Arjun Sanga to lead tech transfer for UT branches in S.A. and Valley

Arjun Sanga

By Will Sansom
Director of News and Information, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

(June 14, 2010) -- Arjun Sanga, has been named executive director of South Texas Technology Management, a regional technology transfer office that serves four University of Texas institutions (the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, UT San Antonio (UTSA), UT Brownsville and UT Pan American).

Sanga also was appointed assistant vice president for technology transfer effective Aug. 2, announced by Brian Herman, vice president for research at the UT Health Science Center, and Robert Gracy, UTSA vice president for research. Sanga will take over the day-to-day operations of South Texas Technology Management (STTM) from John Cole, who served as interim director while a national search was conducted. Cole will return to his role as special assistant to the vice president for research at the Health Science Center.

Sanga is associate vice chancellor for research and technology transfer with the University of Texas System. In this capacity, he provides leadership, coordination and facilitation of major technology transfer initiatives and policy including development and implementation of strategies to expand and enhance technology transfer and research funding to UT System institutions.

Before coming to the UT System, Sanga served as corporate counsel for the University of Kansas Center for Research, a nonprofit corporation charged with managing research administration for the Lawrence campus of the University of Kansas. In that role, he provided advice for the full range of university research and technology transfer issues by working with researchers, faculty, administrators and external stakeholders on a wide variety of business, legal and policy matters.

Sanga is an active participant in several important local and national organizations. He is an executive committee member of the Commission on Competitiveness, Innovation and Economic Prosperity of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities. He also is an assistant vice president for metrics and surveys of the Association of University Technology Managers and is an editor of the association's annual licensing survey. In Texas, he is an advisory board member of the Austin Technology Council.

Sanga received his juris doctor of law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and his bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from the University of Washington with an emphasis in chemistry and computer science. He is a registered patent attorney and a member of the Texas, Kansas and Missouri bars.

"I am extremely excited about coming to this position," said Sanga. "The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio has experienced exponential growth in research in the last five years and has recruited faculty stars from around the country. UTSA is on an accelerated path toward Tier One status and is doing a great job of hiring outstanding faculty. UT Pan American and UT Brownsville are making important contributions to the Valley, and we have an opportunity to partner with them to continue to create companies and to spin off products that will be of benefit to the region.

"We have outstanding faculty and researchers coming to us from all these institutions who are making great discoveries with the potential to save lives. These discoveries are the raw materials which, through technology transfer, can be turned into real-world benefit to the citizens of Texas."