Profiles

Mike Szarka joined the University of Waterloo in 2015 with nearly 20 years’ experience in academic research partnerships and technology transfer with GreenCentre Canada (Queen’s University), UOIT, the University of Toronto, and the Ontario Centres of Excellence. Mike is a Waterloo alumnus with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in chemistry and a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Toronto.

Vlad works with professors and companies to match interests for the purpose of collaborative research and commercialization projects with a focus on Engineering, Computer Science, Math, and Environment. Vlad’s portfolio includes Data Science, Aviation and Defense, Insurance and Banks, transportation and geo informatics

Ashley joined the University of Waterloo Research Partnerships team in 2023 with several years of experience in facilitating collaborative research partnerships between industrial, not-for-profit and government partners with academic researchers across the country.  She has a broad knowledge base working in all industrial sectors and academic disciplines key to the innovation economy from the arts to aerospace.  Ashely values building research relationships between academic experts and industrial partners to develop impactful solutions to real-world challenges.

Oleg helps match the interests of companies and researchers in the areas of energy, oil and gas, biotech, nanotech, cleantech, quantum, as well as other areas of physical and life sciences. Oleg received his PhD degree in Engineering Physics, and worked for a number of years conducting research in the areas of organic electronics, biophysics and microbiology. He founded three startup businesses, one being a university spin-off based on his own research in the area of industrial biotechnology (successfully exited).