The Center has provided experiential education to more than 50 students since it started accepting them in late 2007. Because students can be accepted at any time and, except for externships, does not operate on an academic calendar, it is difficult to display all of the profiles for a particular period of time. The following profiles of present and former students are representative of the caliber and qualifications of the students that the Center consistently attracts.

Dr. Ansarah is currently a Research Fellow in the laboratory of genomics and immunity at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), National Institutes of Health (“NIH”), in Bethesda, Maryland. He conducts and supervises highly sophisticated technology-oriented immunological research, with special emphasis on chromosome biology.

Dr. Ansarah received a Masters degree in Microbiology from the University of São Paulo, Brazilin 1998 and a Ph.D. in Genetics from The George Washington University, in Washington D.C., in 2004. While pursuing his doctoral degree, he trained at NIH under the mentorship of one of the world’s leading virologists, Dr. Bernard Moss. In Dr. Moss’ laboratory, Dr. Ansarah conducted work on vaccinia virus, a member of the poxvirus family, which includes important human pathogens such as monkeypox and variola virus (smallpox), a potential bioterrorism agent.

Dr. Ansarah did his first postdoctoral work at the School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, in his native country, Brazil for approximately two years. In addition to conducting fruitful research on respiratory viruses such as influenza and Human Respiratory Syncytial virus, he taught courses in molecular virology to Medical, Nursing, and Pharmaceutical Sciences students and participated on a number of committees that reviewed scientific work carried out at the university.

In May 2006, Dr. Ansarah returned to NIH, to join the Viral Pathogenesis Section, where the focus of his research became molecular aspects of the biology of dengue virus and West Nile virus (“WNV”). His achievements include the identification of small molecule inhibitors of the WNV serine protease and the development of an important technology to study dengue virus infection.

In addition to his scientific background, Dr. Ansarah has also received formal academic and practical training in the fields of technology transfer and biotechnology business development through the Office of Technology Transfer at the NIH and the Technology Transfer Certificate Program at the FAES [Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences] Graduate School at NIH. Through internships, he has gained experience evaluating new technologies, drafting and negotiating a variety of technology transfer agreements, and advising inventors on intellectual property matters. He has also involved in fostering partnerships between NIH inventors and outside collaborators that will enable the development of novel drugs and vaccines.

Dr. Chen is a part-time MBA student at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he expects to be awarded his degree in 2010. His focus areas are Strategy, Management and Finance

Dr Chen received Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Civil Engineering from Tongil University, Shanghai, China. He was awarded a People’s Scholarship for in 1993-1997 and was named Outstanding Student of Tongil University in 1995. He received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Tennessee Knoxville ({UT”). His focus area was Geotechnical Engineering, the branch of Civil Engineering that is concerned with the engineering behavior of earthen materials. In addition to compiling a perfect grade point average at UT, Dr. Chen won the Best Paper Award in 2005 by the American Foundry Society for his paper, “Characterization of Rheological Properties of Lost Foam Casting Coating Slurries. He placed first in the UT Graduate Student Research Competition in 2004, was appointed to Executive Member of the UT Graduate Student Senate, and elected to academic and leadership honor societies.

Dr. Chen currently works as a Geotechnical Engineer for the Maryland State Highway Administration (MSHSA”). At MSHA, he received the “Team of the Year” award in 2007 for excellent customer service at MSHA’s Office of Material Technologies, as well as many other awards for excellence at MSHA and previous employers. Throughout Dr. Chen’s employment history, he has often served as a technical advisor, has led teams to develop and implement strategies for clients, has coordinated and participated in all aspects of engineering proposal preparation and writing, and has been called upon to resolve the most difficult and time=sensitive client projects. He has also created numerous innovative EXCEL® design spreadsheets aimed at improving efficiency and reducing or eliminating hand-calculated mistakes, thereby significantly lowering engineering costs.

Dr. Chen is a registered Professional Engineer in Civil Engineering. He is proficient in programming in numerous computer languages and has excellent skills in many software applications. He also has written and been invited to review publications in internationally recognized peer reviewed journals and conferences.

Now a Commissioner’s Fellow at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Green received a B.Sc. degree, cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with a double major in Chemistry, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and a minor in Economics. As an undergraduate and a member of a community service based fraternity, he developed numerous programs to help high school and college students succeed as they progress through college and beyond.

As an undergraduate, Dr. Green conducted research in the Chemistry and the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology departments. He continued his graduate work at the University of Massachusetts, studying the effects of bioactive lipids and biomaterials on cell adhesion and function. As a graduate student, he mentored undergraduate and graduate students in both laboratory and classroom settings.

