Contact: Harriet Laird
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Chase C. Kasper is the new assistant director of Mississippi State's technology commercialization office.
Kasper has served since 2006 as a licensing associate in the office, which is responsible for identifying, protecting, marketing, and licensing intellectual properties developed at the university, among other duties.
He is a 1989 MSU management graduate who also completed a master's degree in business administration in 1994.
"Chase has successfully licensed several university inventions and developed marketing strategies that are still in the early stages of commercialization," said office director Charles Rivenburgh.
"He works well with the inventors and has been a real asset to our program," Rivenburgh added. "In this new role, he will take a leadership position in moving our patented agricultural-related technologies into the marketplace."
Most recently, Kasper successfully negotiated license agreements for "Delta Jazz" crape myrtle tree and "Freedom" giant miscanthus grass. In addition, he continues to oversee the turfgrass licensing program that accounts for more than 60 percent of the office's annual royalty income.
Kasper was a key player in work done with MSU startup company, Spatial Information Solutions, a geographic information system-software business and the first such venture to be awarded $100,000 from the Mississippi Seed Fund. This year, SIS successfully launched its first product, Accuracy Analyst™.
After working several years in the private sector, Kasper managed the MSU Research and Technology Corp. upon his return to campus in 2003.
Kasper is a member of the Association of University Technology Managers' central region planning board and the Licensing Executives Society Inc.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Kasper at 662-325-1939 or ckasper@otc.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.