Hannah Dvorak Carbone, PhD, RTTP
Director for Innovation, Patents & Licensing
Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Partnerships, Caltech
Director, AUTM Board
AUTM Board

AUTM Member since 2007
What is your favorite TV show and why?
That’s a tough one. I don’t watch all that much TV, but there are certainly series of which I’ve seen every episode. Star Trek, maybe; but which of the half-dozen series could I choose over the others? Big Bang Theory – or is that a little too on the nose, because I DO work at Caltech (and got my PhD there)? Grey’s Anatomy, yes I’m still watching; though this season has been a little painful with episodes set during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Amazing Race, but if I watch, I’ll just be sad about not being able to travel myself right now. Jeopardy! – which I’ve found much more painful to watch since my own mediocre performance on the show 20+ years ago (and it just isn’t the same without Alex Trebek).

What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?
I’m a dual citizen (Canada/US) and have been to all 50 U.S. states (plus D.C., Puerto Rico, and the USVI), all 10 Canadian provinces (albeit only the Labrador part of Newfoundland and Labrador), and two of the three Canadian territories. (When I went to what is now Nunavut, it was still part of the Northwest Territories. Haven’t been to the current NWT, yet.)

Which book did you read in college or high school that was interesting enough that you still think or talk about it sometimes? 
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy! It used to drive certain high school friends crazy when other friends and I would quote the book at length to each other. I still have extensive passages from it and its sequels stored in my brain (alongside miscellaneous ‘80s song lyrics and other similarly useful things). RIP, Douglas Adams – wish you were still around to offer your incisive observations about society, technology, etc.

If you did not have to sleep, how would you spend the extra 8 hours?
Would it be really lame to say “catching up on work”? I mean, if it’s dark anyway, might as well, right?

Or reading. Probably reading.

How did you get your name? 
As immigrants from then-Czechoslovakia, my parents wanted me and my brother, both born in Canada, to have names that “worked” in both English and Czech. “Hana” is a very common Czech name, but they decided to go with the English spelling to avoid confusion. It turned out to be an uncommon name in my age group, but a few years ago I couldn’t go out without at least one instance of whipping my head around when I heard some little Hannah being called by her parents. 

What’s your idea of a perfect day?  
Wake up on my own time, no alarm. Hearty breakfast: full English, or congee with pork, or Belgian waffles with berries and whipped cream. Layer up, go outside, clip into cross-country skis and head out into the forest on a groomed trail. Enjoy the winter birds to be seen along the way. Lunch in a warm cabin along the trail, ski back, comfort-food dinner, hot tub and cold beer.
 
Or, substitute a swimsuit, snorkel gear, and tropical fish for the layers, skis, and winter birds above, and hit the reef instead of the trail.
 
 
What led you to a career in tech transfer?
Brownian motion. Here’s a rough take of the thought processes at the major educational/career decision points in my life:

High school: “I like animals, guess I’ll go study biology in university.”
Undergrad: “Not sure what jobs I can get with a BSc in biology, don’t want to go to med school and be a doctor, guess I’ll get a PhD.”
Grad school: “Enough of this learning more and more about less and less, I’d like more variety in my work; who are these McKinsey people and what do they do?”
Management consulting: “Kinda miss science… and I’m totally burned out.”

After that, I eventually found my way back to Pasadena, learned through my grad school alumni network about this office at Caltech that didn’t even exist when I started grad school, was intrigued by the combination of scientific and business expertise that would be required for tech transfer, and the rest is, as they say, history.

What’s the best part about being an AUTM Board Member?  
The great group of people I get to work with: my fellow Board Members, Cabinet Members, AUTM staff, and so on. Really looking forward to the day when we all get to convene in person again, which we’ve only been able to do once since I was elected.