Megan Aanstoos is a Licensing and New Ventures Manager for Kentucky Commercialization Ventures (KCV). In this role, Megan is responsible for outreach and education on matters related to commercialization, along with assessing, managing and licensing intellectual property developed at KCV partner institutions. Megan is also actively involved in launching start-up companies and fostering collaborations between partner institutions and third-party collaborators. She is interested in creating inclusive innovation ecosystems and advocating for EDI within the entrepreneurial space.
Megan will moderate the session, Addressing the Diversity Gap in Intellectual Property Filings on Thursday, March 30 from Noon to 1 p.m. ET
Victor Assad is the CEO of Victor Assad Strategic HR Consulting and Managing Partner of InnovationOne, LLC. He works with companies to transform human resources (HR), conduct executive and technical searches, implement hybrid work, and improve leaders, teams and cultures of innovation. Victor has led HR from Mumbai to Milano, for fast growth and high-technology businesses including Honeywell and Medtronic. He holds an MA in Human Resources and Industrial Relations from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and has executive leadership certifications from Harvard and Kellogg. He and his wife live in Scottsdale, AZ.
Victor will be speaking at the session, Leveraging Culture to Improve Technology Transfer Performance on Thursday, March 30 beginning at 12:45 p.m. ET.
Tamsen focuses her practice on various patent matters which include domestic and foreign patent prosecution, and strategic development of patent portfolios. Her experience emphasizes formulation, chemical, and biotechnology related matters and experience includes the areas of clean energy technologies, renewable energy and biofuels, skin care formulations, nutraceutical formulations, non-dairy alternative products, pharmaceutical delivery formulations, pharmaceutical development, medtech and medical devices, plants, organic chemistry, and chemical coatings. Tamsen counsels clients regarding the development, management, and commercialization of commercially valuable intellectual property portfolios on a global scale. She has significant experience with the preparation of enforceability, validity, patentability, and freedom-to-operate opinions and provides due diligence review of intellectual property to companies and investors. Tamsen's patent prosecution practice includes all aspects of drafting and prosecuting patent applications before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, including appeals before the Patent and Trademark Appeal Board. She also supervises the prosecution of patent applications before many foreign patent offices. Tamsen holds a B.S. in biochemistry from Iowa State University and a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. La Shaun Berrien is Vice President, Research Administration and Innovation Management at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF). Her career includes more than 20 years of research and business development experience within academic, federal, and commercial laboratories. She has held multiple tech transfer director positions at HJF and spent several years as a principal consultant at the Berrien Caldwell Group. She earned a PhD in mechanical engineering with a focus in biomechanics from Virginia Tech and a bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a Registered Patent Agent.
La Shaun will be speaking at the session, Accelerating Technology Transfer and Innovation Through Agency Foundations on Wednesday, March 29 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET.
Dr. Paul Campbell is a co-founder and managing partner at Brown Venture Group, LLC, a venture capital firm exclusively for Indigenous, Black and Latinx tech-enabled startups and founders. Prior to launching Brown Venture Group in 2018, Paul was a telecommunications sales executive as well as a serial entrepreneur, launching startups in IoT and media production, and was one of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s 2021 40 under 40 recipients. Paul holds a PhD in social entrepreneurship and an MBA in global business Management.
Paul will be speaking at the session, Infusing Federal Technology into Start-Ups 2.0 on Thursday, March 30 from 2 to 2:45 p.m. ET.
Ethan Cohen has over 20 years of experience in executive positions at healthcare and technology-enabled service companies. He currently serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at JumpStart and UH Ventures, the CEO of Hemaptics, a blood management solution, and the Acting CFO of Land Energy, a manufacturer of electric motorcycles. Previously, Ethan served as the CEO of Turning Technologies, a leading provider of interactive engagement and assessment solutions. After transitioning this company to a SaaS business model and expanding its mobile capabilities, he negotiated its sale to a private equity firm. Prior to this, Ethan served as the CEO of Easy2 Technologies, a provider of interactive merchandising solutions that was acquired by Answers Corporation. Ethan was also the Chief Technology Officer of MedQuist, the world’s largest medical transcription service, and he served as a Senior Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company, an international, management consulting firm. Ethan has an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, where he graduated with Distinction, and an A.B. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard College, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.
