An industry specialist skilled in scientific licensing and business development has been named to direct the University's Center for Science and Technology Commercialization.

Michael Newborg will serve as executive director of the CSTC. He began his new duties July 1 at the Health Center in Farmington.

The CSTC is a UConn initiative to transfer the University's discoveries and new technologies to the private sector. Newborg's responsibilities cover technology transfers, licensing agreements and new company spin-outs for the entire university, including the campuses at Storrs, Avery Point and Stamford. He will report to Leslie S. Cutler, Health Center chancellor and chairman of the Center for Science and Technology Commercialization Advisory Committee.

Newborg's position and the partnering possibilities it provides are a major component of the University's commitment to boost Connecticut's economy by creating new private sector businesses and jobs. In addition, the University is seeking to generate new evenue streams through technology transfer to support existing and proposed programs.

"The knowledge we create through our research and educational programs is the foundation for exciting new business opportunities," says Cutler. "Mike Newborg's skills and experience will help make those opportunities a reality."

Newborg comes to UConn from Bayer Corp.'s Pharmaceutical Divisions, West Haven, where he held business development positions of increasing responsibility. His most recent assignment was director of research licensing. Before joining Bayer, he was a researcher and manager at Pfizer Central Research in Groton.

Previously, Newborg was an associate professor of microbiology at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in Biddeford, Me. Prior to his faculty appointment, he was a research fellow at the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, N.Y.

Newborg earned undergraduate and advanced degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park, Md. His doctoral degree is in zoology.

Patrick Keefe