In addition to preparation of a thesis and/or dissertation, all students are strongly encouraged to prepare manuscript(s) of their research results for publication and/or presentation at scientific meetings. The student will gain valuable experience from the efforts that go into publishing results and presenting scientific papers. The student and major professor work closely on such efforts.
There may be cases where graduate student research efforts lead to patentable discoveries. The Board of Regents encourages seeking patents on discoveries as a method of bringing recognition and remuneration to the individuals involved and to the University. If you believe you have a commercially relevant discovery, you should discuss it with NUtech Ventures.
Students are often inventors on patents and their work can have commercial impact. The Board of Regents policy, Sections 4.4.1 and 4.4.2 outline the IP policy at the University (https://nebraska.edu/-/media/unca/docs/offices-and-policies/policies/board-governing-documents/board-of-regents-policies.pdf).
Graduate students may work on proprietary research. However, the size of commitment to proprietary research should be limited, allowing the student adequate time to complete the research and publish the data in the thesis or dissertation, which stands alone in fulfilling this portion of the requirement of the M.S. or Ph.D. degree.