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I²E² Project Team

Damon L. Tull, PhD | Principal Investigator, Chair

Director, Industry Alliances at UC Davis Graduate School of Management

Click here to read Dr. Tull's biography
Damon Tull is the director for industry alliances at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management and the Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. His research interests include U.S. global competitiveness and capital flows of our national innovation ecosystems. Tull works with companies, charitable organizations, national education stakeholders, and federal government sponsors to form strategic partnerships that accelerate and broaden participation in innovation and entrepreneurship at both UC Davis and nationally.

Jill Finlayson | Infrastructure Subgroup Chair

Director, EDGE in Tech Initiative at UC Berkeley, Davis, Santa Cruz, and Merced

Click here to read Finlayson's biography
Jill Finlayson is Director of the EDGE in Tech Initiative at UC, co-sponsored by CITRIS and the Berkeley Engineering Department at UC Berkeley and serving Berkeley, Davis, Santa Cruz, and Merced campuses. The EDGE in Tech Initiative efforts centers around: advocating the adoption of meaningful diversity metrics by the tech industry; cultivating leadership skills and social acumen among women in engineering and computer science; increasing the visibility of female role models and facilitating mentorship of female students; enhancing awareness of implicit bias and promoting effective interventions, and paving new pathways to technology careers including entrepreneurship.

Mariah Lichenstern | Funding Subgroup Chair

Founding Partner, DiverseCity Ventures

Click here to read Lichenstern's biography
At the intersection of technology, entertainment, and venture capital, Mariah "Roman" Lichtenstern accelerates positive social, economic, and environmental impact through entrepreneurship. An alumna of UC Berkeley, USC, and UCLA, she is the Founding Partner of DiverseCity Ventures and launched the Sacramento, CA chapter of the Founder Institute, which was recognized in Forbes Magazine as the 3rd most gender-diverse chapter in the world.

Rosibel Ochoa, PhD | Education & Training Subgroup Chair

Associate Vice Chancellor Technology Partnerships, UC Riverside

Click here to read Dr. Ochoa's biography
Dr. Rosibel Ochoa is the Associate Vice Chancellor Technology Partnerships and an Adjunct Professor for Chemical and Environmental Engineering at U.C. Riverside. The Office of Technology Partnerships accelerates economic development by transferring UC Riverside research from the lab to the private sector, facilitating academic-industry collaborations, and encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship on campus and throughout our region.

Executive Sponsor

Theresa Maldonado, PhD, PE

VP Research and Innovation, University of California Office of the President

Click here to read Dr. Maldonado's biography
Dr. Theresa A. Maldonado was appointed Vice President for Research & Innovation in March 2020. Before coming to UC, she served as Dean and Riter Professor of Engineering at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in July 2017. She also holds a tenured appointment as Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering.

UCOP Staff

Marion Kavanaugh-Lynch, MD

Director of the CA Breast Cancer Research Program, UCOP

Click here to read Dr. Kavanaugh-Lynch's biography
Kavanaugh-Lynch is the director of the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP). In this position, she develops strategies and guides priorities for the $15 million per year that California invests in research to bring an end to the disease. She has managed the awarding of 975 research grants to 115 different institutions across the state of California, totaling approximately $239 million. Her accomplishments include championing the role of advocates and survivors in the peer review process, developing a successful model for funding community-based participatory research and developing rigorous evaluations of the program.

Gale Sheean-Remotto, PMP

UCOP PMO Senior Program Manager

Click here to read Sheean-Remotto's biography
Gale has over 25 years of experience managing resources on integrated, multi-faceted cross-disciplinary projects including facilitation, development and implementation of strategic plans, and managing large scale system wide initiatives. She is a skilled strategist, business process analyst, training lead and change manager, and proficient in project management methodologies, driving projects through successful launches and maintaining full responsibility for implementation of each project phase. She optimizes production solutions to control costs, boost revenues and in some cases accelerate timelines while proactively and effectively troubleshooting issues with full transparency. Her management style is based on a team-building approach, cultivating a strong, positive rapport with all levels of an organization to generate a strong network while driving to consensus as a project lead. She is very detail-oriented, well-organized and able to effectively plan, manage, and prioritize multiple projects and moving elements.

National Science Foundation

Charisse Carney-Nunes, JD

Deputy Division Director, National Science Foundation

Click here to read Carney-Nunes's biography
Charisse Carney-Nunes joined UCOP recently in 2021 as the ACE Fellow. Before this, Throughout her 20+ year career, as a senior staff advisor, education advocate, lawyer and writer, she has focused on building national and local communities and making an impact within education, STEM and the federal government. She delivered results and motivate people to become agents of change in their own lives. At the National Science Foundation (NSF), she led change through setting strategic vision, building capacity, improving programs and cultivating productive relationships with people of all levels. This work has been recognized with appointments to several high profile initiatives and agency-wide change management projects as well as to the NSF Leadership Development Program.

DEI Data Subcommittee

Dr. Damon Tull, Co-Chair, Director, Industry Alliances, UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Dr. Yvette Gullatt, Co-Chair, Vice President and Vice Provost, UC Office of the President
Dr. Andrew Epigg, Institutional Research Analyst at UC Berkeley
Greg Horowitt, Director of Innovation Design at the UC San Diego
Shane Moise, Senior Manager for Strategic Innovation Alliances, Projects, and Data, UC San Diego Office of Innovation and Commercialization
Joe DiNunzio, Executive Director Mike & Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, UC Davis Graduate School of Management

Education & Training Subcommittee

Dr. Rosibel Ochoa, Associate Vice Chancellor Technology Partnerships, UC Riverside
Dr. Marion Kavanaugh-Lynch, Director of California Breast Cancer Research Program, UC Office of the President
Jacques Chirazi, Director of Student Entrepreneurship & Blackstone Launchpad, UC San Diego
Lauri Lewis, JD, Legal Coordinator of Startup Legal Garage, UC Hastings
Michael Matkin, Executive Director of CITRIS, UC Santa Cruz
Maryanne McCormick, JD, Chief Strategy Officer, Blum Center for Developing Economies, UC Berkeley
Giora Messinger, Founder & Principal, LinkedObjects
Dr. Grant Warner, CEA Director of Innovation and Associate Professor, Howard University
Jennifer Yturralde, Programs & Outreach Specialist, UC Riverside Office of Technology Partnerships
Mariam Lam, Vice Chancellor and Chief Diversity Officer, UC Riverside

Funding Subcommittee

Mariah Lichenstern, Founding Partner, DiverseCity Ventures
Neda Amidi, President, Plug and Play Tech Center
Nicola Corzine, Executive Director, Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center
Nick Gulino, JD, CEO & Founder, Recover
Dr. Carol Mimura, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Intellectual Property & Industry Research Alliances, UC Berkeley
Sofia Ramos, Startup Support Associate, UC Los Angeles Technology Development Group
Tim Shaw, Special Projects, UC Irvine Beall Applied Innovation
Dr. Richard Sudek, Chief Innovation Officer, UC Irvine

Infrastructure Subcommittee

Jill Finlayson, Director, EDGE in Tech Initiative, UC Berkeley
Suzanne Harrison, Percipience LLC
Bruce Hunter, JD, Executive Director, Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Partnerships, UC Office of the President
Dr. Jeni Janci, Research Grant Project Officer, Innovation Ventures, UC San Francisco
William Kell, JD, Lecturer in Residence, UC Berkeley Law School
Todd Pray, Chief Strategic Partnerships Officer, Berkeley Lab