Lisa A. Baker

Lisa Baker graduated summa cum laude from West Virginia University with a BS degree in chemical engineering in 1980 with memberships in Tau Beta Pi and Omega Chi Epsilon. In 1995 she graduated from the WVU College of Law with a JD degree, as a member of the West Virginia University Law Review and the Order of the Coif.

Baker began her career as an engineer for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation from 1980 to 1983, working on the design of the Clinch River breeder reactor and later on the design of various coal gasification projects. She joined the U.S. Department of Energy in 1983, initially providing computer simulation support for the fuel cell program, and later managing the technical aspects of the award and performance of externally contracted research and development projects having the goal of developing clean coal technologies. In 1987, Baker became a liaison with DOE patent counsel and that work inspired her to get a law degree. She attended law school while working at DOE, and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and is a member of the West Virginia State Bar, the District of Columbia Bar and the Federal Laboratory Consortium.

As the patent attorney at DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, Baker is responsible for various aspects of intellectual property management and protection, including working with in-house research staff on patenting and licensing of inventions; and negotiating R&D agreements with external partners ranging from lab scale to demonstration scale facilities. Baker negotiated the intellectual property provisions of many large-scale demonstration projects under the Department’s clean coal technology program and clean coal power initiative, as well as more than $15 billion in projects awarded by NETL under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009).

Baker has two children, and resides in Morgantown.