Brian Darmody is the Chief Strategy Officer at the Association of University Research Parks (AURP) and its former CEO. Previously he worked at the University of Maryland College Park and the University System of Maryland in a variety of economic development and research administration roles, in the President's and Chancellor's offices, and in the Office of the Vice President for Research. Previously, he was a staff member for a U.S Congresswoman and member of Maryland House of Delegates and served in the U.S Health Care Financing Administration Office of Attorney Advisor.
Brian will be moderating the session, How Federal Labs Can Build Communities of Innovation on March 30 from 2:45 to 3:30 p.m. ET.
John Dement supports the Department of Defense as the T2 Senior Advisor at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC). He has served the FLC in various Board roles including Chair. John is active with the Interagency Working Group on Technology Transfer (IAWGTT) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Lab2Market activities to promote federal research and innovation.
John has been a Navy civil servant since 1990 at NSWC Crane. From 2007 to 2014, he served as the lab’s ORTA negotiating 140+ licenses and collaborative agreements. He served the State of Indiana under an IPA (2015-16). John has served as a Systems Engineer in Program Office, Science Advisor to the Fleet, and F-15E structural engineer. He holds a BS in Civil Engineering and an MPA.
Dr. Brooke Dobni is a Professor of Strategy and the founder of InnovationOne. He has published over 40 papers on the relationship between innovation and performance and developed the InnovationOne Culture Assessment process. He has consulted with companies around the globe, helping them to advance their innovation platforms. In his academic capacity he has served as the Dean of the Edwards School of Business and held the PostashCorp Chair.
Brooke will be speaking at the session, Leveraging Culture to Improve Technology Transfer Performance on Thursday, March 30 beginning at 12:45 p.m. ET.
Dr. Rita (nee McCardell) Doerr has been employed by the National Security Agency (NSA) for over 38 years. During that time, she has held numerous positions within both the Signals Intelligence and Research Directorates. Dr. Doerr was a Visiting Researcher at Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Machine Translation where she was completing research towards her Ph.D. She has also served on an Overseas assignment in Europe for five years.
Initially hired as a Cryptologic Mathematician, Dr. Doerr was also assigned to the Technology Directorate as a Computer Science Researcher. She holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from Notre Dame University of Maryland (formerly College of Notre Dame of Maryland). Her advanced degrees are both from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC): Masters in Applied Mathematics and Ph.D in Computer Science.
Dr. Doerr returned to NSA in 2014 from a three-year teaching assignment at the United States Naval Academy (USNA)’s Center for Cyber Security Studies (CCSS) which served as her Joint Duty Assignment. During this time, she taught the required freshman (“plebe”, 4/C) course Introduction to Cyber Security and Technical Foundations and the required junior (2/C) course Applications of Cyber Engineering.
Dr. Doerr is currently assigned to the National Cryptologic School (NCS)’s College of Cyber as a Cyber Instructor. While assigned to the NCS, Dr. Doerr was accepted into NSA’s Senior Technical Development Program (STDP) in 2017 focusing on cybersecurity education and training. Before joining NSA’s Office of Academic Engagement for her last STDP tour, she recently completed an assignment with the Maryland Air National Guards’s 175th Cyberspace Operations Group as a Cyber Instructor at the Warfield Air National Guard in Middle River, Maryland. Upon graduating from the STDP, Dr. Doerr became the inaugural Academic Outreach Lead for NSA’s Cybersecurity Directorate.
Donna M. Ennis, C.P.F provides leadership across all Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute units to develop collaborative funding opportunities and provide services to assure the integration of diversity and inclusion into programs and operations. She co-leads the Georgia Artificial Intelligence Manufacturing Technology Corridor (GA-AIM) project funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration to develop equitable talent deployment and innovation in Georgia. Ennis is the current operator representative and former project director for the Georgia Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Business Center and the SE MBDA Business Growth Hub. Under her leadership, the MBDA programs have assisted companies in generating over $6.4 billion in contracts, financing, and sales and creating or retaining more than 7,000 jobs. Ennis has been at the forefront of helping MBEs learn and understand the role that technology plays in scaling businesses. She has mentored hundreds of business owners and frequently presents to audiences on minority business issues, business challenges, and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Joe Fox is president of FX Consulting, LLC, a consulting firm for the specialty chemicals and materials industries. A 40-year veteran of the chemicals industry, Joe served as the Director of Emerging and External Technologies at Ashland Chemical and INEOS Composites, coordinating their collaborations with other companies, universities and federal laboratories. Joe has been active in the Innovation Research Interchange (IRI), throughout his career and was Chairman of its Board in 2019-2020. Joe is also Director of the Miracle League of Central Ohio, a baseball league for special needs children.
