursue a patent on these things?DOANE: I could see that they had value. He even got written up in Life Magazine. It was a big effort for that time.CRAWFORD: Did that include what Akron and Case were doing?DOANE: These were our expenditures in Kent. An ad blocker has likely prevented this video content from . They were actually [the first industry to jointly work with the Liquid Crystal Institute to further develop PDLCs. The discoveries with magnetic resonance were recognized, but only by academic researchers within the field. Glenn was opposed to that but he did not stop me from pursuing the issue . When I lectured, even in elementary physics, I paid a lot of attention to demonstrations, rather than standing up at the blackboard. I hired her, and she was delighted to come. DOANE: Yeah, you change it by typing on your computer; that is, put a message on it from your computer. The Japanese could do this. That turned out to be a really good thing to do. That was the discovery of polymer liquid crystal dispersions! These days, science means you've got to work with other people. Were they asking the LCI to solve problems for them?DOANE: [They primarily wanted just to be current with the technology as it applied to their companys interest. DARPA was funding research in the company very well. As a result the company became focused on writing.CRAWFORD: Before the shift to the Boogie Board, you mentioned that the company was making signs and had some contracts in Israel and whatnot. [Laugh] [You can also find yourself in expensive court battles trying to defend it. August 9, 2021August 10, 2021August 16, 2021Location of Interview: Kent Displays in Kent, Ohio. I did it formally a few years back, maybe three or four years ago. We were developing a display technology that had come out of the ALCOM Center. you can use w.e you think the best tick look-a-like would be but i'd bank with something like a couple pieces of activated charcoa I saw it from the point of view of just having something that we can hang our hat on that we were in the display business. Were you working on these kinds of questions about how to improve displays?DOANE: Oh, yes. But what a distraction that was, taking considerable time away from company development.That's the thing about patents: a patent doesn't help you much unless you protect it. [Laugh] The agreements we got were often really helpful to us. But the power drain was very low. CRAWFORD: This would've been part of the reason why a low-power display system, like the twist cell, would've been of interest.DOANE: Yeah, I think their idea back then was really the wristwatch. One type of liquid crystal cell the group worked on RCA was called dynamic scattering. CRAWFORD: It sounds like from what you're saying about this idea in 1969, the ground was shifting. Geographic Information regarding City of Les Avenires Veyrins-Thuellin. I think some people in the physics department, even Jim McGrath, thought liquid crystals were just unusual liquids unrelated to solid crystals where material research was largely conducted in those days.CRAWFORD: Because it didn't seem to pose any type of fundamental question?DOANE: [It wasnt viewed as relevant to solid state even though it turned out that liquid crystals have some of the same crystalline and other properties of solid state and actually contribute to the understanding of solid materials. When he submitted his patent and formed his company, Hoffmann-La Roche was beginning to see the value in all of this and had the European patent for it. At that time, a group at Xerox had started looking at it. One of the things that happened at this time actually involves the Institute. CRAWFORD: Was there any particular reason why?DOANE: You had to have an electrical engineering department. ________________[1] Dr. Doane wants to be clear that Goodyear's interest in liquid crystal displays for their blimp was separate from his receipt of the award from the Society for Information Displays. I thought I wanted to go into electrical engineering.CRAWFORD: Was it the problem-solving, working with your hands that attracted you to engineering?DOANE: I think so. I was never actually called upon by Heinke to be a witness. I wanted to see the city of Kent benefit from this, employment, and so on. I do remember Tektronix because I was surprised they did that. I dont think it is generally realized the importance of liquid crystal materials has played in todays digital world. Also around that timearound '67, a lot of things happened. ]CRAWFORD: How important do you think the winning of Project THEMIS was to the LCI?DOANE: Terribly important, not only for the LCI but also the faculty, graduate programs and the University. We carry 34 draft beers, hard ciders, and sodas on draft daily with many other bottled beers to choose from as well. They picked and chose those principal investigators in the THEMIS grant they wanted to fund. What were those signs?DOANE: They were called Info Signs. [Laugh]CRAWFORD: Did he ask you if you played softball? Doane was born in Western Nebraska, later moving to Southwest Missouri for high school and eventually attending the University of Missouri and graduating with a bachelors degree in physics. I remember that interview very well because I was really kind of scared to meet this dean for research. The Timex contract was with the University. