About
The Technology Transfer Office (TTO) works to translate MSU research to practice, including commercialization of MSU innovations; facilitates research collaborations especially with industry, including sponsored research; and provides campus-wide support on intellectual property matters, including management of NDAs and MTAs.
Staff
Tricia Cook
Fiscal Manager
Tricia provides fiscal oversight to the Technology Transfer Office. She has over 25 years of experience working with accounting and budgeting in higher education and has a B.S. in Business Accounting from Montana State University.
Bri Daniels
Community and Mentor Manager
Bri Daniels is the Community and Mentor Manager for the Technology Transfer Office, where she supports faculty, researchers, and students by building connections across MSU’s innovation ecosystem. She is passionate about fostering inclusive, collaborative communities and empowering innovators to advance their ideas and research beyond the university and into real-world impact. Bri holds a B.S. in Business Management from MSU and brings firsthand experience as an entrepreneur and founder.
Madeleine Doak
Intellectual Property Manager & Licensing Associate
Madeleine manages MSU's patent, trademark, and copyright processes, working with inventors, patent counsel, and licensees. She manages the intellectual property database and maintains the TTO metrics and works with faculty to help develop and manage intellectual property, particularly for those technologies related to plant science. She holds a B.S. from Millikin University.
Magali Dieny Eaton
Associate Director
Magali is passionate about fostering faculty and student success in technology transfer and building startup ecosystems through inclusive innovation. She brings years teaching innovation, partnership building, and intellectual property law practice to the MSU tech transfer team. Magali founded and helped launch several long-lived organizations and has a strong focus on broadening participation in innovation and entrepreneurship. Magali holds law degrees from Universite Jean Moulin and Universite de Strasbourg in France, and an LLM in intellectual property law from the University of Washington where she attended thanks to a Fulbright scholarship.
Taylor Heinecke
Catalyst Lab Incubator Director
Taylor Heinecke is a deep-tech operator and ecosystem builder based in Bozeman, Montana. He leads the Catalyst Lab Incubator at Montana State University’s QCORE initiative, where he helps founders commercialize research-driven technologies and connects them to capital, customers, and national partners. Previously he co-founded and scaled an NSF-funded startup, navigating the full arc from university research to venture-backed commercialization. His work sits at the intersection of technical fluency, founder support, and ecosystem strategy, with a particular emphasis on positioning Montana as a serious hub for deep-tech innovation.
Daniel Juliano
Director
Daniel joined MSU in 2016, following 16 years of technology development and commercialization experience in industry. He first worked in semiconductor capital equipment, developing processes and equipment to deposit ultrathin conformal layers of metal on silicon wafers. His most recent industry role was in senior management at a VC-funded startup that grew to 500+ employees, where his responsibilities included creating and managing the company's intellectual property program. Daniel has been granted 24 US patents, and has BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Daniel is principal investigator of MSU's NSF ART (Accelerating Research Translation) program.
Tess Kirkpatrick
IP and Marketing Associate
Tess Kirkpatrick supports the commercialization of MSU research through market analysis, industry outreach, and IP evaluation. She brings experience in biological research and legal contract support, contributing to licensing efforts, startup support, and agreement management. Tess holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and an M.S. in Innovation and Management from Montana State University.
Jessica Murdock
Program Manager
Jessica is the Program Manager for MSU's NSF ART (Accelerating Research Translation) award, and coordinates Non-Disclosure and Material Transfer Agreements for the Technology Transfer Office. She has been at MSU since 2006 and has served in various roles on campus. She holds a M.Ed. in adult education from Montana State University and a B.S. in animal science from the University of Idaho.
Casey Wegner
Senior Technology Manager
Casey Wegner is a life sciences R&D and strategic partnership leader with more than a decade of industry experience shaping intellectual property (IP) strategies and advancing biotech products to market. He has led IP creation and licensing efforts, building extensive patent portfolios and securing multimillion-dollar R&D and commercial partnerships. Casey has directed end-to-end development of diagnostic and biomanufacturing platforms, aligning patent strategy with product and market needs. His experience spans venture-backed startups, publicly traded companies, and university technology transfer environments. Casey holds M.S. degrees from the University of Connecticut and the University of Nebraska.
Nick Zelver
Senior Technology Manager
Nick works with faculty to help develop intellectual property and facilitates agreements with industry for MSU to conduct research, perform testing and to license university technology. He has worked in technology transfer for over twenty years in positions that include being a liaison to industry for a university engineering research center, facilitating licensing of technology from federal laboratories, and licensing university intellectual property. He holds a B.A. in biology and B.S. in engineering from Humboldt State University and a M.S. in engineering from Rice University.