The Cornell Research Foundation Inc. (CRF), which puts much of Cornell University research to commercial use, has a new president. He is James A. Severson, previously a marketing director at the University of Minnesota.

The announcement was made by Cornell Senior Vice President Frederick A. Rogers. As CRF president, Severson also is Cornell's director of patents and technology marketing. CRF, a wholly owned Cornell subsidiary, is responsible for protection and commercialization of inventions made at the university.

Severson obtained his B.S. in zoology in 1973 and his Ph.D. in physiology in 1977, both from Iowa State University. He did his postdoctoral work at the Department of Biological Sciences and the Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, from 1977 to 1980. He then spent six years as asssistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Southern California School of Medicine. From 1986 to 1988 he was assistant manager of new biomedical technology assessment at Amersham Corp., following which he spent a year as the company's manager of pharmaceutical market development.

In 1990 he went to the University of Minnesota where, for five years, he was assistant director of the Office of Patents and Licensing. In 1995 he became director for the university's health technologies, patents and technology marketing.

CRF manages the intellectual property created by Cornell employees and is responsible for obtaining appropriate patent or copyright protection on Cornell-owned intellectual property. It also locates suitable commercial development partners and research and development collaborators and marketing for Cornell inventions. In fiscal 1999, CRF filed 144 patent applications or inventions made at Cornell and negotiated 84 licenses and option agreements to facilitate the commercial development of these inventions