The University of Utah Technology Licensing Office (TLO) tapped Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute staff scientist Jess Tate to serve as one of three Innovation Ambassadors, a new program to boost translational research and entrepreneurship across campus.

Innovation Ambassadors are liaisons between TLO and their departments. They are charged with the following responsibilites:

• Connecting researchers with intellectual property, innovation, commercialization, and entrepreneurship resources.
• Updating their departments on new programs, funding, and more out of TLO.
• Reporting quarterly innovation metrics to their departments.
• Making recommendations to the U to improve the culture of innovation.

“Drawing from the success of similar programs at other institutions, we recognize the importance of ‘muscle memory’ within departments for fostering innovation and managing it effectively,” said Jonathan Tyler, TLO director of commercialization. “We eagerly anticipate the transformative impact our Innovation Ambassadors will have within their respective departments and, more broadly, on the expansive innovation ecosystem both on and off campus.”

At SCI, Tate works to bring together research, technical tools, software deployment, distribution, and cyberinfrastructure in his roles as staff scientist, technical manager, and group leader of the Cyberinfrastructure Professionals Co-Op. His research interests include computational electrophysiology, statistical shape modeling, uncertainty quantification, machine learning, and developing software products and systems that support sustainable research communities. Tate received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in bioengineering from the U.

“I am pleased and honored to be a part of the inaugural group of Innovation Ambassadors, and I look forward to improving the impact of SCI research through licensing and commercialization opportunities,” Tate said. “I hope to establish stronger and broader collaborations with industry partners and to widely demonstrate the high value of SCI’s research products.”

Read TLO’s original announcement and follow-up profile of Tate.