PANAMA CITY, Florida –
Paige George, mechanical engineer at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD), has recently been selected to represent the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) as the Southeast Regional Coordinator.
“The Southeast is such an important region in the FLC. The technology community is still working hard, even after Hurricane Michael devastated the area,” said George. “I want to make sure that our community continues to have a strong presence among the Federal Labs and that our technology transfer (T2) opportunities can be shared with everyone.”
George’s main responsibilities will be to coordinate T2 activities in the Southeast region, which includes Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. In addition, she will be responsible for ensuring all federal labs in the Southeast region have the tools they need to transfer technology.
Currently, George is the NSWC PCD science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, outreach programs manger. In this role, George negotiates Education Partnership Agreements (EPA) and works alongside NSWC PCD’s Office of Research and Technology Applications and legal offices on various T2 projects in the community. Paige said that the STEM outreach and T2 programs work hand-in-hand and are involved in shaping how the lab interacts outside the federal enterprise.
“Under T2 and STEM outreach, the lab collaborates and partners with non-federal entities like industry and academia through EPAs and Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, or CRADAs,” said George. “This allows us to rapidly develop cutting edge technology to support the mission of lab, while also supporting the local and national economy by being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
George will begin serving a two-year term at the start of the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
The FLC is a nationwide network of approximately 300 federal laboratories, centers, parent departments, and agencies that establishes strategies and opportunities for linking laboratory mission technologies and expertise with the marketplace.