Transforming ideas into action. Leading with integrity. Committed to success. Intellectual Property Partners is all about growth and innovation, with a mission that fits right in with Stony Brook’s overall vision for the future. Specifically: “Bridging Stony Brook innovation with public benefit through partnership with SBU inventors and the business community.” To meet its audacious goals, the department itself is growing, with two recent hires comprising the now-11-member team, and more on the horizon. Meet Maria Dietrich and Krish Patel …

Maria Dietrich
Financial Assistant, Agreement and Accounts

Maria Dietrich is new to Intellectual Property Partners (IPP)  but no stranger to Stony Brook University, having worked here for the past 11 years (13 if you count prior temp positions at Stony Brook University Hospital). While part of the original, and continued, appeal was working close to home so she could be there for her now 16-year-old daughter Hailey, Maria has found Stony Brook to be a home away from home she doesn’t want to leave.

“I love the fact that I can learn and grow all the time, getting to know about different areas of the University,” she says. “I also like that I can do my part to help different parts of the University succeed, and that I get to have all of these opportunities and experiences right at the same institution. There’s so much happening here and I have a curiosity about it all.”

Maria got her foot in the door at Stony Brook in Procurement, where she worked for seven years before heading to NY Sea Grant, where she got to learn about the protection of marine life and her favorite animals, sea turtles. (You can find a ‘Save the Turtle’ bracelet on her wrist.)

The common thread is that she’s been able to do what she loves most and does best: working with numbers. “It’s funny because I was horrible at math in school and never thought I’d want to do that in my job. Then I worked part-time as a party rental company planner after high school and worked on audits during tax season. I realized I was good at the whole numbers thing and looked for a job in that area.”

IPP is a department she finds both fascinating and incredibly welcoming. “It’s a small team and we meet with each other all the time. We also all get to  meet any potential new employees to make sure they’re the right fit for the area,” she says.

She also loves what she does: reviewing license agreements and handling accounts receivable or, as Maria puts it, “making sure businesses and individuals we partner with are paying us what they should.”

She says, “I find the whole invention industry so interesting. When I was growing up, I used to dream about being able to invent something. Now I see how the invention and patent process works. I took this position for the work but also to learn more.” [Find out more about IPP here, including the partnerships it forges with SBU inventors and the business community to commercialize cutting-edge discoveries into new products and services.]

Maria also likes bringing her overall knowledge of how the University works to different departments. “I know how we receive and allocate funding. I have a feel for the bigger picture. And it’s exciting to work at an institution that’s getting bigger and bigger all the time and where there’s always a spot for a finance department.”

In addition to bringing her finance experience, she also brings her positive energy and attitude to the job:  “I don’t see a place for negativity. I come into the office happy every day – it’s hard not to to be with such a great team around me!”

Krish Patel
Technology Commercialization Assistant

Krish Patel graduated from Stony Brook University with a dual Bachelor’s degree in Chemical and Molecular Engineering in May 2022. An “Ethics and Business Practices for Engineers” course with adjunct professor Donna Tumminello, followed by an internship working for her in the Intellectual Property Partners (IPP) department, sealed the deal for him: “I knew I wanted to work in this area. I liked the environment, I liked the people and I liked the work. So I interviewed, got the job and it was all good!”

This is Krish’s first job out of school and he describes it as the perfect intersection between biology and engineering, which translates to the ideal job for his particular skillsets and interests.

“I get to learn about amazing, state-of-the-art technologies that deal with all parts of the human body, and which can make a real difference in people’s lives and in the future of healthcare,” he says. The technologies Krish evaluates for patentability and  commercial potential run the gamut from biodegradable stents, to training simulators that can enhance medical treatments for people with different illnesses and disabilities. He explains that can even include potential ways to better accommodate individuals with speech impediments, for example. The questions I ask myself are: ‘Is it new?’ And, ‘Will it be profitable and able to be commercialized?’ It’s all about what the market needs and how innovative technologies can address those needs,” he says.

“The cool part for me is to say that it all starts here,” he says. “We help move forward important technologies, then we get to watch them grow.” Primary examples of this happened at SBU, says Krish, at the height of the pandemic, when Stony Brook scientists conducted research that contributed to the development of effective COVID-19 vaccines.

For Krish, personally, the position in IPP was also an ideal way to enter his desired STEM path without going to medical school. “I came to college ‘undecided’ in terms of my major,” he explains. “I knew I didn’t want to be a doctor, as I have a real blood phobia. But I wanted to work in an area where there would be a lot of different opportunities and applications to real-world challenges. And I found the path here.”

Each day is different and exciting, he adds. “I’m never bored and I get to work in an environment where no one is looking over my shoulders. The team respects my work and trusts me to get the job done, but are also there for guidance when I need it. After I make my initial decisions, we all get together to evaluate my suggestions and make a final group decision. There’s a great sense of teamwork, every day.”

Krish, who outside of work is an avid anime lover (with custom sneakers to prove it), believes he brings two important dynamics to his IPP colleagues: “My chemical engineering background allows me to look at things from a somewhat unique perspective. Plus, I think the fact that I am young and just graduated from college brings its own kind of diversity to the team.”

Having recently passed his Fundamentals of Engineering (F.E.) exam, Krish is overjoyed, too, to be working at the school where he spent four happy years as a resident, working in student government and getting to live with friends he knew from high school. “I was happy living here in the dorms, while still being close to my family on Long Island. Now I’ve come full circle and it’s surreal to walk around as an employee, not a student.” As he’s said about the job itself, “It’s all good” … for Krish, for his team and for the University.