Technology Transfer Sessions
Research and the Entrepreneurial Mind
Dr. Elfi Kraka: Chemistry in Silico: From Protein-Metal Complexes to Drug Design on SMU’s Supercomputers – shares practical perspectives on how computational research can inspire industry, highlighting two examples: simulation of proteins that remove metals from wastewater streams and the development of a novel platform for accelerating drug design.
Dr. Mahesh Krishnamurthy: Doing Research with an Entrepreneurial Mindset – Dr. Mahesh Krishnamurthy shares his journey through the process of incorporating customer discovery into research and innovation. He will share his experiences with 24 patents that are currently market-deployed and his journey around the patent he and his team filed with SMU.
Dr. Emily Choi: From Lab to Market: Thinking like an Entrepreneurial Researcher – discusses how researchers – faculty, students, and postdocs – can increase the real-world impact of their discoveries by validating problems, engaging potential users, and validating market demand.
Commercializing Your Discoveries
Ms. Katie Cashman Rogers: From Idea to Commercialization – discusses the importance of identifying a socially relevant problem and nurturing it through to building the “First Solution” and protecting it. She also addresses the next steps to move from prototype to product and the transition to market entry.
Dr. Craig Rosenfeld shares the path to navigate research through the stages to achieve FDA approval as well as general research in biotechnology.
Mr. Wayne Stacy: From Innovation to Marketplace–The Modern Reality of Product Development – discusses both IP protection and considerations in the event of litigation. His experience in many facets of IP protection, including as Director for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Silicon Valley Office, provides an important perspective for anyone wishing to protect and commercialize their inventions.
About the Presenters
Dr. Craig Rosenfeld: Founder, Third Coast – Healthcare Ventures
Building on his distinguished career as a board-certified hematologist, Dr. Craig Rosenfeld is well known in both the oncology and biotechnology realms. He serves on the Oversight Committee of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). Dr. Rosenfeld is the current Chairman of the CPRIT Product Development Subcommittee, which has a $1 billion investment portfolio. Some previous positions include Chief Scientific Officer and senior Vice President at SuperGen®, which led to the FDA approval of the chemotherapy drug Dacogen®; CEO at Collaborative Medicinal Development; and on the Board of Vivat Therapeutics. Through his many connections, Dr. Rosenfeld brings deep knowledge of the Texas and biotech ecosystem.
Dr. Elfi Kraka: Professor of Chemistry, Head of SMU’s Computational and Theoretical Chemistry group (CATCO), Director of Graduate Studies of SMU’s unique PhD program in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry
In 2021 she was named Dedman Family Distinguished Professor and in 2023 Harold A. Jeskey Endowed Chair of Chemistry. She received her Dr. rer. nat. in Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Cologne, Germany in 1985 with summa cum laude. She is a member of the Scientific Board of the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (WATOC) and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Computational Chemistry, International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, Molecular Physics, and International Journal of Molecular Sciences. She also serves as reviewer for ca. 15 journals and numerous funding agencies worldwide (NSF, DOE, Europe, Asia, South America).
CATCO’s research mission is to develop modern quantum chemical tools and to apply these tools to solve pending problems in chemistry, biology, materials science, and beyond. Current research topics stretch from catalysis, vibrational spectroscopy to machine learning supported computer assisted drug design. She has published more than 285 peer-refereed articles and presented her research at about 180 international conferences and advised over 60 many now in academia, industry, and government. Current trainees specialize in quantum chemistry, machine learning, and computational drug design, with emphasis on independence, strong publication records, and transferable skills.
Dr. Emily Choi: Professor of Practice in Management, Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Cox School of Business.
She also serves as the Linda A. and Kenneth R. Morris Endowed Director, Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship where she leads the entrepreneurship curriculum and research initiatives. Her research examines entrepreneurship at the intersection of new firm strategy, legitimacy, trust, and ethics. Previously she was an associate professor of instruction and academic director at the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at Dallas. She earned her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, MBA from Arizona State University, Master of International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management, and a BA from Washington University in St. Louis.
