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Education Company Adding More than 100 Jobs

Learn It Systems, an educational systems developer based in Owings Mills, is planning to hire more than 100 educational professionals to staff its services in the Baltimore area.

The employment growth stems from new contracts with public and private schools to provide educational services. The company currently serves 30,000 children in around 1500 schools and online, in more than 200 school districts, and across 37 states, with 160 full-time employees and 6000 part-time teachers, paraprofessionals, and aides.
 
Learn It wants to hire individuals with certification in teaching, speech therapy, occupational and physical therapy, counseling services, and speech-language evaluation to fill part-time and full-time slots.

“Baltimore is becoming a sort of Silicon Valley for the for-profit education sector,” says Learn It Systems CEO Michael Maloney.
 
“You can flex up and down based on the case load you desire. If you’re a certified therapist, we may assign you in the state you currently reside in, or to work from home with a student that lives in another state. We’ll work through and support that certification process,” Maloney says.
 
Many hired individuals will work in summer school, and others will help Learn It pilot an online speech therapy platform.
 
Interested education professionals should contact Learn It Systems via their website: Learn It Systems Join Our Team.

Writer: Sam Hopkins
Source: Michael Maloney, Learn It Systems

TEDCO Awards $500,000 in Grants

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. has awarded a dozen Maryland researchers nearly $500,000 in grants to further their work in technology development. These grants were made through two of TEDCO's programs, the University Technology Development Fund and TechStart.

Technology researchers from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Salisbury University and Towson University each received up to $50,000 in technology development funding. Teams from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, University of Maryland College Park and Johns Hopkins University each received up to $15,000 in funding from the TechStart program. 

The technology development aims to help researchers develop and assess the commercial viability of new inventions, test prototypes and perfect research designs. Since the inception of the UTDF program, 95 projects have been completed and 43 have been licensed or optioned to private companies. The projects have launched 29 Maryland start-ups.

The TechStart program provides funding to university and federal lab-based teams that include an inventor who can evaluate the feasibility of a start-up, an experienced entrepreneur to provide business guidance and a technology transfer manager. TechStart was started in 2007 and has completed 29 projects resulting in 20 new tech start-ups.

Five new start-ups have been launched as a result of this round of funding awards. These new companies include BOSS Medical, CervoCheck, Clear Guide Medical, Lifelong Technologies and NexImmune.

Source: TEDCO
Writer: Amy McNeal

MICA, Hopkins, Launch Joint Degree

Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School and Maryland Institute College of Art are teaming up to offer a joint MBA/MA in Design Leadership next fall.

Billed as the first program of its kind in the US, the program will marry traditional business courses with those in art and design to train leaders in architecture, architecture, the fine arts and other creative fields.

The partnership anticipates enrolling students of diverse educational backgrounds including grads in business management, fine arts, finance and design. The new program will be an 18 to 20-month, 66-credit program of study.

Writer: Amy McNeal
Sources: MICA and Johns Hopkins University

Localist Scores Sole Source Vendor Status in 4 States

Baltimore-based calendar management firm Localist has been designated the sole source vendor for online calendar projects run by public organizations in four states. Localist has won this designation from Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Rhode Island.

"Several public run institutions have agreed that Localist is the only company that can adequately meet their needs when it comes to offering a unified events calendar to students," says Localist co-founder and CEO Mykel Nahorniak

The Localist platform gives schools and organizations that they work with the opportunity to upgrade their online calendar offerings from something static to something dynamic, including linking the calendar to Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare.

"We're going to use the great momentum that we're seeing to continue to establish a critical mass in the education space. We're also getting great feedback from our work with media organizations, like TBD in Washington, DC. We plan to pursue this space more thoroughly in 2012," Nahorniak continues.

Localist also recently announced that the company has been selected by 8 new universities -- including Georgetown University, Towson University, and Virginia Military Institute -- to provide an interactive calendar platform for student life on campus. Baltimore Collegetown, an organization of 14 area schools, has also chosen Localist for its online calendar.

The growing company is looking toward the future with a possible deal in the works with a major southern university. Localist is also monitoring what kind of technology students are using on campus, and developing new features to reflect those choices.


