Sita Pappu
Sita Pappu, Associate Director, began working in the Office of Intellectual Property Administration (OIPA) at WSU in December 2002. She has a joint appointment with OIPA, and the WSU Research Foundation (WSURF) and reports to Dr. Keith Jones, Director of OIPA and Executive Director of WSURF. She is involved with various aspects of intellectual property protection and licensing covering a wide range of functions: assessing invention disclosures, managing patent application filings and interactions with patent attorneys, and marketing the technologies in an effort to commercialize the inventions. She also works with licensing technologies to commercial partners for product development.
Sita obtained her Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Alberta, Canada followed by postdoctoral work at the University of Florida and the University of Georgia. She has several publications covering her research in peer-reviewed journals. Prior to joining WSU, she was at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Virginia as a Patent Examiner in the complex biotech group. While at the USPTO, she examined patent applications in the areas of plant and animal biotechnology and transgenics. Having reviewed patent applications at the USPTO, she understands what it takes to get a strong patent issued. In her technology transfer role, that experience is invaluable.
Sita finds her current position as a licensing associate very satisfying, since it allows her to help guide faculty members through the initial filing of invention disclosure for a technology, the subsequent evaluation and possible filing for a patent, and taking the idea through to commercialization. She particularly enjoys working with colleagues in academia, industry, and patent law firms, which ultimately results in research findings at a land-grant university improving the quality of life.
Sita strongly feels that university technology managers play a critical role in enhancing the visibility of the institution in the eyes of the public by transferring the fruits of research for public good. She sees technology managers as facilitators of this transfer and the subsequent integration of technological innovations into the market place. She believes that technology transfer is a great way to enhance economic development and to get funds flowing back into basic research thereby developing an evergreen cycle of knowledge, expansion, and economic growth.
