John Hanson, Director

John Hanson is the Director of the University of Connecticut Tech-Knowledge Portal – an externally focused group in the Office of Technology Commercialization with a mission to support entrepreneurs and industry by providing access to the technical capacity of the University.  For the past 25 years John has worked at Connecticut-based manufacturers in the aerospace, machine tool, automotive component, and general industry sectors.  He has held positions in R&D, engineering development, marketing, product management, and new business development.  John holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Union College, an MS degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Connecticut.

Michael Newborg, Ph.D., Executive Director
Mike received his Ph.D. in 1977 from the University of Maryland, and did subsequent post-doctoral work in immunology at the Trudeau Institute. He then joined the faculty of the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. In 1985, Mike joined Pfizer becoming Manager of the Immununopharmacology Group. He then went to Bayer Corporation in 1994 where he became Director of Research Licensing. In 1999, Mike came to the University to head the revitalized technology transfer office, the CSTC. Mike has overall responsibility for the CSTC and handles inventions primarily in the life sciences.

Mike can be contacted at 860-679-2518 or email newborg@adp.uchc.edu .

Donna Cyr, Ph.D., Director of Technology Licensing
Donna received her Ph. D. in Physical Chemistry from Yale University in 1994, and then did post-doctoral work in scanning probe microscopy at Columbia University. After completing her post-doctoral training, Donna joined Rohm and Haas where she worked for five years becoming Group Leader of Agricultural Delivery Systems Research. Donna is responsible for handling inventions in the physical sciences, including chemistry, some engineering, and material science.

Donna can be contacted at 860-679-8185 or email dcyr@uchc.edu .

Gregory Gallo, Ph.D., Director of Technology Licensing
Greg graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1988 with a Ph.D. in molecular biology, followed by post-doctoral studies at Massachusetts General Hospital. Greg gained experience in the biotechnology industry when he joined the staff of T Cell Sciences and then a subsidiary of ImmunoGen, Apoptosis Technologies. In 1996, Greg moved to the Pharmaceutical Division of Bayer Corporation in West Haven where he used his technical skills to identify molecular targets in the cancer, diabetes, and obesity programs. Greg is responsible for discoveries in the life sciences.

Greg can be contacted at 860-679-8774 or email ggallo@uchc.edu .

Charles Goodwin, Ph.D., Director of Technology Licensing and Registered U.S. Patent Agent
Charlie received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1975. Following post-doctoral work at the University of Washington, he joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins. He then worked for Rhone-Poulenc becoming Manager of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Control. In 1987, Charlie joined the University of Connecticut as Director of Technology Transfer. Having passed the Patent Bar Exam, Charlie oversees the patent filing and prosecution for the University's inventions. Charlie also handles inventions in the life sciences as well as extensions and amendments to licenses he negotiated earlier in his career at UConn.

Charlie can be contacted at 860-679-4536 or email goodwin@nso1.uchc.edu .

Mansoor A. Khan, Ph.D.,Director of Technology Licensing
Mansoor received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Computer Engineering & Science from Case Western Reserve University, and a certificate in business management from New York University. Mansoor has worked in hardware and software development, technical marketing, and venture capital. His work experience includes working at two university spin-offs as well as large companies. He was a Member Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories where he managed a number of projects in chip design and system simulation. He also worked as Market Development Manager at Lucent's Optical Networking Group, where he performed financial business case analysis, formulated pricing and sales strategies, and dealt with the company's major optical networking systems. He has also worked at Kronos Inc. in technical marketing and at Telxon Corporation (now Symbol Technologies) where he developed device drivers and BIOS software for tablet computers. More recently, he has worked as a senior associate at a venture capital firm where he was responsible for identifying and analyzing investment opportunities in computing, semiconductor, and communications industries, and has consulted with small technology companies in capital formation and marketing strategy. He is a member of IEEE, ACM, and LES.Mansoor is primarily responsible for inventions in electrical engineering and computer engineering & science.

Mansoor can be reached at 860-679-8772 or email at makhan@uchc.edu .

R. Mark Van Allen, President.  

Mr. Van Allen has been the President of the UConn R&D Corporation since January 2003. Mr.Van Allen graduated from the Stanford University School of Business in 1981 with an emphasis in finance. For the past ten years, Mr. Van Allen was the Managing Director of Morgan Pacific Company, Inc., a firm involved in technology transfer opportunities and investment and market analysis in Asia for U.S. based technology companies. He was part of the initial team charged with the development of Science Park (a Yale-initiated business incubator) in New Haven and also developed and served as President of the Bridgeport Innovation Center (a for-profit business incubator) for eight years. He has served as Chairman and President of the Connecticut Venture Group.

Eleanor L. Tandler, Senior Associate.

Ms. Tandler received a Master's in Business Administration from the New York University's Stern School of Business in 2002 with a concentration in finance. Her experience includes development and implementation of business models for start-up companies and integration strategies for healthcare provider organizations and pharmaceutical companies.

Board of Directors, The UConn R&D Board consists of eight members, each appointed for a one-year term.

Ian Hart, Ph.D., Director, Industrial Initiatives.

Ian received his Ph.D. in 1973 from the University of Reading in the U.K. and then spent 15 years carrying out research at the National Institute for Research in Dairying, also in the U.K. He then occupied increasingly senior positions in the Animal Health Pharmaceutical Industry (American Cyanamid Company and Pfizer) before joining the University of Connecticut in 1994 as Head of the Department of Animal Science. In 2000 he was appointed to the interim position of Vice Provost for Research & Graduate Education and in 2002 he moved to the dual position of Associate Dean for Research & Advanced Studies in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Director of Industrial Initiatives with responsibility for establishing the University's Technology Incubator Program.

Rita Zangari Exec. Director, Technology Incubation Program.

Rita is a graduate of UConn and has 27 years of economic development experience.  Rita came to UConn as Executive Director of  the Technology Incubation Program from the State Department of Economic Development where she served as Deputy Commissioner for seven years. In that role she created and implemented many economic development initiatives including the industry cluster initiative, and  technology business development efforts ranging from programs for small entrepreneurial firms to the $100 million UBS expansion in Stamford. Rita was named Public Official of the Year at the 2004 Team Connecticut Economic Development Awards Rally.

Alexandra Litor-Li, Associate Director, Technology Incubation Program

Alexandra studied economics at Nanterre University, business at EM Lyon (top five business school in France) and law at la Sorbonne University in Paris, France before coming to the University of Connecticut where she received her MBA in 2006. During her business education she focused on Management and particularly on Entrepreneurships issues. Alexandra worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Paris as a consultant and then as a transfer pricing associate. She also worked for APICIL, first insurance company in the Rhone-Alpes region in France, in the risk management practice where she was in charge of developing an internal control manual to be used by the Internal Audit Department. She started as the Associate Director of the TIP in March 2007.