Dharish Totiger
Student Intellectual Property & Disclosures Assistant
Over the years, UNM Rainforest Innovations has trained over a hundred UNM students on university technology transfer and commercialization through its student internship program. Students develop excellent professional skills and a better understanding of the intersection of business, science, and law. These students add immense value to UNM Rainforest Innovations, and their unique backgrounds and interests diversifies our innovation ecosystem.
Dharish Totiger joined UNM Rainforest Innovations in the summer of 2019 as the Student Intellectual Property & Disclosures Assistant. “One of my classmates who was working as an intern at UNMRI told me about the internship program. I looked up the open positions on UNMRI’s website and applied for the program because of my interest in technology management and commercialization.”
Dharish assists with disclosures and patent assignments and reporting government funded inventions. He also works on prior art (novelty) searching, conducts market analysis for new technologies, identifies potential licensees, and develops marketing materials. “I mostly enjoy working with various aspects of marketing activities of new technologies. Also, I enjoy the opportunity to attend several informative seminars and webinars organized by UNMRI, which also serves as a platform for mentors and entrepreneurs to share their knowledge and experience.”
Growing up in Bangalore, India, the capital of India’s southern Karnataka state, this is where Dharish received a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering. “I belong to a family of five members, including me. My father runs a business, and my mother is a homemaker. I have an older sister who is a medical doctor and a twin brother (fraternal) who is a mechanical engineer.” After graduating with his bachelor’s degree, he decided to move to Albuquerque to pursue a master’s degree in information systems and assurance and an MBA in finance and entrepreneurship at the University of New Mexico.
He plans to graduate from his master’s program in the Spring of 2022 and wants to work in the field of technology. Eventually he also wants to start his own technology consulting business while also taking care of his family’s business.