Dr. Green earned his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology and received a PhD award of distinction from the Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program at the University of Massachusetts. He is a member of both the American Chemical Society and the American Society for Cell Biology. After receiving his PhD, he accepted a post=doctoral Research Fellow position in the Laboratory of Cell and Developmental Biology at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (“NIDCR”), National Institutes of Health (NIH). At NIH, Dr. Green was involved in national and international collaborations that study the regulation of extracellular matrix and cell surface interactions in order to understand the biological mechanisms and processes of embryonic development and disease.

Dr. Green has authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed publications, reviewed manuscripts for publication and presented at international scientific meetings. He completed the Technology Transfer Certificate program at the FAES Graduate School at NIH, where, in conjunction with his participation in the Center’s program he has developed expertise in business development and management of biotechnology.

Now an Intellectual Property Specialist/Contracts Officer at the renowned Energy Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota, Mr. Martineau joined the Center for New Technology Enterprise (the “Center”) in the fall of 2007, while he was a third year student at the University of Maryland School of Law. Mr. Martineau was the first student at the Center. Professor Provorny specifically recruited him because of Mr. Martineau’s impressive performance, work ethic and client skills while he worked at the Maryland Intellectual Property Legal Resource Center during his second year. Mr. Martineau received his Juris Doctor degree cum laude in 2008. He has decided to continue his participation at the Center because his work closely matches his interests in technology commercialization, intellectual property law and business development.

In addition to his law degree, Mr. Martineau possesses a Master of Science degree in Biochemistry and Molecular-biophysics from the California Institute of Technology (“Caltech”), and a Bachelor of Science degree with thesis and general and departmental honors in Genetics and Molecular Biology from the University of Maryland College Park. Mr. Martineau’s research as an undergraduate focused on two component signal transduction and as a graduate student involved protein structure and folding, especially computational modeling of folding and protein-ligand interaction. He received a full Banneker-Key Scholarship to pursue his undergraduate studies and a full fellowship to pursue his graduate degree. While at Caltech, he was a Teaching Assistant in biochemistry and neurobiology classes.

Mr. Martineau has used his scientific education and research experience at the University of Maryland’s Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology and in industry to help develop new chromatography techniques, predicts protein-ligand interactions, and predict protein structure based solely on amino acid sequence. Because of his extensive scientific background and experience, Mr. Martineau is very much interested in working with biotechnology pharmaceutical, medical device and other life science start-up companies, and has already drafted patent applications for these types of clients at the Center. He has also drafted trademark applications, a wide and varied array of contracts, assisted clients with entity formation and the drafting of by-laws, operating agreements and shareholder agreements, and provided other legal and business advice to help emerging technology businesses plan strategically for their futures (including funding opportunities).

Mr. Martineau has also worked for the US. Department of Health and Human Services, where he drafted Requests for Proposals and evaluated contract proposals worth more than one billion dollars. He also helped to resolve legal disputes arising from contested awards of government contracts, equal employment disputes, and medical malpractice claims against the federal government.

Mr. Martineau is admitted to the Maryland Bar and is registered to practice before the U.S Patent and Trademark Office.

Mr. Passmore is a rising second-year law student at American University's Washington College of Law (“WCL”). During his first year of law school, he became particularly interested in litigation and intellectual property and thus is a member of the WCL Mock Trial Honor Society and the Intellectual Property Law Society. Mr. Passmore received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication in 2001.

Mr. Passmore brings to the Center for New Technology Enterprise (the “Center”) more than five years of federal legislative experience, including extensive knowledge with the workings of the United States Congress.  Immediately before starting his legal studies, Mr. Passmore worked as a Government Affairs Assistant in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm K & L Gates LLP.  In that position, he was responsible for working closely with clients and Capitol Hill staff on legislation concerning military procurement, appropriations, nanotechnology, energy and the environment, nuclear waste remediation, and issues related to the Pacific Northwest.  He also developed and implemented legislative strategies for firm clients; organized and implemented yearly appropriations plans; and researched and monitored legislation and client-specific issues.

Before working at K&L Gates, Mr. Passmore served as legislative staff for Representative George Nethercutt of Washington’s 5th Congressional District and his successor, Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers.  Mr. Passmore was responsible for providing constituent services for both Members. He also researched and tracked issues and advised Representative Rodgers on upcoming votes, represented her at meetings of the Armed Services Committee, attended meetings with constituents, policy and interest groups, and worked closely with other legislative aides on technology, military, broadcasting, banking and foreign affairs issues  Mr. Passmore was also coordinated southeastern Washington for Representative Rodgers’s successful 2006 re-election campaign.  That area provided her the highest voter turnout of all the areas in her district.

Before his work in Congress, Mr. Passmore served as a special assistant for the Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service and as an intern focusing on national and regional energy policies for Morgan Meguire, LLC, Washington, D.C., and the Northwest Public Power Association, Vancouver, Washington.

