Regional and Deputy Regional Coordinators

Amanda Corbel is the partnership alliance manager at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR), the only federal laboratory focused solely on biomedical research. Within the Center for Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, Amanda supports the FNLCR’s mission to accelerate progress against cancer and AIDS by creating partnerships between the lab’s scientists and external research communities. She also manages programs that aim to advance scientific discoveries and inventions through the development pipeline to de-risk and attract technologies for both partnering and licensing.

Amanda has been an active member of the FLC since 2020, and she is deeply involved in the Mid-Atlantic Region activities. She has supported the current Mid-Atlantic Regional and Deputy Regional Coordinators in surveying and meeting various laboratories in the region to learn more about their technology transfer, licensing and business development activities. By engaging the labs, they identified common problems across the agencies. This process led to a pilot program, the Federal Lab Education Accelerator (FLEX), to address a common lack necessary resources for active marketing, licensing and general technology assessment FLEX fosters long-term collaborations between federal labs and academic institutions by connecting entrepreneurial students with federal labs’ technology portfolios. Amanda has led FLEX since its launch in 2021, and as the FLEX program manager, she maintains close relationships with the participating federal laboratories' tech transfer staff and inventors. FLEX has now expanded to all FLC regions, and all federal labs are invited to join. Currently, more than 20 federal labs and 10 universities are participating in FLEX, and the FLEX portfolio includes more than 100 federal technologies.

In addition to her role in the FLEX program, Amanda is a member of the FLC Facilitate Committee. As a member of the Facilitate Committee, she works with committee members on ways to increase engagement and partnerships that connect the private sector with federal laboratories. She also helped plan and organize the 2021 Mid-Atlantic & Northeast Regional Meeting, 2022 Mid-Atlantic Partnering for Economic Development Meeting and FLC FLEX Program Member Connect.

She holds a BS in biology from Shepherd University and an MS in biotechnology and business management from Mount Saint Mary’s University. She is also a certified project management professional through the Project Management Institute. She is currently pursuing her PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Stephen Crutchfield is the deputy of the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific Technology Transfer (T2) office. In this role, he promotes, facilitates and expands T2 activities for the lab utilizing CRADAs, licensing and partnerships. He also assesses lab research while promoting and marketing the lab’s technologies and innovations that may have commercial appeal.  

Stephen began his tech transfer career in 2009 by developing marketing materials to promote NIWC Pacific technologies available for commercialization. His responsibilities grew to encompass all things T2, including agreement facilitation (CRADAs, license agreements, education partnership agreements and partnership intermediary agreements), innovation ecosystem engagement, invention assessment, marketing and T2 training for NIWC Pacific employees. He has facilitated over 150 T2 agreements covering a broad range of topics.  

Stephen holds a double BA in communications and religion from Vanguard University and an MA in television, film and new media production from San Diego State University. 

Joe DiRenzo is a retired U.S. Coast Guard officer who spent nine years in the Navy, serving both in the submarine and surface warfare communities. In 1991, he transitioned to the Coast Guard and was assigned to several cutters including command of USCG Cutter Jefferson Island, and had 14 years of sea duty upon his retirement.

In October 2015, he assumed his current position at the USCG Research and Development Center, where he facilitates collaborative research with other national labs & research facilities.

Joe is one of the most published authors in Coast Guard history. A five-time winner of the service’s prestigious JOC Alex Haley award, he has published more than 300 articles on maritime terrorism and port security. He is a 2013 co-recipient of the INFORMS Wagner Prize. He is the co-editor of the first ever book on Maritime Cyber Security – Issues in Maritime Cyber Security, published in 2017.

Joe is a 1982 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, holds MBA from California Coast University, and is a graduate of both the Naval War College and Marine Corps Command and Staff College. He completed his PhD in Business Administration (Homeland Security Specialization) at Northcentral University in Prescott, AZ.

Amanda Jelsema, a Technical Business Development Specialist at Sandia National Laboratories.

Zarpheen Jinnah is a technology transfer manager within the National Cancer Institute’s Technology Transfer Center. Zarpheen provides technology transfer (T2) support to labs within the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development. She works with mission-oriented labs in ensuring their research and development is transferred appropriately through the drafting and negotiating of various agreements, such as CRADAs and other T2 vehicles. She also works closely with researchers to review invention disclosures, pioneering patent protection where appropriate and facilitating licensing of NIH inventions to industry partners and stakeholders in the marketplace. Additionally, Zarpheen works on T2 policy and procedure reviews in the Department of Health and Human Services’s Public Health Service Technology Transfer Policy Manual.  

Zarpheen received a bachelor's degree in biology from Emory University. Soon after graduation, she joined the Emory National Primate Research Center’s Division of Pathology, working in a research lab focused on modeling human infectious diseases in relevant nonhuman primate models, primarily HIV/SIV. In 2016, she began her T2 career in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office of Technology and Innovation. 

Zarpheen has participated in FLC in working groups to assist in the review and updates of both the FLC Desk Reference and the Green Book.

David Lee is a Technology Transfer Associate in the Technology Transfer (T2) Office within the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center (DEVCOM AC) headquartered at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey.

