Mojdeh Bahar is the Assistant Administrator for Technology Transfer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

The mission of the ARS is to conduct research to develop and transfer solutions to agricultural problems of high national priority. Bahar has broad responsibility for managing the intellectual property that evolves from the Agency’s research programs, and she serves as a resource for the management of intellectual property and technology transfer across the USDA. She leads ARS's interactions with government agencies, industries, commodity groups, and universities on matters dealing with intellectual property and technology transfer.

For over a decade, Bahar has also provided service to the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) in many roles. Through her FLC service, she has been instrumental in creating new tools and approaches to technology transfer that have benefited all federal labs. Bahar also frequently references the FLC in her interactions with industry and government policymakers.

As Coordinator of the FLC’s Mid-Atlantic Region, Bahar created workshops that brought together federal, state government, university, and industry researchers working in the same area of science, such as nanotechnology and remote sensing. These workshops resulted in new research collaborations and continue today with new topics.

Bahar created a networking group called the Federal Technology Network (FedTechNet) to augment the FLC Mid-Atlantic Region’s (FLC-MA) annual meeting by encouraging lab professionals to meet quarterly to develop new marketing ideas and best practices. She also helped establish a multiparty, multidisciplinary initiative to prepare post-doctoral fellows for corporate positions by creating a class at a local college, known informally as the CSO (Chief Scientific Officer) Boot Camp.

As FLC-MA Coordinator, Bahar worked with regional economic development organizations to showcase federal research and technologies. One such outcome was the launch of the Gateway for Innovation: Federal and Academic Technology Transfer and Commercialization. A goal of the Gateway is to “Provide Matchmaking and Partnering Opportunities Among Interested Business Entrepreneurs, Federal Civilian and Military Laboratories, Academia, Investors, and National Associations and Foundations.”

As FLC National Chair, Bahar led efforts to create the Available Technologies Search Tool, and conceived and led in the creation of the Federal Business Resource, a compilation of funding, programs, and facilities at federal labs that assist businesses with research and development. This tool, now called “FLC Business,” provides businesses with one-stop shopping for federal laboratory information, including technologies available for licensing, laboratory facilities and equipment, funding opportunities, and lab-specific special programs.

Contact: Mojdeh Bahar, (301) 504-6905, [email protected]