Writer: Amy McNeal
Source: Mykel Nahorniak, Localist

Baltimore Education Startups Aim to Tap National Momentum

Baltimore is a center of the for-profit education sector as headquarters to Laureate Education and Sylvan Learning, and the city is a base of major operations for other companies such as K12 and Connections Education, but startups based in the city's Emerging Technology Centers (ETCs) are also looking to make their mark in the multi-billion dollar education products and services industry.

A handful of small education innovation companies are working on web-based tools at the ETC in Canton. They want a piece of the market being stimulated by President Obama's Race to the Top and i3 (Investing in Innovation) initiatives, which are working their way from the U.S. Department of Education into state and local school boards and districts.

Khalid Smith is one of those ETC entrepreneurs. He says i3 and Race to the Top are in some ways connected to George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind, which itself was a modification of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. However, Obama's investment initiatives are rooted in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act--the federal stimulus of 2009.

"They are related in that they build off of the same idea that -- although the federal government is not constitutionally empowered to dictate educational policy -- it does provide huge sums of money to the states to assist with large education problems, and it theoretically can attach whatever requirements it likes to say what a state needs to do to qualify for these 'additional' funds," Smith says.

Through i3, the Department of Education and the administration aim to spur collaborations between non-profit organizations and school districts, with enterprises watching carefully to see what market segments they can serve. Locally, Maryland schools are ranked highest in the nation by The College Board and Education Week magazine, and on April 15 the Maryland State Board of Education announced that it would hire a search firm to find its next superintendent after Nancy Grasmick ends her 30-year tenure at the post. Maryland's record of high achievement sits alongside a history of challenges in Baltimore City schools, which now include 34 charter schools. Khalid Smith adds that it is still difficult for for-profit education innovation companies to work their products into school systems, but the overall promotion of educational innovation in Baltimore and nationwide is encouraging for emerging companies in his sector.

Writer: Sam Hopkins
Source: Khalid Smith, Emerging Technology Center - Canton

JHU Tech Transfer Advisor Foresees InvestMaryland Impact

Now that Maryland legislators have approved the $70 million InvestMaryland initiative to spur venture capital flows in the state, Baltimore-area institutions that are engaged in bringing institutional research to market are working the new money from Annapolis into their outlook.

Aris Melissaratos, Johns Hopkins University Senior Advisor to the President for Enterprise Development, is optimistic about the impact of InvestMaryland, which passed on April 11, on the commercialization process. Yet, he cautions that the funds need to be managed well to have a maximal impact:

"It is a great program assuming that the insurance companies are willing to pay their taxes up front at a discount," says Melissaratos, who spent decades as an executive at Westinghouse and has also served as head of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED). InvestMaryland funds will come from rebate incentives to Maryland insurance companies that pay their taxes in advance.  "It is also imperative that the funds be managed wisely by both DBED and the private sector," he adds. In the end, Melissaratos says, "InvestMaryland will make start-up capital more available and, therefore, accelerate the discovery to market process as well as the technology transfer process."

Writer: Sam Hopkins
Source: Aris Melissaratos, Senior Advisor to the President of JHU for Enterprise Development

Successful Local Businesspeople to Judge TowsonGlobal Business Plan Competition

On April 11, TowsonGlobal, the business incubator at Towson University, will bring finalists for its Business Plan Competition before a panel of six judges, four of whom are Towson University alumni. The competition winner will receive a free three-month residency at TowsonGlobal as well as a cash prize. The judges' panel includes executives from branding and communications agency Planit, Paypal and eBay subsidiary Bill Me Later, IT developer G.1440, investment firm Evergreen Advisors, and M&T Bank.

By focusing on early-stage local innovation companies and involving successful area entrepreneurial innovators and Towson University alumni, TowsonGlobal Director Clay Hickson says the competition will serve "to strengthen long-lasting entrepreneurial spirit and support innovation across the Greater Baltimore Region that ultimately create a more vibrant economy. The judges panel for this first competition embodies that vision by providing today's innovators with real and useful input from successful entrepreneurs and other business people."

