University of Wyoming Receives $500,000 Grant to Support Businesses

The University of Wyoming’s Manufacturing-Works was recently awarded a $500,000 grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology that will help support Wyoming businesses.

The grant is part of $12 million in grants NIST recently awarded to Manufacturing Extension Partnership centers in 11 states.

“This is going to allow us to continue to assist Wyoming manufacturers, and one of our goals is continuing to help with diversifying the Wyoming economy,” says David Walrath, interim director of Manufacturing​-Works, and a former UW professor of mechanical engineering.

The agreements have five-year periods of performance that begin April 1, and NIST will provide nearly $60 million in total funding to MEP centers during that time.

Walrath says Manufacturing-Works will receive $500,000 for each of the next five years from NIST. After the third year of the grant, the organization has to be re-evaluated to continue receiving the grant; and then again after five years.

“Our organization has been here for 21 years,” he says. “We assist small- and mid-sized manufacturers. We help them grow their business and technology.”

Walrath mentioned the following as companies Manufacturing-Works recently assisted or is currently helping: firearms manufacturers HIVIZ, based in Laramie, and Magpul, located in Cheyenne; Kennon Products, an aircraft parts and accessories manufacturer based in Sheridan; Casper-based McGinley Orthopedics, which has developed products to advance orthopedic medicine and improve patient outcomes; Puma Steel, a steel fabricator and supplier; and L&H Industrial, a Gillette business that provides railroads, mining companies, and oil and gas with services and machinery.