Learning Tech Transfer Through Internship with Jessica Trostel

Today Lisa is speaking with her guest, Jessica Trostel. Jessica is a Licensing and Intellectual Property Associate with Colorado State University (CSU) Ventures. Before working with CSU Ventures, Jessica was a senior clinical trial coordinator for an investigational drug study for renal transplants, an extern in the Technology Transfer Office, and research assistant at the University of Colorado, and a patent agent clerk at Faegre Baker Daniels.

Jessica has a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Northern Colorado, a double B.S in Cellular, Molecular & Developmental Biology and Biochemistry, and a Master's Degree in Intellectual Property Law from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Currently, while working full time, Jessica is pursuing a Master's Degree in Engineering at Colorado State University and studying to take the Patent Bar.

Jessica shares her background, how she ended up at Colorado State University, and the challenges with getting started in Tech Transfer; she also gives some advice to anyone wanting to get into Tech Transfer. Listen as she shares how important she believes networking with people in the industry can be and about CSU Ventures and what they do.

Jessica talks about how her office is structured and the average number of disclosures and patents they have had over the last five years. Jessica chats about what she believes is most important in managing innovations to have the greatest opportunity for success and some of the most successful startups that have come out of CSU Ventures.

Listen as Jessica speaks about how getting the word out about CSU Ventures and what it does is one of her office's biggest challenges. She shares some programs that CSU offers to assist and encourage women inventors and entrepreneurs and the value organizations like AUTM bring to Tech Transfer. Jessica speaks about credentialing and the weight she believes it carries in the industry, plus she chats about her vision for CSU in the future.

In This Episode:

• [01:47] Welcome to the show, Jessica!
• [02:05] Jessica shares her background and how she ended up at Colorado State University.
• [04:10] Jessica speaks about how difficult it was to get into Tech Transfer.
• [06:23] Listen as Jessica shares how she's been learning about tech transfer through her internship.
• [09:17] What advice do you have for people looking to get into Tech Transfer?
• [10:30] Jessica shares about CSU Ventures and what they do.
• [11:11] Jessica talks about how her office is structured.
• [12:58] Jessica speaks about their ambassadors and where they get them.
• [15:26] They have had 560 disclosures in the last five years with a steady increase each year, and they average 140 patent files each year.
• [16:19] How many active licenses have you executed over the last five years?
• [17:04] Jessica shares what she believes is most important in managing innovations to have the greatest opportunity for success.
• [17:46] Jessica discusses some startups that have come out of CSU Ventures.
• [21:22] Jessica speaks about some of her office's biggest challenges.
• [23:15] Lisa and Jessica chat about how mind-boggling it is that more people don't know what Tech Transfer is.
• [25:57] Does Colorado State have any programs to help encourage and assist women inventors and entrepreneurs?
• [27:16] Jessica discusses what organizations besides AUTM she is involved with and the value she believes they bring.
• [29:16] Jessica believes that credentialing is great and carries weight in the industry.
• [30:23] Jessica's vision for CSU Ventures is a more cohesive strategy to disseminate knowledge through scientific discovery.
• [32:22] Thank you for being on the show!

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