Award-Winner Hit the Ground Running, Maintains Marathon Pace

  • Published
  • By Laura Dempsey
  • AFRL Headquarters
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Holly Victorson's list of accomplishments reads like a retirement speech; the fact that the list was compiled in support of an award for a "Rookie" makes the reason she won perfectly clear.

Ms. Victorson, 28, is 2012's Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer's Rookie of the Year, an honor reserved for professionals with fewer than three years in the tech transfer field. She's been on the job since October 2009, leading the Space Vehicles (RV) and Directed Energy (RD) Directorates' joint Tech Transfer Group and Deputy Office of Research and Technology Applications. When she took the job, moving from a bench-level program manager position at RV, "I didn't know anything about tech transfer," she said. "I didn't even know what a CRADA (Cooperative Research and Development Agreement) was. I didn't know any of that stuff, and I realized I could have used it in my previous position."

That epiphany spurred Ms. Victorson to work tirelessly to get the word out about tech transfer's capabilities. Ms. Casey DeRaad, in nominating Ms. Victorson for the award, called her "the driving force behind some of the most creative and cutting-edge technology transfer activities at the Phillips Research Site."

Additionally, Ms. DeRaad wrote, "This ability to facilitate collaborative activities supports the initial discovery phase of technology development and enables various experts from across industry, government, and academia to come together and work on a technical problem. This innovative technology transfer method was seized by AFRL scientists and engineers immediately upon creation, and the first collaborative event was held in September."

Still, Ms. Victorson is most proud of a creative, deadline solution that preserved the Lab's ability to perform science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activities through the AFRL La Luz Academy, a STEM outreach effort singled out by the Secretary of the Air Force as a flagship program.

The partnership agreement was expiring, and, Ms. Victorson explains, "In looking at our tech transfer authorities, our lawyers didn't think we had appropriate statutory and regulatory authorities to be performing STEM outreach at the K-12 level. ... They were right; we didn't have authority to do this."

In just a few weeks, Ms. Victorson worked out a new vehicle under which the work would be classified. "We found the authority to award that work under a cooperative agreement - we had to compete it out and everything, and barely got it done. If that had failed, we would have let a lot of people down," she said.

She remains passionate about the importance of tech transfer, especially in today's budget-conscious environment.

"Developing effective partnerships is going to be more and more important as we go forward," she said. "I try to communicate that to our workforce, and make sure they know we can do the research we need to do - we don't have to spend any additional money if the tech transfer mechanism is used correctly. There are incredible opportunities. This is a great time for tech transfer."