As a part of the DEVCOM AC T2 Team, David is responsible for all aspects of DEVCOM AC’s technology transfer practice including executing cooperative research agreements (with domestic, international, academic and industry partners), overseeing the DEVCOM AC patent portfolio, developing intellectual property licensing and marketing strategies, and facilitating and executing strategic partnerships, and agreements with other Federal and State partners.

David began his career with the Army as a Presidential Management Fellow working in labor relations and management employee relations. David received an AB in Government from Dartmouth College, a JD from Indiana University School of Law- Bloomington, and a BS in Biochemistry from Arizona State University. David is admitted to practice law in New Jersey.

Kimberly Minafra is the program specialist for Technology Transfer (Software Release, Licensing) at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center. In this role, she orchestrates licensing agreements for NASA’s technology transfer and commercialization efforts by building relationships with partners and stakeholders. She also leads the NASA Ames Software Release Authority (SRA) by ensuring the application of NASA software and technology to private industry while providing guidance to NASA inventors. In addition, Kimberly leads the review of candidates for NASA’s Invention of the Year and Software of the Year competitions, and she works with universities that participate in NASA Technology Transfer University, which allows students to assess NASA technology and software for their projects and degree programs. 

Kimberly has more than 25 years of project management and communications experience largely focused on aerospace, science and technology programs. She builds communities by maintaining strong relationships with partners and other NASA centers. Kimberly has been active with the FLC as the Promote Communications subcommittee Chair for the past two years. She received her BA in communications from Lynchburg College.

Kristine Moes is a VA Field Technology Transfer Specialist based in Tampa, Florida serving the VA medical centers in the state of Florida. She is responsible for negotiating technology and research-related agreements with private sector companies, Universities and other public and private entities and directs the prosecution of patent portfolios arising from the efforts of VA inventors within the state. She also manages VA-University relations related to technology transfer occurring at the VA research centers in Florida. 

Kristine has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Central Florida, and a Juris Doctorate from Stetson University College of Law. It was during her final year of law school that her love for technology transfer became apparent, she interned with the University of South Florida (USF) Technology Transfer Office. 

Prior to arriving at the VA, Kristine was a Licensing Associate at USF for five years. At USF Kristine started as part of the Physical Sciences team but quickly showed that she had knowledge useful in medical device technologies. Her docket became a combination of physical and life sciences. She was responsible for managing her portfolio of technologies from initial disclosure through licensing and the maintenance of the licenses. She has also worked with start-up companies formed at the University that leveraged the Florida High Tech Corridor Matching grants program and the ICORPs program. 

Andy Myers is the Technology Transfer Lead at the Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC) operated by Honeywell. In this role, he supports scientists and engineers through the invention disclosure and patenting process, works to commercialize or transfer appropriate technologies outside the campus, and coordinates efforts between the federal space and industrial/academic partners.

Myers has over twenty years’ experience directing research in academic and industrial environments, cultivating and managing partnerships, securing external funding, and coordinating intellectual property. Previously, he served as the Executive Director of the Kansas Polymer Research Center, the Business and Technology Institute, and the PSU Research Foundation at Pittsburg State University (Pittsburg, KS).

He is an inventor on three patents and received funding from DOE, NASA, NSF, DOD, and EPA. Andy earned a BS from Purdue University, a PhD from the University of Rochester (both in chemistry), and has an M.B.A. from Pittsburg State.

Meghan Sheehan is a technology transfer professional with over 15 years of experience, currently serving as Federal Technology Transfer Act (FTTA) specialist at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Before joining the EPA, Meghan held positions in academic and nonprofit technology transfer offices and led a technology transitions team at an Air Force Research Laboratory Partner Intermediary and Innovation Institute. Meghan is passionate about finding the right partner to move innovations forward on the development pathway to becoming fielded products and services that make a difference for the public good.

At the EPA, Meghan is part of a team that performs Office of Research and Technology Applications (ORTA) functions for the entire agency. Her main roles include invention mining, marketing and sourcing strategic partners for invention development. Additionally, she assists in the creation and negotiation of technology transfer agreements including CRADAs, data use agreements, material transfer agreements, and non-disclosure agreements. Meghan is an active member of FLC’s Awards Subcommittee, and she previously served on the Lab-to-Market Tech Transfer Tools and Services Subcommittee.

Meghan has a BS from Calvin College and a JD from School of Law at Case Western Reserve University. She registered as a patent agent in 2007 and Certified Licensing Professional in 2020.

Sharon Soucek directs the Office of Technology Transfer at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), based out of North Carolina. Her office supports NIEHS researchers to partner with their counterparts in academia, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector to deliver innovations that will benefit human health. Sharon earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Northeastern University and her PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from Emory University. Her career in technology transfer began with a licensing internship in Emory University’s office of technology transfer. After graduating, she worked as a technology transfer specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she negotiated agreements for establishing research collaborations and transferring research materials, performed invention assessments, and devised marketing strategies for technologies developed in the Center for Global Health. She was awarded the FLC 2016 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award for supporting the commercialization of a Candida infection diagnostic.