KNOXVILLE – The University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UTRF) Board confirmed Dr. Maha Krishnamurthy as the University of Tennessee Research Foundation’s Multi-Campus Office (UTRF-MCO) Vice President at its December 2017 meeting. Dr. Krishnamurthy’s appointment fills the vacancy left after former Vice President Dr. Stacey Patterson was appointed UTRF President in June 2017.
“Maha plays a critical role in helping UT’s faculty, staff and students take their technologies from the lab to the marketplace,” said Dr. Patterson. “UTRF had an all-time high of 166 invention disclosures in 2017. I can’t think of a better person to continue to lead UT inventors through the tech transfer process and to identify more commercialization opportunities for our region.”
Dr. Krishnamurthy first joined UTRF as a licensing associate in 2011 and was named Assistant Vice President of Licensing in December 2013. In those roles, she was responsible for leading multiple revenue-generating license agreements and assisting the University with negotiating intellectual property provisions in sponsored research agreements. Her dedication led UTRF to double the number of invention disclosures received between 2011 and 2017. Maha has overseen the formation of seven start-ups based on UT technologies; started a UTRF internship program that has employed students from UT’s College of Law, Haslam College of Business, and Tickle College of Engineering; and developed an online system to electronically license research tools, copyrighted works, and software. She also serves an instructor for the National Science Foundation I-Corps program at UT.
“I am truly honored and humbled to serve as UTRF-MCO’s next vice president. It’s a group effort, and I have the privilege of working with an incredible team,” says Dr. Krishnamurthy. “I also look forward to continuing to serve the faculty and researchers at UT, as well as establishing new partnerships with more companies.”
Dr. Krishnamurthy obtained a master’s degree in physics from the University of Mumbai, India. She then earned a Ph.D. in particle physics, doing her graduate and then post-doctoral research at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, California. Dr. Krishnamurthy also received an MBA from the University of Tennessee. Before joining UTRF, she spent time at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as an intellectual property commercialization, licensing, and maturation consultant and assisted with managing the privately funded technology transfer program.