To promote the commercialization of UT’s innovations and to help train the next generation of commercialization professionals, UTRF recently welcomed three new interns and one returning intern across its Knoxville and Memphis offices.
In Knoxville, Andrea Gutierrez-Cortez and Lauren Williams, rising second-year law students at UT Knoxville, joined the team as Commercialization Analysts. Jacob Hale is returning for his second year with UTRF as a Senior Commercialization Analyst.
It’s a true testament to the value of our internship program to welcome back a previous intern, Hale, for his second year. I’m also encouraged by Gutierrez-Cortez and Williams and look forward to working with them,” said Kusum Rathore, Vice President of the UTRF Multi Campus Office. “I encourage any UT graduate students, especially those with a STEM background, to explore future careers that combine law, entrepreneurship, and business development.”
Hale is a rising third-year law student—or “18th grader,” he joked—considering a career in patent prosecution. He retured to UTRF because of the positive work atmosphere and new job responsibilities.
It’s a great work environment. And now, I have new and different legal responsibilities and assignments,” said Hale. “I’ve gotten and will continue to get a wide variety of experience because UTRF is a one-stop shop—contract work, patent prosecution and more. Many of my friends have gone on to work at other firms and have told me they wish they had a more diverse legal experience.”
Gutierrez-Cortez completed her bachelor’s in human biology at the University of California, San Diego. She had always thought she would go to medical school to pursue neurology or pediatric medicine, but graduating during a pandemic made her rethink her career path and make her consider law. She relocated to Knoxville for law school.
I started thinking about how I could benefit people in healthcare by working with medical devices or being the defense attorney for doctors and physicians in a hospital,” said Gutierrez-Cortez. “It’s great to know there is a foundation directly working with the school’s researchers to create amazing technologies that hopefully get patented and go on to make a meaningful impact.”
Williams majored in biomedical engineering at UTK. During her undergraduate senior design course, she learned about UTRF. After Rathore and Staff Attorney Cece Ging spoke about UTRF to UTK’s law school, Williams was inspired to apply for the internship program.
I love how much support UTRF gives our faculty researchers,” said Williams. “One of the technologies I’m working on is from a professor I had previously. Faculty researchers can’t do it all on their own. I think it’s great that UTRF is here to help them with IP protection and commercialization of their technologies.”
In Memphis, UTRF welcomed Max Stansell, a rising second-year law student at the University of Memphis.
This legal externship goes beyond the legal basics. We provide a holistic, hands-on environment for legal students seeking in-field experience,” said Todd Ponzio, Vice President of UTRF at the UT Health Science Center. “We help law students interested in IP and patent work gain crucial skills and knowledge to help them land good jobs after graduation. I’m looking forward to working with Stansell in the coming months.”
Stansell received a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in chemistry at Western Kentucky University and wanted to become a medical doctor. After working in a hospital, he discovered he didn’t love the field but wanted to leverage his STEM degree. He began researching law school and IP law.
Patent law lets me be involved with innovation. And I get to see great ideas and interact with all these genius inventors,” said Stansell. “I like seeing ideas come to fruition.”
Stansell heard about the position from one of his fellow students, Maxwell Schwam, a previous UTRF Senior Law Intern. While new to the role, he’s looking forward to learning more about the field and commercialization in general.
UTRF is the perfect intersection for many of my interests. It’s science and innovation combined with IP law, business and entrepreneurship,” said Stansell. “I love to learn. The team has been amazing in ensuring many learning opportunities across the board. It’s been fantastic.”