Joe will be speaking at the session, FLC Outreach to Start-Ups: Opening the Aperture on Wednesday, March 29 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET.
Aaron originally hails from Phoenix, Arizona and has always had a passion for clean energy and entrepreneurship. After starting numerous companies throughout high school and college, Aaron founded Petra Power in October of 2017 with his Co-Founder, Phillip Clift. The Founders' Pragmatic belief in combating climate change with cost-effective existing technologies drew them to the power and versatility of solid oxide fuel cells. Aaron has a B.S. in Physics, a B.S. in Chemistry and a certificate in Political Science from Chapman University in Orange, California. Aaron has a PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University, where his research in plasma physics focused on magnetic reconnection events relevant to fusion energy. In June 2022 Aaron relocated to Cleveland Ohio and now calls Ohio City home with his partner and their 3 year old lab-mix, Rawlings.
Laszlo Gyorffy is the founder of LBG (www.LBGinnovate.com), an international consulting and training firm headquartered in Silicon Valley. He is the former VP of Global Services for IdeaScale, President of the Enterprise Development Group, and Manager for Deloitte US. For over 27 years, he has worked with organizations to help them innovate faster, smarter and with greater impact. He is a certified instructional designer and trainer and has delivered programs like the Innovation Advantage to clients like BP, Cigna Healthcare, Discovery Communications, Homeland Security, Hewlett Packard, Kaiser Permanente, Phillips and Stanford University.
Laszlo will be moderating the session, Leveraging Culture to Improve Technology Transfer Performance on Thursday, March 30 from 12:45 p.m. ET.
Dr. Benjamin Harvey is the Founder and CEO of AI Squared. He has a BS in Computer Science from Mississippi Valley State University and a Master and Doctor of Science in Computer Science from Bowie State University. He worked for over a decade in the Department of Defense at the National Security Agency where his last position was the Chief of Operations Data Science. He is a research professor at George Washington University, Bowie State University and also a Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University.
Ben will be speaking at the session, MSI Collaborative Working Groups: Solving Mission Problems on Wednesday, March 29 from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. ET.
Dr. Whitney Hastings is a senior technology transfer professional with the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Technology Transfer Center. She has decades of experience in technology transfer leading numerous technology transfer initiatives and managed diverse portfolios including therapeutics, medical devices, cosmetics, software and food safety technologies.
Prior to joining the NCI, Whitney was an Intellectual Property and Partnerships Manager at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where she had a pivotal role in expanding the office to include patenting, licensing, enforcement and in growing the number of technology transfer partnerships at several FDA Centers. Before joining FDA she spent several years at NIH's Office of Technology Transfer (OTT), where she was a Senior Licensing and Patenting Manager and Acting Branch Chief of the Cancer Branch. Before working in technology transfer, Whitney worked in industry as an engineer with Corning, Inc. and was a fellow in the NCI Nanobiology program. She graduated with a BS in mechanical engineering and a minor in bioengineering from Clemson University and completed her master’s and PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Whitney is the past Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Awards Chair and currently serves on the FLC’s Executive Board as the Promote Committee Chair where she leads the efforts to promote and recognize noteworthy technology transfer efforts of all Federal Government laboratories and oversees three subcommittees – Strategic Communications, Website, and Awards.
Robert Heard is a Managing Director and Founder of Development Capital Networks (DCN) and Cimarron Capital Partners, two affiliated firms specializing in development lending and equity investing as a service to local economic development. Robert is an angel investor in technology companies focused on space launch components, drone flight safety, water testing, insulin delivery, fintech and subsurface reservoir imaging. A member of the FLC’s National Advisory Council for two decades, Robert is also active with the Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Cluster Initiative for Oklahoma and the Droneport Network.
Robert will be speaking at the session, FLC Outreach to Start-Ups: Opening the Aperture on Wednesday, March 29 from 1 - 2 p.m. ET.