Mr. Surendran is a second year student at the Washington College of Law (“WCL”) of American University in Washington, D.C. Since beginning as a student at the Center for New Technology Enterprise (the “Center”) during the spring 2008 semester, Mr. Surendran has enriched the Center’s work by contributing significant legal and business expertise and exhibiting a wide variety of interests.

Mr. Surendran received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and International Relations from Johns Hopkins University (“JHU”) in 2006. He also successfully completed the nationally acclaimed interdisciplinary W. P. Carey Minor in Entrepreneurship and Management offered through JHU’s Center for Leadership Education. Before his work at the Center, Mr. Surendran received high honors for single-handedly finding a new application for and then commercializing a technology developed by JHU’s Applied Physics Laboratory. From 2006 to 2007, Mr. Surendran was employed at the New York office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, where he worked in the Asset Management practice group. He worked directly with the Goldman Sachs Special Investments Group helping to advise the Group’s hedge funds and private equity holdings and became conversant with securities regulation, Sarbanes -Oxley and compliance issues.

Mr. Surendran has assumed leadership roles within all of the business and intellectual property-oriented student organizations at WCL. He is Junior Editor of the Business Law Brief, Treasurer of the Business Law Society, and Treasurer of the Intellectual Property Society. Mr. Surendran spent the 2007-2008 school year doing pro bono work by volunteering at the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center. There, he helped bridge Japanese and Hindi language barriers in order to provide free legal assistance for disenfranchised and poverty-stricken Asian Americans in the greater Washington, D.C. region.

Simultaneously with carrying an extensive work load at the Center during the summer of 2008, Mr. Surendran has an internship at the Legal Policy Section of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”).  At DOJ, he has begun research on the nexus between contemporary antitrust and intellectual property law and advises DOJ attorneys on which economic policies to apply to complex investigations and cases.  He is also a Research Assistant to WCL Professor Robert Vaughn focusing on a novel area of study: an economic analysis of whistleblower protection.  In addition, Mr. Surendran is a student member of the Licensing Executives Society (U.S.A. and Canada).

Jenica D. Tapocik is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (“NIAAA”), National Institutes of Health. Dr. Tapocik’s research investigates the behavioral, molecular, and pathopyshiological factors involved in alcohol abuse. Her work is guided by Dr. Markus Heilig in the laboratory of clinical and translational studies at the ‘NIAAA’. A detailed description of her work can be found here.
She is also interested in the ways in which research such as hers is transformed into products that treat patients, spawn new ventures and create the exciting jobs of the future.

Dr. Tapocik received a Ph.D. in Biology and Neuroscience from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (“UMBC”) in August 2009. Her doctoral research investigated the behavioral, neurological and genetic factors involved in substance abuse and psychiatric diseases. Her thesis was titled: “A Behavior-Genetics Strategy to Identify Genes and Gene Networks in Opiate Tolerance and Addiction.”

Dr. Tapocik graduated cum laude from Florida State University (“FSU”) in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. She was on the Dean’s List in each of her undergraduate years and was an active member in the Women of Math, Science, and Engineering Program. Upon graduation, Dr. Tapocik received an Intramural Training Research Award (“IRTA”) from the National Institutes of Health and researched carcinogenesis in Dr. Nancy Colburn’s laboratory at the National Cancer Institute (“NCI”). After completing her IRTA at NCI, Dr. Tapocik returned to FSU and became the manager of Dr. Mohamed Kabbaj’s neuro-behavioral laboratory at FSU’s School of Medicine.

Dr. Tapocik was accepted into the Biology (Neuroscience) doctoral program at UMBC in June 2004.  During her studies at UMBC   Dr. Tapocik completed an internship in the Department of Genomics at The Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville, Maryland and was a Teachers Assistant for the Genetics Laboratory at UMBC, all while maintaining a 3.7 GPA.  She advanced to Ph.D. Candidacy in November 2006.  She has published articles and has articles accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals, written and contributed to scientific papers, and spoken and presented at numerous scientific conferences. Dr. Tapocik has participated in writing grant applications and has reviewed scientific articles for publication.   She has mentored 2 graduate and 2 undergraduate students in her current laboratory and has founded, structured, and run the Graduate Student Seminar at the MPRC. 

Dr. Tapocik is an active member of the Society for Neuroscience. She was representative for the Neuroscience Program to the Graduate Student Association at UMBC, a graduate student mentor for the incoming Biology Ph.D. students, an active member of the Graduate Association of Biological Sciences at UMBC, and a recipient of a Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (“GAAAN”) grant (http://www.umbc.edu/GAANN/) from the United States Department of Education.  She is also an active member of the Licensing Executives Society (U.S.A & Canada) to gain further insight into the science-business-legal connection.