The TowsonGlobal Business Plan Competition's six finalists are:

Women's apparel company Hem of HIS Garment, security service provider Knight Protection, Inc., web learning management system Mocha, infertility treatment online assistance platform My Hopeful Journey, mobile phone technology developer PubRaiders.com, and Facebook game developer Pure Bang Games.

Writer: Sam Hopkins
Source: Clay Hickson, Director, TowsonGlobal

University of Maryland and Mtech Host Annual 75K Business Plan Competition

University of Maryland and Mtech are holding their annual 75K Business Plan Competition. This year marks the competition's eleventh year.

Dean Cheng, Director of Mtech's venture program, said, "Winning the competition, which is judged by leaders in the region's entrepreneurial community, is some measure of validation that a company's technology and plan to execute as a business are promising."

Past winners, most notably Lurn Inc and Squarespace, have since become some of the fastest growing companies in the U.S.

Lurn Inc founder and CEO Anik said, "Being a winner in this competition was huge for us for many reasons. We were dealing with professionals that really know what they're talking about - their insights are great. Winning was a great validation."

The competition fits into a larger economic picture. Cheng said. "The Business Plan Competition on its own is an excellent educational and networking tool for the teams that enter. However, our bigger goal is to help create high growth, successful companies based on the numerous inventions and innovations that come out of the half billion dollars of research here at UMD each year."

Writer: Ryan LeRoy Kleeberger
Sources: Dean Cheng, UMD, Mtech, Anik Singal

SAIC Donates $300,000 to UMBC to Support STEM Education

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) has committed $300,000 to support a new active-learning initiative at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) that draws on the latest technology and education research to help students succeed in critical introductory mathematics and science classes.

Creating an environment that engages and supports students as they begin studying these subjects is part of UMBC's College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (CNMS) Active Science Teaching and Learning Environment (CASTLE) effort to increase the number of students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). More graduates are needed in these areas to help the U.S. maintain economic strength and an innovative edge.

"In this age of increasing global competition, it is essential that we support the students who will move our country forward in science and technology," says Larry Cox, SAIC senior vice president and business unit general manager. "This commitment to UMBC is an investment in both the number and quality of future scientists and engineers who will be available to work at companies like SAIC."

This collaboration builds on UMBC and SAIC's existing relationship, including SAIC's participation on UMBC advisory boards and the 2010-11 Visionaries in Information Technology Forum. UMBC students are active participants in SAIC's summer internship program.

"We are delighted to collaborate with SAIC to explore innovative ways to help our students excel in introductory math and science courses," says UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski. "As a leader in technology, SAIC is demonstrating a commitment to preparing more students for careers in these critical fields."

Source: University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Writer: Walaika Haskins

New Cybersecurity Center Opens at College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park officially launched the new Maryland Cybersecurity Center (MC2) last week.

MC2 will promote education, research, and technology development in the emerging field of cybersecurity in partnership with government agencies and industry. The new center will adopt a "more than tech," interdisciplinary approach, capitalizing on College Park's close proximity to Washington, D.C. and key government agencies engaged in cybersecurity.

MC2 will bring together experts from engineering and computer science with colleagues from across the College Park campus in fields such as information sciences, business, public policy, social sciences, and economic policy to develop innovative new solutions to cybersecurity.

With the initiative, the university aims to stimulate public-private partnerships and address national vulnerabilities, including those facing industry. The idea is to help "connect the dots" in the region's burgeoning federal and private cyber sector.

"The nation's information systems have outgrown our ability to assure their security, and no one institution or sector can undertake a task of this magnitude alone," says Nariman Farvardin, interim president of the University of Maryland, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. "As one of the nation's top research universities, and with our strategic location, we are perfectly positioned to provide the education, expertise and collaboration that will help advance national and regional cybersecurity efforts."

Source: University of Maryland, College Park
Writer: Walaika Haskins


UMBC Partners With Northrup Grumman on New Incubator

A partnership between the Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) and the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) Research Park Corporation will create a new incubator tailored to the specific challenge of developing technology to protect the nation from a growing range of cyber threats.