Kelli Howie is a Technical Business Development Specialist at Sandia National Laboratories, where she leads the Center for Collaboration and Commercialization. Kelli was named the Department of Energy Technology Transfer Working Group’s Early Career Professional of the Year in 2020 and FLC’s Rookie of the Year in 2022. Her leadership of the Diversity and Inclusion in Inventorship and Entrepreneurship Strategies and Engagement – Women, or DIVERSE-W project, focuses on increasing participation in technology transfer and commercialization efforts by women researchers at national laboratories.
Kelli will be speaking at the session, Addressing the Diversity Gap in Intellectual Property Filings on Thursday, March 30 beginning at 12:45 p.m. ET.
Since 2018, James Keating has served as Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL) Technology Transitions Strategic Investments Manager. Jim has two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing and software industries and as a venture capitalist specializing in technology startups. At INL, Jim has been instrumental in leading Energy I-Corps participation, creating and teaching an internal I-Corps Lite program and enhancing innovation culture at INL. Jim has an M.Eng in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington and an MBA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Jim will be speaking at the session, Leveraging Culture to Improve Technology Transfer Performance on Thursday, March 30 beginning at 12:45 p.m. ET.
Molly Kocialski is the Regional Director of the Rocky Mountain Regional U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Focusing on the nine states within this region, Molly ensures the USPTO’s initiatives and programs are tailored to the region’s unique ecosystem of industries and stakeholders. Molly has more than 20 years of experience with intellectual property for high tech companies, including Oracle America, Inc. and Qwest Corporation. A graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law, she is a registered patent attorney and is admitted to the USPTO, New York and Colorado state bars.
Molly will be speaking at the session, Addressing the Diversity Gap in Intellectual Property Filings on Thursday, March 30 beginning at 12:45 p.m. ET.
Dr. Benjamin LaFrentz has been actively conducting basic and applied research in the area of aquatic animal health for the past twenty-three years, with a special emphasis on pathogenic Flavobacterium spp. Prior to employment with the USDA-ARS, he worked collaboratively with the rainbow trout aquaculture industry in Idaho on research projects aimed at understanding host immunity against Flavobacterium psychrophilum, the causative agent of bacterial coldwater disease, and vaccine development.
Since beginning employment with the USDA-ARS, he has been applying his expertise towards Flavobacterium columnare as well as other important bacterial pathogens of channel catfish and tilapia. Through these projects, he has conducted research on the identification and characterization of host immune mechanisms, identification and characterization of immunogenic antigens, vaccine development, identification of bacterial virulence factors, molecular diversity of pathogenic bacteria, and selective breeding for disease resistance. The goal of this research is to develop new methods for disease prevention that will improve the productivity, quality, and profit of important aquaculture species.
Dr. LaFrentz holds an appointment as an Affiliate Assistant Professor at the University of Idaho and Auburn University and serves as a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Fish Diseases. He also maintains involvement and membership in the Fish Health Section of the American Fisheries Society, the World Aquaculture Society, and the European Association of Fish Pathologists. He is a Past President of the American Fisheries Society Fish Health Section.
Russell Levine is a Partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he has spent his entire 36+ year career. His practice includes patent infringement matters, disputes related to technology transfer and patent license agreements, and structuring and negotiating both licensing-in and licensing-out transactions. Russell holds a JD from the University of Chicago and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He also is a Certified Licensing Professional and a past President of the Licensing Executives Society (USA and Canada).
Russell will be speaking at the session, Top 10 Mistakes Commonly Made When Drafting and Negotiating Patent License Agreements on Thursday, March 30 from 4 - 5:30 p.m. ET.
Jade Lockard is the Founding Program Director for the HBCU Founders Initiative (HBCUFI), the non-profit arm of Nex Cubed. Through funding, programs, events, and mentorship, the organization supports students and alumni of Historically Black Colleges and Universities in their pursuits of early-stage entrepreneurship.
She currently serves on The Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta Junior Board and The Jon Onye Lockard Foundation Board. Jade is also a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Jade is a proud native of Atlanta, Georgia, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education Studies from Spelman College.
Ms. Lisa Marianni joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Technology & Innovation as a Health Scientist, Scientific Marketing. Lisa facilitates the transfer of federally-developed technology to the commercial market by conducting analytical assessments on the potential of inventions/technology; studying and evaluating market trends and needs; identifying strategies to facilitate and grow industry collaboration; enabling business development and technology commercialization; and providing assistance in guiding discoveries to market through new partner/venture creation and development.