Before academia, she was part of founding teams of two high-tech ventures and held leadership roles in supply chain operations at IBM and Apple. She brings a rare blend of industry, startup, and academic experience to equip future innovators and new business builders with the skills to launch and scale successful ventures.
Ms. Katie Cashman Rogers: Vice President, JPMorganChase Innovation Economy & Startup Banking, Commercial Specialized Industries | Founder, Patent Holder
Katie Cashman Rogers is a Vice President at JPMorganChase within Innovation Economy and Startup Banking, where she advises founders and emerging growth companies across specialized industries, including Life Sciences and HealthTech, at the intersection of emerging health technologies and commercialization. She is a multi-founder across AI HealthTech and applied technology companies, and a named inventor on three U.S. patents with international filings spanning respiratory therapeutics, metabolic pathways, and public health. Her patent work includes collaborations with Vanderbilt University and applied research in air toxicology, microplastics bioavailability, and respiratory exposure pathways. One of her patents is currently being licensed to a new company, co-founded with a CDC Foundation affiliated partner, for commercialization in the nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and respiratory health space, structured as a two-tier entity with a parent IP/patent-holding company and an industry-specific operating subsidiary.
Previously, she served as Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Georgia Life Sciences, where she built and launched the GAINS Program and a new division partnering with pre & post PhD students at R1 institutions including Emory, UGA, and Georgia Tech. Her later work included collaboration with the American Diabetes Association (ADA), Mayo-Tapestry Study, and dietetics-focused public health stakeholders on respiratory–metabolic intersections, environmental stressors – helping shift perspectives on health impacts driven by airborne and particulate exposures.
Dr. Mahesh Krishnamurthy: Vin and Caren Prothro Chair of the Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Co-Executive Director of Hart Institute for Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship; Director of the Advanced Sustainable Power and ENergy (ASPEN) lab
Since 2021, he has been serving as a Program Manager (Expert) with the US National Science Foundation, where he manages the EPCN core portfolio in Power electronics and Motor drives. He served as a Distinguished Lecturer with the IEEE-Vehicular Technology Society from 2011-2013 and 2013-2015 and Distinguished Speaker from 2015-2018 and 2018-2021. Mahesh has co-authored over 175 scientific articles, book chapters and technical reports and has 24 issued US patents. He has been awarded several teaching and research awards. He was the founding Deputy Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification from 2014 to 2020 and the Editor-in-Chief from 2020 to 2023. He currently serves as the Chair of the Steering Committee for the journal. He also serves as the Chair for the Technical Committee on Electrified Transportation (TC4) and Vice Chair for the Energy Access and Off-Grid Systems (TC12) in IEEE Power Electronics Society. Dr. Krishnamurthy co-founded the IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo in 2012 and served as the General Chair in 2014. He has served on the organizing committee for several other IEEE conferences. His recent work is on Li-ion batteries: Modeling, analysis, power electronic management, and safety.
Mr. Wayne Stacy: Executive Director, Berkeley Law's Center for Law & Technology.
Mr. Stacy has been a recognized leading expert on patent law and IP litigation for over two decades. He spent more than 20 years in several of the world’s top law firms. Most recently, he was a senior partner and Intellectual Property Chair for Baker Botts’ San Francisco office. Prior to that, Wayne was an equity partner in the IP Litigation section of Cooley LLP. During his career, several leading publications—including Chambers, Intellectual Asset Management (IAM), National Law Journal, and Super Lawyers—listed Wayne as one of the country’s top patent litigators and IP strategists. He was recently appointed as a Fulbright Specialist with a specialty in AI law.
As part of his dedication to public service, Wayne volunteered his time as an adjunct professor to four law schools--annually teaching patent law, patent litigation, copyright law, or PTAB practice. In 2020, he transitioned his career to full-time public service. Currently, he leads one of the country's leading legal research centers, Berkeley Law's Center for Law & Technology. Prior to joining Berkeley Law, Wayne served as the Director for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Silicon Valley Office.