The Northrop Grumman Cync Program will build on bwtech@UMBC's successful business-incubation framework by offering a "scholarship program" for companies with the most promising cyber security ideas. Participants in the program will draw on UMBC's research expertise and Northrop Grumman resources to develop tools that will secure and protect the computer hardware, software, and networks vital to national defense.

The Cync Program will accept applications from high-potential, early-stage companies from across the country looking to commercialize and develop their technologies. The companies will collaborate in the Advantage Incubator at the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park in Baltimore.

"Northrop Grumman is excited to partner with bwtech on this important initiative," said Chris Valentino, Northrop Grumman cybersecurity director and technical fellow. "This technology is even more important as our reliance on cybersecurity increases, and collaborating with both academia and small businesses brings a breadth of technological expertise that goes beyond what any one entity is able to supply."

Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of the UMBC Research Park Corporation, which operates the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park, noted that the program is a perfect fit for a region with a strong information technology workforce and a growing array of businesses and governmental agencies working on cybersecurity.

"UMBC and Northrop Grumman share a culture of innovation," she said. "This program will build on UMBC's strength in information technology and its success nurturing new companies. Businesses started through this partnership will come from across the country, expanding the local business base and spurring economic growth in the region."

Applicants with the best ideas for technologies that will protect the country from cyber threats will be selected in a nation-wide search to join the Cync Program. Participating companies will be provided with office space, business support services and academic resources, including access to faculty and student employees.

Source: Univeristy of Maryland Baltimore County

Morgan State University Enrollment at All-Time High

Morgan State University, an historically black university, has enrolled the highest number of students -- 7,888 --  in its more than 140-year history.

"This is wonderful news for the Morgan community," says Dr. David Wilson, the university's president. "At 7,888 students this academic year, we have truly reached a new milestone in the University's history and it is a direct reflection of the hard work of our faculty and staff. They have built a reputation of excellence for Morgan that attracts the best and brightest minds from across Maryland, the nation and many parts of the world."

The numbers reported to the Maryland Higher Education Commission show that more than 600 additional students enrolled for the 2010-11 academic year compared to 2009-10 enrollment. That represents an increase of 7.5 percent for undergraduates and approximately 19 percent boost in graduate and honors students. The largest increase came from transfer students enrollment that grew 33 percent over the previous.

Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie classified doctoral research institution offering more than 60 academic programs leading to bachelor's degrees as well as programs at the master's and doctoral levels.

Source: Morgan State University
Writer: Walaika Haskins


University of Maryland Baltimore to Use $45M Gift to Create New Research Center

The University of Maryland Medical School has received a $45 million private gift from the family of a grateful patient.

UMMS will use the multi-million dollar gift to establish the nation's only research enterprise devoted to the study of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as celiac disease, multiple sclerosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and Type-1 diabetes.

The gift, from Indiana couple Ken and Shelia Cafferty, is the largest private donation in the history of the University System of Maryland. The planned research enterprise will be a full-fledged, multidisciplinary academic organization that includes and expands upon two of the school's outstanding research centers, the Mucosal Biology Research Center and the Center for Celiac Research. Alessio Fasano, M.D., a world renowned celiac disease researcher and professor of pediatrics, medicine and physiology at the School of Medicine, will direct the new research enterprise. Dr. Fasano is director of the Mucosal Biology Research Center and the Center for Celiac Research.

"For years, my wife struggled with severe symptoms, with no diagnosis and no treatment for her condition," says Ken Cafferty, a businessman from Carmel, Indiana, who is making the gift with his wife, Shelia, a registered nurse. "I endured this struggle with her, until Dr. Fasano and his staff at the Center for Celiac Research finally found answers for us, diagnosing Shelia with gluten sensitivity. We are making this gift hoping that this new enterprise will help provide answers for other families in the same position, and hopefully make strides toward a cure to provide permanent relief for patients like Shelia."

As is the case with all new research enterprises (institutes or centers), establishment of the research enterprise for autoimmunity research is subject to approval from University of Maryland School of Medicine leadership; a vote will take place in November.