Ms. Marianni manages marketing and communications for CDC’s Office of Technology and Innovation which includes the Technology Transfer Office. Lisa is a Registered Nurse and combines a clinical background with 20+ years of experience in healthcare marketing. Prior to joining CDC, Ms. Marianni served in a variety of management roles including Principal Consultant in Marketing Strategy, Senior Director in Client Services for an online start-up, and Global Products Manager/Director (externally) for a Fortune 500 company. Ms. Marianni received her master’s degree in business administration, with a concentration in marketing, and a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
Renee McDonald grew up in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. She attended the Baltimore City public Schools graduating from the Forest Park High school. Later she attended Morgan State University where she graduated with a B.S. in Mathematics then one year later a B.S. in Computer Science. She went on to earn a M.S. in Computer Science from Bowie State University and an MBA from the University of Maryland. Currently Ms. McDonald is pursuing a PhD at the University of Maryland Baltimore County in Computer Science.
Over the past four years Ms. McDonald has worked as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and the University of Maryland Global Campus. She enjoys teaching Computer Science to students from freshmen to seniors.
She has enjoyed working in the technical field at several government agencies including NASA, Health and Human Services and the DOD. She has worked on such notable projects as The Hubble Space Telescope, NOAA satellite Data Capture System and the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program.
In her spare time Ms. McDonald enjoys writing fiction stories as she has published two anthologies and one historical fiction. She also enjoys bowling and helping others learn the finer points of the game.
Mikaela McShane joined the NASA Technology Transfer Expansion (T2X) team from the Technology Transfer office located at the Kennedy Space Center, where she led communications and marketing efforts for the program. In her current role as the T2X Program Coordinator, Mikaela engages with entrepreneurial ecosystem leaders, academic institutions, and other government agencies to create relationships and bolster pipelines for the commercialization of NASA technologies. Mikaela has a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Marketing Communications from Florida State University. Mikaela is interested in the intersection between inclusive entrepreneurship and leading-edge technology development. She is excited about a future with expanded access to entrepreneurship and increased awareness of sourcing solutions to Earth's challenges from space technology.
As a Project Scientist at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, Dr. Aubrie O’Rourke works within the Space Crop Production (SCP) group as the resident microbiologist and participates in bioregenerative life support systems (BLSS) planning from a SCP perspective. As a Project Scientist, Dr. O’Rourke works to support flight grants which conduct science on the International Space Station (ISS) as well as to support ground-based controlled environment horticultural projects in collaboration with the USDA focused on plant health monitoring using advanced imaging techniques. Dr. O’Rourke is a Technologist serving as the Principal Investigator on an early career award to design and engineer an autonomous sequencer for spaceflight platforms in support of microbial and plant health monitoring. Dr. O’Rourke earned a Bachelor of Science degree from UC San Diego, a Master’s degree from UC Merced in Quantitative and Systems Biology focused on coral polyp development and a PhD from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia in molecular marine biology focused on natural product drug discovery. She was awarded a NASA postdoctoral fellowship under the Microbes of the Built Environment (MoBE) Program to characterize the genotypic and phenotypic response of microbes from the ISS while at the J. Craig Venter Institute before joining NASA.
Dr. Martin Page leads the operational water team and has worked as a researcher at the Engineer Research and Development Center of the US Army Corps of Engineers since 2010. Over the last decade, he has led several innovative research and development programs focused on gray water recycling; direct potable reuse technology; validation methods for water reuse systems; methods for mitigating harmful algal blooms; and new materials and methods for water treatment. In support of the military mission, Dr. Page’s primary objective is to eliminate the need for water resupply on the battlefield. In support of the civil works mission, Dr. Page’s primary objective is to mitigate the impacts of harmful algal blooms (HABs) on national water resources through the development of a new process called the Harmful Algal Bloom Interception, Treatment, and Transformation System (HABITATS).
Dr. Page holds four patents and has received several awards for his research efforts, including the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service, the USACE Innovation of the Year in 2020, and a Technology Merit Award from the Environmental Business Journal in 2021. Dr. Page is an active member of the Interagency Water Treatment Working Group (WaTr) and supports the Water Reuse Interagency Working Group as the USACE committee representative. He also participates as a member of the National Blue Ribbon Commission for Onsite Non-Potable Water Systems. Dr. Page received his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 2009.
