Alice Li, PhD
Executive Director of the Center for Technology Licensing (CTL)
Alice Li is the Executive Director of Center for Technology Licensing at Cornell University (CTL), the university’s technology transfer office. She oversees activities in technology management, licensing, marketing and finance to support Cornell’s goals in commercializing technologies, promoting startups, and building partnerships. Alice also leads the university gap funding series to accelerate innovation and new venture creation.
Alice has over 20 years of experience in university tech transfer and business development. She started as a licensing officer with hands-on management of invention portfolios, negotiations of complex deals, and engagement with startup companies. She rose through the ranks of CTL and became the Executive Director in 2014. Prior to joining CTL in 2002, Alice was an R&D manager at BioArray Solutions, a startup biotech company in diagnostics that was later acquired by Immucor. During her five-year tenure there, the company grew from a two-person startup to an enterprise of fifty people.
Alice obtained her Ph.D. from Cornell University and a B.S. from Tsinghua University. She is also an inventor, patent holder, and author of research papers in scientific journals. She has been a Certified Licensing Professional since 2010. Alice is a Board Director of AUTM.
Lisa Placanica, PhD
Senior Managing Director, CTL@WCM
Dr. Placanica is Senior Managing Director, Center for Technology Licensing at WCM. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing WCM’s activities in technology management, marketing, licensing, and outreach to support Cornell’s goals in commercializing technologies, promoting start-ups, and building partnerships.
Prior to joining WCM in 2020, Dr. Placanica held the position of Managing Director, Business Development and Licensing at Mount Sinai Innovation Partners. In this role, she was responsible for managing a team of business development professionals focused on identifying, advancing, and partnering therapeutic technologies developed at the Mount Sinai Health System and acted as deal team lead for closing complex intellectual property transactions. Dr. Placanica also was a Licensing Manager in the Office of Technology Development at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where she focused on development and commercialization of cell and gene therapy related inventions and previously was a key member of the Cell Biology research group at Athersys, Inc in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Placanica received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Weill Cornell Medical College where she studied the biochemical composition of gamma secretase and its role in Alzheimer’s Disease in the laboratory of Dr. Yueming Li at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She holds a B.A. in Biology from Cornell University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with Distinction.
In 2013, Dr. Placanica became a Certified Licensing Professional.
Krystyn Van Vilet, PhD
Vice President of Innovation and External Engagement
As Vice President for Innovation and External Engagement Strategy, Van Vliet supports innovation, technology transfer and external partnerships across all Cornell campuses. Her responsibilities encompass intellectual property licensing, incubation and acceleration of startup companies, as well as external partnerships and engagement with public and private stakeholders to advance university-level initiatives and partnerships. Her portfolio includes Center for Technology Licensing activities and the Office of Corporate Engagement.
Van Vliet serves on the board of the Empire AI Consortium, Inc., launched by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and in governance roles for regional U.S. Department of Commerce-sponsored programs that advance energy storage and semiconductor materials innovations. She serves as a working group member of the Industrial Advisory Committee, which advises the Secretary of Commerce on how to best implement the CHIPS Act.
Prior to joining Cornell in February 2023, Van Vliet was the Koerner Professor of materials science & engineering and biological engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She directed the MIT Department of Materials Science & Engineering Nanomechanical Technology Laboratory, a multi-user facility, from 2004–2012. In 2011, she assumed co-leadership of the Singapore-MIT Alliance in Research & Technology (SMART) BioSystems & Micromechanics, an interdisciplinary research group (IRG) of approximately 175 researchers that invents and develops technology platforms for diagnostics and treatment of cell and tissue disease as well as cell therapy manufacturing solutions. Under her leadership, the group contributed key breakthroughs and innovations to cell imaging, drug screening and optical imaging; created a start-up company; and developed several devices now involved in international clinical trials. In 2017, Van Vliet was named MIT’s Associate Provost overseeing campus space management, technology licensing and corporate relations, among other responsibilities. She became MIT’s first Associate Vice President for Research in 2021.
Van Vliet was co-chair, along with Robert J. Ferl, of the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences Research in Space 2023-2032, a publication of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).
Zachary Shulman, JD
Director of Entrepreneurship at Cornell; Managing Partner, Cayuga Venture Fund
Zach Shulman teaches courses on venture capital and law for high-growth businesses. Shulman is also currently a managing partner at Cayuga Venture Fund, a venture capital firm located in Ithaca, New York.
Before coming to Johnson in 2002, Shulman served as general counsel and chief investor relations officer of Spike Broadband Systems, where he was responsible for general oversight of Spike’s legal function, including negotiating and closing strategic and business relationships; strategizing, negotiating and closing fund-raising efforts; investor relations; and various human resource matters. While at Spike, Shulman negotiated and closed more than $80 million in venture capital financing.
Shulman participates in the university-wide Entrepreneurship@Cornell (E@C) initiative and serves on numerous advisory boards for groups affiliated with Cornell and the local community. He earned a bachelor of science from the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and graduated from Cornell University Law School, magna cum laude.
Bettina Wagner, DVM
Professor, Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine
Bettina Wagner joined the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University in 2004. Wagner lab focuses on research in equine immunology, focusing on immune responses and protective mechanisms in neonates and young foals. The disease models include intracellular pathogens, such as Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), and allergic diseases especially Culicoides induced skin hypersensitivity. Major pathways that are investigated by my group are adaptive T-cell immunity, antibody isotype responses and cytokine regulation pathways. Another major goal is the development of new immune reagents for horses and advanced technologies in veterinary diagnostics, such as multiplex assays for infectious diseases, cytokines and immunoglobulin isotypes. Bettina received her DVM from school of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, Germany.