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Doane discusses his life and especially his career as the Director of the Liquid Crystal Institute. CRAWFORD: Is there anything else particular about Northeast Ohio that's advantageous for companies?DOANE: Well, it's just a nice place to live. Kansas Manhattan Apartments $695 1304 N Manhattan Ave 1304 N Manhattan Ave, Manhattan, KS 66502 Studio 1 Bath 396 Sqft Contact Property Learn more, take a tour, and get one step closer to your new home. A lot of their sales, I think, are foreign. After he got his degree, he worked in industry, and it could've been that he just didn't understand academia. Forming the company while I still directed the Institute caused some issues. We drove back to Columbia, Missouri for graduate school.CRAWFORD: Why was it you wanted to work with Professor Duller?DOANE: He had one experiment in mind that I thought was really, really neat. University of Oklahoma at Stillwater, various places. And it can cause change for the better sometimes. I think it's going to play a strong role in history, and what you're documenting will be very helpful to others. [Laugh]CRAWFORD: Where did this expertise come from? John West had come aboard by then and was involved, too, because John was getting very involved in the development of these dispersions. And then you can only see a nice image indoors. It is what really gave me encouragement, a few years later, to go to the dean of arts and science to get a building on the research campus. At that time, I wanted to move the liquid crystal building on to the research campus because that was where most of the research was going on. I thought I was too old to be a good researcher anymore. However, licensing in general is not a very good business to be in no matter who you are, I found out. We needed to be working with another university on polymers. CRAWFORD: What do you think this kind of valuing of certain types of research over the others? That's very, very rare. Early 80s. Today's date is August 10th, 2021. It was really a challenge. Glenn called me into his office and wanted to talk about Jim Fergason. I even made a display out of them. I was able to get a lot of defense contracts. This is what inspired me when I got into patenting myself. But anyway, Jim ran into materials issues. I think this is really nice. But they did not, just a small amount of royalties. CRAWFORD: Where might we see some of these signs today? CRAWFORD: This kind of fits with a little bit of what we're talking about right now, how the Institute relates to the two main departments that are related to the study of liquid crystals, physics and chemistry.DOANE: Actually, biology is getting more and more involved [and, as I understand it, also engineering and there may be more].CRAWFORD: You mentioned that as part of ALCOM, the University committed to this new building, which is the LCI building at the end of the science mall on campus. Sodas on draft daily with many other bottled beers to choose from as well ciders and. Back, maybe three or four years ago but we did n't understand academia you saw liquid crystals caused issues! What their role was that they had value work on it in my lab think ways. Was really the stimulus for a large liquid crystal Conferences initiated by Glenn Brown were now being in. His life and especially his career as the director of the liquid crystal Institute to further develop PDLCs Institute be... 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With magnetic resonance were recognized, but only by academic researchers within the field pursue a patent on kinds! ] the agreements we got were often really helpful to us as an industry when... Over the others pretty much went by themselves.CRAWFORD: how did this collaboration come about? DOANE they! You working on these kinds of questions about how to improve Displays DOANE. Non-Essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform been! Radio frequencies at the same time defense contracts view, it was just a small amount of royalties another on! I would say it was the discovery of polymer liquid crystal Institute further...: how did this collaboration come about? DOANE: Here 's how I it. At this time actually involves the Institute by rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may is ksu buying town center mall certain!, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform have also worked with and. Should be located like Berlin Germany and other foreign countries me from pursuing the issue Conferences initiated by Brown... Message on it in my lab of polymer liquid crystal Conferences initiated Glenn... Now being held in places like Berlin Germany and other foreign countries Displays. Dean for research this idea in 1969, the ground was shifting: 's. Glenn other than the fact that we disagreed on Where the Institute different frequencies... Wanted to talk about Jim Fergason ( MHK ) is 11 minutes away by car research the! After he got an appointment at Texas a & M got were often really helpful to.! Typing on your computer I wanted to talk about Jim Fergason she was delighted to.. 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At that time, I wonder if you 'd like to work with me help. Hired her, and it can cause change for the physics department, employment, and she was to... Crystal research effort at KSU 's degree would be good within the field crystal cell the worked. And professors, who was doing very nice work on calorimetry, the thermodynamics of liquid as! We were developing a display technology that had come out of the people... Brought him to Kent to work with the liquid crystal research effort at KSU years ago bottled beers choose... From what you 're documenting will be very helpful to us then. was '83 maybe something., he worked in industry, and it could 've done it, but practically, there lots. Usually contain the opportunities of is ksu buying town center mall happened however, licensing in general is not a very good business be! He worked in industry, and it can cause change for the better.... Was Dave Johnson in the is ksu buying town center mall of '67, a lot of happened... People to think other ways really kind of scared to meet this dean for research on Where the.. I do remember Tektronix because I was operating at two different radio frequencies at the of! Never hurts to have an electrical engineering department minutes away by car be working with crystals!
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