Richard R. (Dick) Paul, an independent consultant with 40 years of R&D-related management experience, chairs the FLC National Advisory Council. He retired in 2000 from the U.S. Air Force as a Major General after serving 33 years, and in 2007 from The Boeing Company in 2007 after seven years as a vice president. He has worked in three Air Force laboratories and was the first commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory. He has also served on the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR/STTR) Advisory Committee and the Innovation Research Interchange Board of Directors.
Dick will be moderating the sessions, FLC Outreach to Start-Ups: Opening the Aperture from 1 - 2 p.m. ET and the Lab Directors Forum from 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. ET both on Wednesday, March 29.
Vanessa Peña serves as the Policy Lead and Senior Program Analyst for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Technology Transition. Prior to her current role, she was a Research Staff Member at the Institute for Defense Analyses Science and Technology Policy Institute. She has extensive experience conducting research and policy analysis for DOE and other federal stakeholders, including the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation and National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Vanessa will be moderating the session, Partnership Intermediary Agreements: Where Do We Go From Here? on Wednesday, March 29 from 10:45 - 11:45 a.m. ET. She will also be speaking at the session, Accelerating Technology Transfer and Innovation Through Agency Foundations on Wednesday, March 29 from 1 - 2 p.m. ET.
Karen Presley is the Deputy Director of the Office of Research and Technology Applications at the National Security Agency (NSA) where she leads a team of technology professionals that creates partnerships to accelerate the exchange of expertise between NSA and other government agencies, academia, and industry.
With a JD from Texas Southern University, Karen has experience as an intellectual property attorney with Washington DC law firms, a patent examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, an electrical engineer with the FBI and a computer systems engineer within the private sector.
Karen will be moderating the session, MSI Collaborative Working Groups: Solving Mission Problems on Wednesday, March 29 from 3:45 - 4:45 p.m. ET.
Kalpana Reddy has over 15 years of hands-on experience in the area of intellectual property and technology transfer law and policy. She is a licensed patent attorney with experience in patent prosecution, patent litigation and transactional matters. She began her career supporting the business and R&D operations of a Fortune 500 chemical company and later represented a wide range of technology companies in private practice.
Ms. Reddy entered the field of federal technology transfer in 2005, first joining U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Technology Transfer and, now currently serving as the Acting Chief for the Department of Homeland Security’s Technology Transfer and Commercialization Branch. At both the USDA and DHS, she leveraged her experience to successfully protect, promote and commercialize federal technologies through licensing and cooperative partnership and research opportunities.
Ms. Reddy’s prior experience also includes serving as the USPTO Regional Commercial Officer for Intellectual Property Rights for South Asia at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India from 2010-2015 where she promoted high standards of intellectual property protection and enforcement and also developed programs to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation. Over the course of her career, Ms. Reddy has held positions of increasing responsibility including supervising a team of professional staff; managing budget and office operations; developing standard operating procedures and policies; and serving as a subject matter expert on intellectual property law and policy at national and international conferences. Ms. Reddy holds a B.S. in Biology and a M.S. in Biotechnology in addition to her law degree and is a member of the Virginia State Bar.
Kirsten Rieth works with Federal labs, industry, and regional innovation ecosystems to facilitate technology commercialization, knowledge transfer, and economic growth. She currently supports several Federal innovation ecosystem initiatives where she is standing up the Economic Development Administration’s Building Better Regions Community of Practice, supporting ecosystem engagements for NASA’s T2X program, and conducting ecosystems analysis for other Federal labs.
Kirsten has extensive experience engaging with industry to determine needs and value for new programs, technologies, or partnerships. She works with regions to establish innovation collaboratives and support stakeholder engagement for public-private partnerships. For corporate clients, she directs innovation projects that include ideation, idea selection and management, and innovation landscaping.
Kirsten has an MBA from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business, and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. She is a co-author on the recent A Blueprint for Building an Innovation Corridor which examines the potential for longer-term industry cluster growth along with people and place-based initiatives.
Harvey Schabes manages Glenn’s intellectual property portfolio and ensures that Glenn technologies are made commercially available to benefit the national economy and the U.S. public. Harvey has almost 34 years of NASA experience. He joined the TTO in October 2015 and served as the Senior Strategy Manager where he coordinated the overall Space Act Agreement area, as well as other key Office, Directorate, and Center-wide activities.
