Meet Our Team
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Patricia Stepp, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President for Technology Transfer
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Sharnae Gilmore, MA
Administrative Operations Specialist
Intellectual Property Team
Assists Rice researchers with the invention disclosure and review process. Also assists with patent prosecution and Intellectual Property (IP) Portfolio Management.
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Neha Malik, Ph.D.
Assistant Director, Intellectual Property
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Megan Schutzbach-Horton, Ph.D.
Intellectual Property Manager
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Tamara Ross
Senior Patent Docket & Compliance Admin
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JeQuan Smith
Patent Docket & Compliance Assistant
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Andrew Baines
Intellectual Property & Licensing Associate
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Peng Wei, Ph.D.
Intellectual Property Specialist
Licensing Team
Negotiates license, option and inter-institutional agreements as well as markets available technologies to potential partners.
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Andrew Castillo, Ph.D.
Assistant Director, Licensing
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Mike Cato, Ph.D.
Senior Licensing Associate
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Sean Bittner, Ph.D.
Licensing Associate - Physical Sciences
Industrial Contracts Team
Negotiates various agreements to support research at Rice including; confidentiality, materials transfer, data use, collaboration and industry-sponsored research agreements.
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Matthew Patterson, Ph.D.
Assistant Director, Contracts
![Rice Owl](https://research.rice.edu/ott/sites/g/files/bxs4106/files/2024-07/Rice_Owl_Flat_280_Blue.png)
Karen Bannerman
Industrial Contracts Specialist III
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Ingrid Capera, LL.M
Industrial Contracts Specialist I
![Rice Owl](https://research.rice.edu/ott/sites/g/files/bxs4106/files/2024-07/Rice_Owl_Flat_280_Blue.png)
Sam Kirchhoff, J.D.
Industrial Contracts Specialist II
Finance Team
Manages the office budget, license compliance, patent expenditures, and distribution of licensing revenue.
![Rice Owl](https://research.rice.edu/ott/sites/g/files/bxs4106/files/2024-07/Rice_Owl_Flat_280_Blue.png)
Nicole Corali Rogers, MBA, CRA
Finance Manager
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Robin Bryant
Finance & Compliance Administrator
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Aaron Daniels
Database Administrator