Innovation + Job News

It's our 24th issue! We can hardly believe it's been six months since the site went live on Aug. 11. In that time, we've written 44 features; published 14 videos; shown the spotlight on 24 local companies doing really cool things; featured 38 Baltimore residents who love their neighborhood and run more than a hundred breathtaking images taken by our photographer, Arianne Teeple, highlighting the best of Baltimore!

So, what better way to celebrate than a party! We invited everyone we've featured, our partners, freelance writers, friends and family for an evening filled with discussions about what makes Baltimore such a great place to live and what we all can do to make it better!

But, a party wouldn't be a party without a place to have it, some libations and a little nosh! We want to thank PNC Bank for allowing us to hold our party in their newest green branch at Paca and Baltimore Streets as well as Curtis Pope, branch manager, and his staff. Thanks also go out to Blue Agave Restaurante y Tequileria, Caesar's Den Restaurant, Hideaways, Langermann's, Morton's The Steakhouse, NADDs - New Age Dine and Dance, The Dogwood, and Waterstone Bar & Grille for donating wonderful tidbits of deliciousness from their restaurants.

Most importantly, though we'd like to thank you, our readers! It's great to know there are so many people out there who are committed to this charmed city and are working in your own ways to make this the best city in the world. Be sure to become a Bmore fan on Facebook and get invited to other upcoming events.

Get your applications in today! Baltimore Ignite wants big thinkers who just need a little loot to get their idea of the ground. The innovative speaker series devoted to sparking new conversations and innovative thinking across cultures and disciplines has one $1500 grant available for the person deemed to have the most innovative idea that will benefit the citizens of Baltimore City.

The grant is the brainchild of Heather Sarkissian, a former member of the Peace Corps. "My background is in economic and social development. I was helping someone write a grant application, five pages for 1500 bucks, and I said there has to be a better way to fund these projects," she explains.

The experience got Sarkissian thinking about Ignite, the decision to charge for tickets to the upcoming Ignite in March (so attendees have guaranteed seats), her Peace Corps experience and access to grant funding. "Because it was pretty easy to access grant funding you could do these really cool projects if the barrier to entry were a lot lower."

In keeping with the Ignite philosophy emphasizing brevit, the grant application can be no longer than 650 words. The project must be carried out by an individual and cannot be a continuation of a project that's already begun. It must be completed in six months and the winner will present the project at Baltimore Ignite 6.

"The idea is really just to provide people with the opportunity to realize a project that they've been thinking of, but didn't have the access to the cash the needed. Secondly, and more importantly, it's about igniting a conversation around really neat ideas for making Baltimore a better place. That's the more crucial part because in the end we'll only select one winner for the full amount, but that will get people thinking 'if I had $1500 I'd want to this or want to do that,'" she says.

Over time Sarkissian expects that the Ignition grant will gain momentum with each successive Ignite and build up a database of "really cool ideas." The hope is that the grant will not only inspire Baltimore's citizens to think about what they can do to improve the city but also point the city's cash poor big thinkers in the direction of Baltimore organizations from which they could seek funding.

"Some of these individual citizens will either come up with ideas that are already being executed or fits very nicely with the mission of a non-profit and ideally we could just throw a contest that pairs these individuals up with the right organization that's doing this already," Sarkissian notes.

The grant committee includes members from the Baltimore Community Foundation, Enoch Pratt Library as well as several Baltimore Community Foundation grant recipients.

Source: Heather Sarkissian, Ignite Baltimore
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Imagine using standard digital cameras and taking 3D pictures. Just point and click, like you do with your regular camera today, and get a 3D image instead of a 2D image. Thanks to an amazing new type of technology from Dimensional Imaging - this is not only possible, but at Direct Dimensions � it's possible today!

The technology, unveiled at TEDx Mid-Atlantic in November 2009, is now available for the average user. "ShapeShot is based on really on using the kind of camera you can find at Best Buy," says Michael Raphael, Direct Dimensions CEO.

Using the ShapeShot software, you could put your kids in their favorite video gaming. "We're interested in using real avatars. And finding reasons why people want to use real images of themselves in their Internet experience."

Other possible uses of the technology include customized 3-D jewelry, including cufflinks, a cameo, as well as dolls or even a wedding cake topper.

"We did a cake topper for one of our employees and it really blew everyone away," Raphael says. "We could create the iPhone of 3-D face apps."
 
