Monthly news, events & updates | Building a Rainforest in the Desert | August 2024 | |
UNMRI Board Chair Sandra Begay Receives Distinguished Level Promotion at Sandia | |
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Sandia National Laboratories has announced that 22 members of their Division 8000 staff members have been promoted to the Distinguished level, including UNM Rainforest Innovations’ Board Chair Sandra Begay.
Promotion to the Distinguished level is reserved for remarkable staff members acknowledged as leading experts at the Labs and for demonstrating outstanding leadership in their professions. These members must also set an example for Sandia’s People & Culture initiatives, embodying the three key Sandia behaviors: being connected, courageous, and purpose driven.
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The Importance of Disclosing Inventions & Protecting Intellectual Property with Bryce Chackerian, Ph.D. | |
Watch the latest video interview with Bryce Chackerian, PhD, on the importance of disclosing inventions and protecting intellectual property at the University of New Mexico through the technology transfer office, UNM Rainforest Innovations (UNMRI). | |
Dr. Chackerian is a Jeffery Michael Gorvetzian Endowed Professor of Biomedical Research Excellence and Regents’ Professor & Vice Chair at the University of New Mexico’s Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology. Dr. Chackerian received his Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Washington and then completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. |
Five Businesses That Spawned from UNM Patents
Albuquerque Journal
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It’s s a matchmaker. But instead of shooting arrows like Cupid, the University of New Mexico Rainforest Innovations plays the tricky role of matching research professors and their patents with entrepreneurs, capital and other players in the New Mexico startup sector with each other.
Earlier this month, Rainforest Innovations highlighted five UNM-based patents that have been licensed by companies for use in New Mexico and around the world: Pajarito Powder, TS-Nano, Intellicyt, Emerald Biotherapeutics, and IC-Safety.
Lisa Kuuttila, the president and CEO of Rainforest Innovations, said when a researcher at the university is onto an invention, he or she will fill out an invention disclosure form. The Rainforest Innovation team will do a patent search to see if a similar concept exists. If it doesn’t, the team will start matching up the researcher with entrepreneurs and investors or other resources.
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Rainforest Forum - Featuring Dr. Ellen R. Fisher, VP for Research at UNM
August 28, 4:00-5:00 p.m. (MDT)
Lobo Rainforest Building
For this Rainforest Forum, please join us to hear from Ellen R. Fisher, Ph.D., Vice President for Research at The University of New Mexico, to learn how UNM serves as a catalyst for discovery, innovation, and economic growth.
The UNM Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) is committed to the advancement, facilitation, and celebration of cutting-edge discovery and innovation. At UNM, we believe research is education, and as New Mexico’s premier R1 institution, we are uniquely positioned to provide an unparalleled education for students and world-class opportunities for faculty. UNM research is vibrant, diverse, complex, and spans across multiple disciplines.
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In the Spotlight - Featured UNM Inventor | | | |
Trilce Estrada, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science
The University of New Mexico
Dr. Estrada's research spans the intersection of machine learning, high performance computing, big data, and their applications to interdisciplinary problems.
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Raven Indigenous Capital Partners Joins the Lobo Rainforest Building | |
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Raven Indigenous Capital Partners has set down roots in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Lobo Rainforest Building. The venture firm, based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, works to help Indigenous communities and businesses create financial solutions for social, economic, and environmental challenges. Their mission is to empower Indigenous entrepreneurs with the capital and expertise they need to succeed. The firm had its eyes set on New Mexico for its proximity to Indigenous entrepreneurs and Native-focused firms as well as the broader Southwest region.
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Copyright, Fair Use, and Artificial Intelligence: Rules of the Road
Friday, August 30, 10:00a.m.–1:00 p.m. (MDT)
In-person at the Lobo Rainforest Building and Online via Zoom
Join us for this in-depth seminar on intellectual property, with a focus on copyrights, given by UNM Rainforest Innovations' patent attorney, Chuck Valauskas. There will be three parts to this presentation:
- Overview on the Creative Process and how it breeds intellectual properties.
