Q: What does the assistant vice president for industry research do?
A: When it’s a new position, you have the opportunity to bring structure to the position. Basically, I’ll work with faculty and facilitate introductions to people from industry and corporations, so we can form a variety of joint ventures and collaborations. Hopefully, industry will fund some research at the university. I see [this position] as a link between industry and research.
Q: Will you work closely with the Office of Entrepreneurship?
A: Yes. Jim Chung’s office handles tech transfer, and what we do is almost the flip side of tech transfer. With tech transfer, people are licensing technology from the university. Here, we’re going to give them the opportunity to get to the brains behind the licensing. So if industries get involved earlier in the research process, what they really gain is not just the license to the technology, but access to those individuals who developed it. That’s the subtle difference—we’re like yin and yang. But we’ll definitely be working together.
I was really glad to hear that the university is building up on the research front and trying to increase its global position. It’s very critical, being situated here in D.C. You can capitalize on so much, and I’m glad GW is doing it. I feel there’s a transition going on, and it’s nice to be part of it.
Q: What are some of your priorities for the next year?
A: Initially, I have to listen to the faculty and learn what’s out there. And it’s really symbiotic as well—there’s so much the faculty can learn about what’s happening on a real-time basis. There are pockets of skill sets that some people may not know exist. And some of the faculty may not know they’re sitting on incredible technology that could be valuable to industry. So if the faculty is willing to do it, I’d be glad to pursue those relationships for them.
A lot of the buzzwords—like cybersecurity—the university is already really on top of. It’s forming relationships in that area already. There’s a lot going on in biomedical field too. I’ll be working with all areas of the university. I see myself as the bee who has to pollinate things in various areas. And all the people I’ve met already—even in this very early phase—have been really open to it. So I think this is a good time.
Q: Tell me a little about your background. I understand you have diverse experience.
A: Eclectic is the word! After I graduated from GW [with an MBA in 1975], I worked at the World Bank for 17 years. A lot of my experience has been international, looking at the global picture. I think what that taught me was how to work with people who have many different approaches. Because of their cultural and national backgrounds and educational backgrounds, the way they’d approach an issue would be so different. Many times, when you think you have a solution, it’s good to solicit opinions from other people. They have different perspectives, and it’s really valuable. That was a big lesson for me. It’s worked well in my career—every job has involved picking people’s brains as much as I can.
If people are passionate about what they do, they love to talk about it. So my role has always been figuring out how to apply this research or technology. A lot of my work has involved applying research to current conditions.
The other interesting thing I see trending today in corporate research is that it’s really multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary. I came out of the genomics area (a combination of the biomedical field of genetics with mathematics and computer science). So what I hope to do here is work across disciplines. Someone in the university may not know that they could offer something to someone else in the university that’s also relevant to industry. Sometimes researchers are so highly specialized that they don’t get a lot of opportunities to look at what else is going on. It helps to have someone with no knowledge [of the project] to walk in and say, “Maybe this could be useful in this other arena.”
Q: What do you think you’ll enjoy most about being on campus?
A: I’m excited to be part of a campus community. There are always opportunities to grow and learn. In industry, you get so focused on the day to day, and sometimes it’s nice, being at a university and seeing what’s out there and what could be future technology. What are people working on that the public may not know about for the next 10 or 15 years? It’s an eye into a certain world you can’t normally see.