The technology offers instantaneous image capture and automatic post processing to create accurate, high resolution, full-color 3D models. Specific features include:

• Use of standard off-the-shelf digital cameras � very upgradeable!
• 3D shape and color captured simultaneously in a single photographic flash
• Resolutions to 21 megapixels per captured image (depending on camera used)
• Does not use structured light, pattern projection, or any lasers
• Quick and easy to set-up and use
• Easily configurable (you can use as many stereo pairs of cameras as you desire)
• Portable for carrying and shipping to shoot locations

Source: Michael Raphael, Direct Dimensions
Writer: Walaika Haskins

SECU has formed an education and literacy partnership with a nationally known group of consumer advocates to deliver a high-quality, free financial education and literacy program to consumers.

The program, called FoolProof, offers direct, real-life advice from consumer advocates. FoolProof comprises four separate components: one for young adults; one for teens, their parents and grandparents; one for continuing education for teens and young adults; and one for people of all ages. All of the components are free, interactive, and provided online so they are available 24/7.

This partnership allows SECU to provide a targeted FoolProof program to high schools at no cost to the schools. The important information shared with teens and young adults is critical to their success as they become financially responsible and independent. So far, eight high schools in Maryland have accepted SECU's offer for free financial education through FoolProof, and others plan to start in the next school year. And because it's web-based, it's extremely easy for teachers to implement and evaluate students' progress.

"This is an exciting and meaningful collaboration," explains Rod Staatz, SECU President and CEO. "We are committed to supporting financial education through the school system, and being able to provide a free, web-based program helps us with that commitment. Who wouldn't want to be smarter about money, and have the confidence to make the best decisions when it comes to the quality of life? FoolProof gives real financial education and real consumer information, and tells the truth about products and services in terms that make sense."

For more information, or to get started yourself, go to FoolProof.

Bmore Media is looking for an intern with an interest in social media/marketing and journalism. The unpaid position will require between 4 and 6 hours a week.

The candidate should have writing and editing experience -- familiarity with AP Style and Strunk and White preferred -- as well as a strong interest in social media integration of news media along with hands-on experience with programs like Twitter, Facebook and related management tools (ie: tweetdeck, hootsuite etc...).

The intern will also have the opportunity to write content for the site for pay.

Interested applicants should send their resume here.

Maryland beat the odds when it came to technology-related jobs in 2009. The state saw growth in the computer systems design and related services adding 5,3000 jobs in 2009 as well as the management, scientific and technical consulting, where 4,500 jobs were added, subsectors and in fact, led the nation in both. 

The 8.7 percent growth in computer systems design and related services and a 13.8% increase in management, scientific and technical consulting meant Maryland accounted for almost half of the jobs added nationally in those areas.

Overall, while 2009 saw every state lose jobs, Maryland retained jobs at a rate better than all but five states. The state lost 41,000 nonfarm payroll jobs at a 1.7 percent rate during the year, compared to the national rate which saw nationwide jobs lost at a 3.0% rate, almost twice as fast.

Industrial sectors leading the state's job creation included health care, federal government and educational services. The health care and social assistance industry added 5,800 jobs for 1.8 percent growth. The fed added 4,100 jobs for 3.2 percent growth and private educational services added 3,600 jobs for 4.9 percent growth.

Without 31,500 job losses in construction and 10,800 jobs losses in financial activities, Maryland would have gained jobs. Construction lost jobs at an 18.5 percent rate and financial activities lost jobs at a 7.3 percent rate.

Source: Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development
Writer: Walaika Haskins

General Motors execs have pegged the GM Baltimore Transmission plant to produce its next generation electric drive motors for plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles. The automaker will add a high-volume electric drive manufacturing facility to the Baltimore County plant in White Marsh, bringing more than 200 new jobs to the area. The company will also retrain hundreds of workers already employed at the plant.

Over nine years, the $244 million project will generate approximately $90 million in direct wages and salaries and $2.5 million in Baltimore County taxes, according to the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.

"This plant expansion shows the economic power of bringing a world-class workforce together with corporate, federal, state and local government resources," says Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith.

The GM Baltimore Transmission plant will be the first electric motor manufacturing facility in the U.S. operated by a major automaker. Regular production is scheduled to begin in 2013 for next generation two-mode rear wheel electric drive motors.

Total project investment at the White Marsh plant is $244 million. GM is investing $129 million. The federal government is supporting electric drive systems manufacturing with a previously announced $105 million U.S. Department of Energy grant through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. As investment and job milestones are met, Baltimore County will provide up to $6 million in grants from the Baltimore County Business Growth Fund and a $150,000 Baltimore County Economic Development Training grant. The State of Maryland is providing a $3 million conditional grant through the Maryland Economic Development Assistance Fund (MEDAF) and a $1.5 million grant from the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing & Regulation Workforce Training Fund.

