Patent Licensing & Translation Associate

• Formalized Partnership Pipelines & Non-License Agreements

Proposed Start Date 02/01/2027 Classification Title Legal and Compliance Rank N - No Rank Working Title Patent Licensing & Translation Associate Department 400301 - STP Strategic Partnerships Admin Position Number D90553 Representation AU - AAUP Renewable Renewable End date, if applicable 09/30/2030 Position FTE 1.0 Tenure Status N - not applicable

Brief Description of PSU/School/Dept

Portland State University is Oregon’s most affordable public research university, located in the heart of one of America’s most dynamic cities. Our mission to “let knowledge serve the city” reflects our dedication to turning ideas into action — in Portland and around the world. The city is our campus, giving students unmatched access to career connections, a vibrant cultural scene and hands‑on learning experiences with hundreds of community partners.

More than 20,000 students from all backgrounds bring diverse perspectives to our classrooms and campus life, from the tree‑lined Park Blocks to the bustling Urban Plaza and state‑of‑the‑art science labs. We are proud of our world‑class faculty, groundbreaking research and international reputation for excellence in sustainability, community engagement and innovation.

Innovation and Intellectual Property is responsible for protecting and managing patentable and copyrighted works developed in the course of PSU research activities.

We serve PSU faculty, students, and staff by promoting the use and increasing the impact of innovations developed in the course of research activities. By working with IIP, PSU innovators create lasting impacts on our world.

Working directly within the Innovation & Intellectual Property (IIP) office of Propel PSU, the incumbent will split their focus between proactive discovery harvesting (systematically mining university‑wide awarded grant data and final reports to identify early‑stage innovations, along with leveraging existing and curating new relationships with researchers across all colleges and centers at PSU to find new innovations and helping the innovators to disclose them when appropriate) and traditional technology transfer roles (including conducting high‑intensity patentability/market analyses, managing intellectual property (IP) assets, and drafting/negotiating complex licensing and industry sponsored research agreements).

The incumbent will also play an important role in programs associated with institutional innovation capacity building, prototyping and development of early‑stage technologies. The incumbent will also deliver training and expertise on translation topics to faculty and graduate students, and externally to build streamlined, flexible partnership pipelines with industry and community networks to drive economic and societal impact.

• Proactive Innovation Harvesting & Grant Mining
• Systematically mine university‑wide awarded grant data, publications, and completed final grant reports to identify early‑stage discoveries with high translational or commercial potential.
• Implement a rigorous, proactive scouting workflow. Conduct extensive, direct outreach across all PSU academic departments and colleges to build trust and surface disclosures before they are publicly published. Coordinate with the greater faculty support
• IP Development, Patent Portfolio Management, & Licensing
• Manage the administrative and legal aspects of PSU’s physical science, engineering, software, and life science patent portfolios.
• Work with faculty inventors to evaluate discoveries, draft comprehensive intellectual property strategy plans, and manage patent prosecution timelines with external law firms. Draft,…