ANN ARBOR—Three national leaders in entrepreneurship, research and innovation have joined the University of Michigan’s Tech Transfer National Advisory Board. This 16-member board provides advice, connection and hands-on operational support for all of the technology transfer activities at the University of Michigan.

The three new members are:

• Marshall Cohen, vice president and general manager of Sensors Unlimited, Goodrich Corporation in Princeton, New Jersey.
• Farnam Jahanian, co-founder of Arbor Networks in Boston, Mass. and Ann Arbor, and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at U-M.
• Jeffrey Williams, president and CEO of HandyLab of Ann Arbor.

John Denniston, a partner in the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield & Byers of Menlo Park, Calif., was also appointed to be the new chair of the National Advisory Board.

Ken Nisbet, executive director of U-M Tech Transfer, gives credit to the National Advisory Board for much of U-M’s recent success in transferring technology. “The National Advisory Board has been very helpful in providing guidance and connections to accelerate the pace of our efforts. This support has been a significant factor in our recent advances in creating more licenses and spinning out more startup businesses.”

“I’m pleased with the caliber and enthusiasm of our National Advisory Board members,” said Stephen Forrest, vice president of research at U-M. “We are indeed very fortunate to have this quality of business and entrepreneurial resources to propel our innovation activities and create more economic opportunity for our region and our state.”

About U-M Tech Transfer

The University of Michigan has one of the largest, most diverse and most successful research programs in the world. U-M Tech Transfer actively seeks partners to assist in getting the benefits of this research to the public. During fiscal year 2005, the University recorded 287 new invention disclosures from U-M researchers, 86 license agreements, seven new business startups with U-M technologies and $16.7 million in license revenues.

U-M Tech Transfer