Kansas University has hired Rajiv Kulkarni of the University of Utah as its new director of the Center for Technology Commercialization, which serves the Lawrence and KU Medical Center campuses.

At Utah, Kulkarni was the director of business and technology development in the technology commercialization office. In his 10 years at the university, he negotiated and completed more than 100 licensing agreements, 28 of which resulted in new startup companies based on university research, according to a KU statement.

Kulkarni will report to Julie Goonewardene, associate vice chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship, and succeeds Jim Baxendale, who will transition to a part-time role at KU later this year.

Kulkarni will begin his new job at KU on Feb. 1.