It takes years of experience to gain the know-how to successfully get a high-tech company off the ground. With its Mentors-in-Residence program, TLA is bringing in proven experts to help start the newest high-tech UA startups on the path to success.

Started one year ago, UA startup Metropia will be working with the Tucson Festival of Books to help alleviate traffic congestion and help attendees get to and from their destinations.

A team of inventors from the UA College of Engineering have developed and are commercilizing a new breed of sensor – a reference electrode – designed to work in ultra-high temperature environments, from metal and oil refining to solar energy.

As the newest member of the TLA Business Development team, Eric Smith works with the office's Licensing Manager and Business Intelligence groups to manage and expand TLA's 1,400-member expert network, and implement strategies to leverage the collective knowledge of that network to more effectively commercialize technologies invented at the UA.

UA Engineering Professor Dominic Gervasio, Ph.D., and Principal Research Specialist Hassan Elsentriecy, Ph.D., invented and are commercializing a toxin-free method using high-temperature molten salts to extract copper from raw ore.

Sherry Hoskinson has retired, leaving an impactful legacy of work at TLA. With her departure, TLA is implementing changes – primarily in the business development area – which she led and built over the past three years.