- Fair Use. This is a term widely used on campuses, yet it is typically misunderstood. Chuck will discuss what is copyright and trademark fair use. He will also talk about the Andy Warhol case decided last year by the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Artificial Intelligence and the use of this tool on the protection of what results from the Creative Process. Chuck will go over some AI systems beyond ChatGPT and the advantages and disadvantages of them.
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Apply for the Fall 2024 Rainforest Accelerator | |
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Join the upcoming Rainforest Accelerator for the Fall 2024 cohort! In this program, teams of faculty and/or students, entrepreneurs, and mentors (mentors provided by the Rainforest Accelerator) receive up to $3,000 of funding to develop a business model and complete extensive market discovery for a disclosed UNM technology.
The outcomes you can expect through this program include:
- Exploring the transition of your technology to the marketplace.
- Determining the value proposition, customer, the size of the market, and market trends for your technology.
- Receive a dedicated mentor to provide one-on-one guidance.
- Conduct 25-100 discovery interviews and provide a formal presentation to investors at the end of the program to receive feedback on the commercialization opportunity of your technology.
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New Mexico Artificial Intelligence in Medicine ECHO
2nd and 4th Fridays from 12:00-1:00 p.m. via Zoom
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Join this program to learn more about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can best be integrated in medical practice. The goal is to enhance participant's confidence in understanding and utilizing AI tools and applications in their respective health care settings.
Topics covered include:
- AI Models
- Ethics of AI
- AI and Patient Communication
- Role of AI and EMRs
- AI and Telemedicine
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Student Interns @ UNM Rainforest Innovations | | | |
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Aliah Gibbs
Innovation Intern
Our featured intern this month is Aliah Gibbs who currently serves as an Innovation Student Intern. “I am from the Inland Empire of Southern California… (and) come from an African American and first-generation Nicaraguan immigrant household. I am also a first-generation college student pursuing a double major in sociology and political science following the pre-law track.”
In addition to her job and classes, Aliah spends her free time reading, spending time with friends and family, and serving as the UNM Rugby Club President where she plans, and participates in, rugby events and tournaments.
Aliah joined UNMRI last year in October and has taken on a variety of duties. “My responsibilities include storing and logging data and marketing interactions, drafting summaries and descriptions of new inventions, assisting in mailing campaigns to market technologies, and more… What I enjoy most is working on private novelty searches where I get to study new inventions and search for a technology that may be similar. I find this especially interesting as I have a passion to learn. (I also) love to see how these new inventions are unique and how (they) will benefit society.”
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Heather Gomez Makes it to the Pow Wow Pitch Semi-Finals | |
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Heather Gomez, a Tribal Liaison for the New Mexico Tribal Entrepreneurship Enhancement Program (NMTEEP), has been chosen as a semi-finalist in a pitch competition for Indigenous entrepreneurs. Dubbed the Pow Wow Pitch, this non-profit organization is dedicated to empowering Indigenous entrepreneurs by offering a secure and collaborative platform that fosters inspiration, education, mentorship, celebration, and reconciliation through entrepreneurship. Finalists will also receive cash prizes ranging from $500 to $25,000 CAD.
For the competition, Heather pitched her business, Dulce Base Tipi, an Airbnb listing on the Jicarilla Apache Nation. As a semi-finalist, she will now move on to the next phase of the competition on August 6th where she will have just one minute to pitch her idea with 2 minutes of Q&A in front of a panel of judges. Episodes of the semi-finalists’ pitches will be released September 3rd through 17th and the finalists will be announced September 19th. Learn more about Pow Wow Pitch here: https://www.powwowpitch.org/
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Tribal Entrepreneurship Enhancement Program
Interview with Mytegia Lee
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Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Building for Rural and Tribal Communities
Mytegia Lee, Executive Director of Southwest Native Assets Coalition, speaks about her takeaways from working with UNM Rainforest Innovations as a tribal liaison and learning about the "Rainforest concept," entrepreneurial ecosystem building, and how she thinks it can be implemented to benefit entrepreneur and individuals in her community of Manuelito, Gallup, the Navajo Nation, and other tribal and rural communities.
Listen to the podcast
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