Prior to joining the TTO, Harvey also served in numerous positions in support of the International Space Station Program, including several positions here at Glenn as well as three separate tours of duty at NASA Headquarters. Harvey joined NASA in 1983 as a research engineer developing new computer models for predicting the performance of new de-icing systems and performed extensive testing in the Icing Research Tunnel.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toledo. He has received numerous awards for his accomplishments and leadership including the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and NASA Group Achievement Honor Award for both NASA’s Business Systems Gap Analysis Team and the Competency Management Team.
Dr. Courtney Silverthorn is an Associate Vice President for Research Partnerships at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH). Previously, Courtney was the Acting Director of the Technology Partnerships Office at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She has also held tech transfer and policy roles at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research and the National Cancer Institute. Courtney has a PhD in Pharmacology from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and an MS in Leadership from Washington University in St. Louis.
Courtney will be moderating the session, Accelerating Technology Transfer and Innovation Through Agency Foundations on Wednesday, March 29 from 1 - 2 p.m. ET.
Jesse Smith has served on the Industrial and Economic Development Partnerships team at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) since 2014. Jesse’s responsibilities include working closely with industrial partners interested in collaborating with ORNL and supporting regional economic development efforts.
Prior to joining ORNL, Jesse served as the Director of Technology at the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley, where he helped both existing and prospective companies understand how to capitalize on the region’s unique technology resources. He also worked in Economic Development at the Mississippi Power Company, in Business Development at Dickten Masch Plastics and as the Manager of Marketing and Economic Development at the Mississippi Polymer Institute. Jesse is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps where he worked in confidential communications and navigation systems.
Jesse is well-respected as a polymer scientist and economic development professional at ORNL and throughout the region. Jesse holds a B.S. in Polymer Science and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. Jesse is also an artist that uniquely sculpts with carbon fibers.
Jason Stolworthy is Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL) Director of Technology Deployment. Over his career, Jason has specialized in matters related to innovating, protecting, transferring and commercializing technologies developed from research conducted at universities, private international organizations and national laboratories. Jason is a registered patent attorney with a JD from University of Idaho College of Law. He also has earned bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and biochemistry from Idaho State University and a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Idaho.
Jason will be speaking at the session, Leveraging Culture to Improve Technology Transfer Performance on Thursday, March 30 beginning at 12:45 p.m. ET.
Carroll Thomas is a senior advisor for the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP) program, president of Charles in Charge LLC business consultancy and a member of the FLC National Advisory Council (NAC). She has more than 35 years of public and private sector experience as a small business owner, Director of the Hollings MEP and Acting Associate Director of Innovation and Industry Services at NIST, and Associate Director for the Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Center program. Carroll has an MBA from the John Hopkins Carey School of Business.
Carroll will be speaking at the session, FLC Outreach to Start-Ups: Opening the Aperture on Wednesday, March 29 from 1 - 2 p.m. ET.
Patricia Tomczyszyn, Technology Transfer & Commercialization Program Manager for the Minority Business Development Agency has been a public servant for most her career. Her work includes 18 years as Customer Relations Manager and Special Projects Officer for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority in Washington, DC. Shortly after joining the Federal Government in 2012, Ms. Tomczyszyn learned about technology transfer and is now passionate about sharing the “nation’s largest seed fund” with minority-owned businesses, HBCUs, tribal colleges and other minority-serving institutions.
In 2018, she developed the MBDA InVision Tour, which travels nationwide to demonstrate how minority Industrialists and Innovators can access grant funding for R&D; license government technologies to develop new products; use Federal Government laboratories and equipment to develop new products.
Dr. Andrew Toole is the Chief Economist at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and a Research Associate at the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW). Andrew joined the USPTO with experience in the private sector, academia, and government. After completing his PhD in economics at Michigan State University, Andrew went to Stanford University as a postdoctoral student before becoming a faculty member at Illinois State University and Rutgers University in New Jersey. His research focuses on the economics of innovation, intellectual property, and related science and technology policies.
Andrew will be speaking at the session, Addressing the Diversity Gap in Intellectual Property Filings on Thursday, March 30 beginning at 12:45 p.m. ET.