KALAMAZOO – Western Michigan University has hired an experienced technology transfer specialist from the University of Michigan who has a background in the physical and life sciences to help commercialize technology at the university.
Dr. Michael Sharer is WMU’s new director of technology transfer, licensing and commercialization. He came to WMU this spring from the U-M, where he had spent the previous five years working in licensing, program management and intellectual asset management for the College of Engineering.
His work at the U-M included negotiating research and licensing agreements to both startup companies and established corporations. The intellectual property he has worked with ranges from DNA array technology and drug delivery techniques to biopolymers and fiber optic laser technology. He also was able to substantially increase both the rate at which faculty members disclosed inventions and the rate at which inventions were commercialized.
Sharer’s background includes new product development and strategic planning for corporate clients through an intellectual property/business development consulting firm as well as project management, analyst and research posts.
He is the author of several peer-reviewed journal articles on topics including technology transfer, innovation, and strategic management of the technology transfer function.
Sharer earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Delaware in 1990, a doctoral degree in environmental chemistry and toxicology from Michigan State University in 1998 and a master’s degree in business from Purdue University’s Krannert Graduate School of Management in 1999.