The planned enterprise will have three divisions: one focused on celiac disease, the second on mucosal biology, and a third focused on microbe/host interaction. The third division, the newest of the three, will examine the intersection between the human body and the microbes that inhabit it. Faculty will work closely with faculty at the University of Maryland Institute for Genome Sciences, located in the University of Maryland BioPark in West Baltimore.

"We are assembling a critical mass of multidisciplinary expertise, building the best infrastructure that we can in order to investigate inflammation and autoimmunity from every possible medical and scientific perspective," says Dr. Fasano.

The institute's scientists will use celiac disease as a model for research into autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis and diabetes. Autoimmune disorders occur when the body is triggered to misdirect its immune response and attack itself. Celiac disease is of particular value for the investigation of autoimmunity and inflammatory disease because it is the only autoimmune disorder for which scientists have identified a trigger � in this case, gluten, a protein found in wheat that is nearly ubiquitous in the contemporary human diet.

Source: University of Maryland Medical Center
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Coppin State University Scientists Create World's Most Energy Efficient Solar Cells

A team of scientists from Coppin State University's nanotechnology research center have created the most efficient solar energy cells in the world. Dr. Jamal Uddin, a Natural Sciences professor, and five undergraduate students have created model cells that are nearly four percent more efficient than solar cells developed by Spectrolab, a Boeing company based in California that had held the title for most efficient simulated cells since 2006.

Dr. Uddin's team made the discovery as it worked to develop a solar energy source for night vision goggles used by the U.S. Army. The goggles are currently powered by Lithium ion batteries, which are very heavy, says Dr. Uddin. The Army is seeking a lighter, longer lasting alternative battery.

The researchers used nanotechnology particles to make the new solar cells. So far, simulations have shown 43.4 percent of solar cells effective for reusable energy. Spectrolab's highest result was 40.7 percent. Dr. Uddin says his team utilized the metaphysics software COMSOL and the online software program PC1D to break the world record.

The team will continue to try and improve, says Dr. Uddin. "We hope to get it up to 50 percent by December. We'll try using different combinations of materials."

The team is currently seeking additional funding to begin fabricating the solar cells, which Dr. Uddin says could be used to power an array of electronic devices. The cells could also be used as the foundation for future technologies.

"I'm excited because this has been an unexpected discovery," he says.

Source: Dr. Jamal Uddin, Coppin State University
Writer: Walaika Haskins


University of MD partnership with UMBC, UMB nabs $7.9M from NIH for superconducting research magnet

The University of Maryland, in partnership with the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), has received a $7.9 million federal grant to acquire a superconducting 950 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) magnet that will help researchers unravel the mysteries of molecules and develop new agents to treat cancer, AIDS and other diseases.

The grant is among the largest of its kind ever awarded by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), part of the National Institutes of Health. The funds were made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The NMR is scheduled to be installed in November, 2011 at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. It will be shared equally among the three campuses and used by researchers throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Only one other site in the United States currently has a 950 MHz NMR spectrometer, and the University of Maryland partnership will be the only academic institutions in the country to have this powerful technology.

David Fushman, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Maryland, is a co-director of the grant, and will lead the College Park team that includes several biochemists and cell biologists whose research will be enhanced by the new NMR spectrometer.

David J. Weber, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and director of the NMR core facility there, and AIDS researcher Michael F. Summers, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UMBC, are co-directors with Professor Fushman.

The eight-ton magnet produces a supercharged magnetic field that enables scientists to investigate the three-dimensional structure of biological molecules and study their interaction with the highest degree of resolution.

"This 950 Mhz NMR is optimal for studying large molecules," explains Fushman, an expert in protein structure and dynamics who is associated with the university's Center for Biomolecular Structure and Organization (CBSO). "This will allow us to move into studying larger protein complexes that include more than 1000 amino acids. We can begin to decipher interactions between proteins that we could not easily do before."

The 950 MHz NMR spectrometer will enable University of Maryland researchers to delve deeper into the molecular mechanisms of proteins and nucleic acids in the body and to provide the much needed fundamental information from which drug therapies and other medical treatments can be based. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine will utilize the technology in many areas of cancer research, including drug development, while UMBC researchers will focus on AIDS research.

Source: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Writer: Walaika Haskins

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