Washington State University Innovation & Research Engagement Office Asa D. Brown, Esq. works at Washington State University in the Innovation & Research Engagement Office. His role involves both generating and cultivating relationships with existing corporate partners that align with WSU’s research strengths and building entrepreneurial-minded faculty & graduate students who are interested in spinning technology out of the research enterprise. Leveraging the NSF I-Corps program, Asa leads cohorts of faculty & student teams through business model development and LEAN startup methodologies. This dual top-down, bottom-up approach to research engagement proves holistic in changing the mindset and culture at WSU around corporate-sponsored research.