By Chinwe Ohanele Agwu
The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property (Michelson IP) team is eager for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) 2024 UNITE Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 28th. Last year’s conference was truly inspirational, this year we look forward to celebrating UNCF’s 80th anniversary.
Additionally, Michelson IP is excited to showcase the HBCU Futures Collaborative’s intellectual property impact report, introduce our new legal fellow, Elleyse Garrett, and host a panel in collaboration with the Michelson Medical Research Foundation.
The HBCU Futures Collaborative Impact Report
Since 2016, The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property (Michelson IP) has taken on a population-specific effort to support and empower the historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) ecosystem. On July 29th, we will publish a HBCU intellectual property impact report in collaboration with the HBCU Futures Collaborative.
To ensure there was not only education but also awareness about the power of IP, Michelson IP partnered with seven HBCUs over the course of a year. We are excited to share the findings from that initial project and look forward to continuing to foster IP education within HBCUs. If you are interested in learning more about the program, please sign up for our newsletter to be notified when the report is public.
Introducing Elleyse Garret, Michelson IP Legal Fellow
We are pleased to announce that Elleyse Garret, a rising second-year law student at Loyola Law School, has been selected as our first legal fellow. As a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, Ms. Garret obtained her master’s in public health from the University of Southern California and pursued a law degree driven by her desire to advocate for underrepresented communities.
Ms. Garret’s work in collaboration with MIIP will pave the way for what we hope will become a robust legal fellowship program. The data shows that 1.8% of all IP attorneys are Black, which means there is a significant deficit in available resources for underserved populations. Through the legal fellowship, Michelson IP supports inclusive innovation and provides a pipeline for more diverse populations to enter the IP space.
This unique opportunity provides a current law student with a paid fellowship for a full year and mentorship from Professor Lateef Mtima, Howard Law Professor and Executive Director of the Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice. Additionally, the legal fellow will undertake the research to better understand the IP offerings within the HBCU space and produce literature to memorialize their findings.
If you’re attending the UNITE Conference, be sure to say hello to Ms. Garret as she begins her research efforts by conducting interviews with various IP stakeholders involved within the HBCUs.
The Path to R1 Status: Closing the Equity Gap in Research Funding
In collaboration with Michelson Medical Research Foundation, Michelson IP looks forward to hosting a panel titled “The Path to R1 Status: Closing the Equity Gap in Research Funding” on July 30th at 10:10 AM during the UNITE Conference. The panel will highlight research taking place at HBCUs, tech transfer offices, and IP policies that can help HBCUs move toward R1 status to support scientists and generate wealth for the Black community. The panel will include:
- Dr. Barney Graham, Professor of Medicine and Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Immunology and Senior Advisor for Global Health Equity at Morehouse School of Medicine
- Professor Muhsinah Morris, Virtual Reality (VR) Pioneer in the Higher Education Metaverse, Director of Morehouse in the Metaverse, VR Project at Morehouse College, and Assistant Professor, Education, Morehouse Center for Excellence in Education
- Dr. Erica Johnson, Immunologist and Associate Professor of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Immunology / Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Co-Director of the Vaccine Trials Unit and Pediatric Clinical Translational Research Unit at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM)
Interested in contributing your thoughts to the ongoing work Michelson IP and Ms. Garrett will be doing? Please contact us. It is through partnership and collaboration that we can reduce the IP gap and ensure that we are truly bringing about an inclusive innovation ecosystem, which serves to make our world a more vibrant place.
The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property, an initiative of the Michelson 20MM Foundation, provides access to empowering IP education for budding inventors and entrepreneurs. Michelson 20MM was founded thanks to the generous support of renowned spinal surgeon Dr. Gary K. Michelson and Alya Michelson. To learn more, visit 20mm.org.