The University of Tennessee Research Foundation recently welcomed two new assistant technology managers. Tulika Rastogi will serve UTRF’s Memphis office and Tyler Newton is the newest addition to the Knoxville team. Both Rastogi and Newton bring unique expertise to their roles.
“UTRF is intentional about bringing people onto our team who are enthusiastic about supporting the organization’s mission. Rastogi and Newton are excellent new team members in this respect,” said UTRF President Maha Krishnamurthy. “Their combined skillsets and knowledge are further assets for identifying and supporting commercialization opportunities for UT intellectual property.”
Rastogi will support technology commercialization at UT Health Science Center (UTHSC), UT Martin, and UT Southern campuses. She completed her master’s degree in plant science with a specialization in virology and a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Lucknow, India.
“I love the team here. They have given me all sorts of mentoring and training,” said Rastogi. “It’s a very active campus. The team is doing a great job at helping inventors at UTHSC and other campuses.”
Before joining UTRF, Rastogi spent many years working on design and life science patent matters and trademarks for universities and startups. She is also a self-taught freelance science writer; her work has been published in Think Global Health, IPWatchDog and World IP Review. She believes in the importance of tech transfer work, particularly by universities.
“If your research gets commercialized, it becomes self-sustainable, and you are helping yourself, your lab, and your university at large,” said Rastogi. “You are also helping the community and public who can benefit from your invention. A lot of good inventions have come out of universities that may have started out as a master’s thesis.”
In Knoxville, Newton will support inventors and inventions created in the UT Institute of Agriculture and other STEM-based departments at UTK. He has an undergraduate degree in plant biotechnology from UTK and is currently completing his master’s degree in the same department.
Newton wanted to work for UTRF to help researchers turn their ideas into products and services that benefit people and organizations. Newton considers applied science, like his plant biotechnology research, to be critically important.
“For me, one of the best things about science is when you can take good ideas and commercialize them to improve the world,” said Newton. “We want to find innovators here in Tennessee and give them the resources they need to keep them here. Researchers, scientists and principal investigators are doing incredible work. We want to take that and translate it into the market.”