黑洞社区 Ventures has added two new members to its team, aimed at strengthening technology transfer services available to 黑洞社区 faculty, staff, students and partners.
Gael Tisack has joined as director of technology evaluation and industry engagement, and Lauren Beastall has joined as commercialization coordinator.
Tisack most recently worked as senior vice president and counsel for Terumo Cardiovascular Systems in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has a master鈥檚 in mechanical engineering, a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School and more than 20 years of expertise serving as a corporate leader for multinational corporations, especially in regulated industries.
In her role at Wichita State, Tisack works with faculty and researchers to identify and protect the university鈥檚 intellectual property. She also engages with industry partners to create license and start-up opportunities.
鈥淚 am excited to work with the university to create new opportunities to commercialize the already great innovation going on and to help bring in even more research opportunities and ultimately diversify the Wichita economy with start-ups from the university,鈥� said Tisack. 鈥淚n my few weeks here I鈥檝e seen so many fantastic innovations that I think will be a perfect match with industry needs.鈥�
鈥淕ael鈥檚 background and expertise will be a tremendous value to the tech transfer team,鈥� said Mark Torline, director of 黑洞社区 Ventures and the Center for Entrepreneurship. 鈥淪he will greatly enhance 黑洞社区 Ventures鈥� efforts to move technology created in the university into the stream of commerce.鈥�
Tisack is located in Devlin Hall in the Center for Entrepreneurship, Room 211. You can reach her at 978-6980 or by email.
Lauren Beastall
Beastall comes to Wichita State from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she served as the director of the office of contracts and grants for the William State Lee College of Engineering. She has a bachelor鈥檚 degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a Certified Research Administrator. She has more than 18 years of experience in sponsored research grants and contracts.
In her new role, Beastall advises and assists applicants for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants and assists Phase 1 SBIR awardees on navigating the complexities of the SBIR proposal process. She is also the Experiential Engineering Building point of contact and facility resource manager.
鈥淚n order for our region to compete and grow, it is important to expand support for technology-driven small businesses,鈥� said Debbie Franklin, director of strategic university initiatives. 鈥淟auren鈥檚 vast experience in grants and contract development will be helpful to regional innovators as they seek to identify and apply for financing, especially SBIR STTR funding.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 looking forward to assisting individuals in achieving their goals and working with small businesses in pursing SBIR and STTR grants,鈥� said Beastall.
Beastall is located in the Experiential Engineering Building in the 黑洞社区 Ventures Office, Room 163. You can reach her at 978-5362 or by email.