Sarah Bauer, in her outstanding support and longstanding commitment to the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC), fully personifies the qualities of the Harold Metcalf Award.
Since 2007 she has been active in the FLC, serving as Chair of the Education and Training (E&T) Committee and an FLC Executive Board member in 2008. Her work and influence have touched the entire federal laboratory community and gained prestige for the FLC in the process.
During Bauer's tenure, the E&T Committee has delivered a wealth of learning opportunities for FLC members. The Committee offers a strong core of training courses, with leaders in the technology transfer (T2) community and industry experts helping students develop skills and knowledge that today's federal T2 professionals need. An entire generation of T2 professionals have been educated under her leadership, at a consistently high standard of quality that FLC members have come to expect, and she has led several expansions to the E&T program.
She made the best of a tough situation with webinars, video on the FLC YouTube channel, and efforts toward on-demand e-courses.
In addition to courses offered at FLC national and regional meetings, Bauer has guided the Committee in developing online learning opportunities. From 2012-2013, she oversaw the launch of e-books, the FLC's first webinar series, and its first on-demand e-learning course (" Introduction to Technology Transfer" ). When the 2013 national meeting was canceled, she stepped up to preserve the opportunity to learn. She made the best of a tough situation with webinars, video on the FLC YouTube channel, and efforts toward on-demand e-courses.
Since then, the FLC has grown its online offerings, with four new on-demand e-courses and more in development; white paper releases; and a high-quality webinar program. In 2015, Bauer engaged the American Management Association (AMA) to deliver an intensive negotiation class online--one that typically requires three days out of the office and costs as much as $2300 per person--which was offered to FLC members at no cost for a few hours a week. These accomplishments have had wide-reaching impact. They provide " just-in-time" learning to new professionals, help ORTAs train lab scientists, and create a forum to discuss best practices, particularly crucial with ever-growing travel and funding challenges.
After seven years at the helm, Bauer continues to show vision and dedication. Her ideas for the future include connecting new FLC members with a pool of mentors, launching a scholarly journal about T2, growing a certificate program, and more. She is also active in the Interagency Working Group on Technology Transfer and several subcommittees, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy Lab-to-Market Summits; has shared her expertise with women technology professionals as part of a State Department program; and helped NASA with benchmarking its T2 efforts.