Opened in December 2000, the GM Baltimore Transmission plant was selected in 2006 to manufacture the first hybrid transmission designed and built in the United States. GM currently employs 224 salaried and hourly workers in the eco-friendly White Marsh facility.

GM made the initial decision in 1999 to locate the plant in White Marsh in part because there has been a major GM van assembly plant in the Baltimore area for generations, meaning there was a large supply of skilled workers in the area, says David Iannucci, director, Baltimore County Department of Economic Development.

"They had an outstanding experience at that time by any measure of which we are aware. It is in General Motors corporate history, the fastest a plant went from a shovel in the ground to a sellable product out the door -- in 17 months. So they had an outstanding experience there. They also had an outstanding experience working with the Community College of Baltimore County to retrain the van assembly workers to make automatic transmissions, a completely different set of manufacturing technologies and techniques," Iannucci explains.


Source: David Iannucci, Baltimore County Department of Economic Development
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Take One Digital Media joined forces with Special Olympics Maryland for the third year to produce zany viral media to pump up the volume on the 2010 Polar Bear Plunge.

"What we do every year is try to produce funny videos that will go viral. None of them are about Special Olympic athletes, or the Special Olympics at all. They're supposed to be kooky," says Liz Thibodeau, Take One Digital Media account manager.

This year the videos were done a la the Onion News, a fake news site, Thibodeau says. "We called it PNN, the Plunge News Network. We did kind of pseudo news stories about plunge teams in the area that were doing wacky fundraisers. They've been very, very successful."

Take One released four videos, one a week beginning four weeks before the plunge. They also released daily videos the week before the plunge. Dubbed "Will it Plunge," the videos featured Tom Schniedwind, Special Olympics MD sports marketing director, plunging every morning off of Sandy Point. A riff of off David Letterman's "Will it Float" bits, Schniedwind plunged with different objects to see if they would plunge and also provided prospective plungers with tips.

"Yesterday morning, we put the Thursday morning video up and registered a 1000 unique hits within a couple of hours. It's truly being viral in nature where plungers are getting a huge kick out of it and passing it around," says Thibodeau.

The jewel of the series according to Take One is Special Olympic athlete Jimmy Myrick showing off his acting skills as American Idol's "Jimmy Randy" and a med-tech on the hit show "House". Contrary to the "tugging heart-string" approach used by many charities, plunge co-founder Tom Schniedwind is devoted to celebrating these athletes.

Thanks to these videos, the site saw a huge spike in traffic, viewers and buzz at www.plungemd.com and in all social media and despite a down economy, donations rose significantly. "The videos are up on our site, they're up on YouTube."

On the Friday morning before the Jan. 30 plunge, Thibodeau says online donations had reached almost $2.5 million. "That's amazing. We've never seen the online donations that high. The Maryland plunge is the highest grossing single day fundraiser in the world."


Source: Liz Thibodeau, Take One Digital Media
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Canton-based R2integrated has begun expanding its operations to other cities, including Seattle and St. Louis following a bang up year during which revenue increased by some 60 percent.

"We're attributing most of that growth to the fact that a lot of companies, particularly during economic down times, are seeking more creative and cost effective marketing approaches through the Internet, Internet technology and active tech services," says Matthew Pugh, R2i's director of communications .

R2i, bouyed by that trend, has seen not only a substantial increase in revenue, but also large engagement with more substantial brands such as Yamaha, Forbes, Black and Decker, Heineken, Coca-Cola, Pella, and Ford. The company was also one of 10 vendors selected for Microsoft's digital marketing campaigns.

"Though the Seattle office is not exclusively to serve Microsoft, that is why we entered the market there and it is our full intention to become engaged with the community there," explains Pugh.

Pugh credits R2i's success to the company's technology development expertise. "Even the best creative technology in the world is only as good as the technology that sits underneath it."

R2i provides the platforms that enable companies to more quickly and easily distribute critical communications, leverage social media and social networks, and implement rich internet applications. R2i technology enables companies to create and manage the dynamic media and social interactions that drive brand value and sales in the age of peer-to-peer communications. They have helped the world's largest corporations improve their customer communications and relationships, by providing them internet marketing systems that provide direct, compelling interaction with their customers.

The firm is currently hiring for its local and New York offices. "We're looking for system development people in New York and we're always looking for additional web designers, programmers and digital account execs, search specialists and positions like that locally," says Pugh.

A recent survey, conducted by R2i found that while mobile marketing is recognized as an integral component of digital marketing strategies in 2010, uncertainty looms over its return on investment. R2i conducted this survey from January 13 � January 25.

Twenty two percent of survey respondents said that mobile marketing is "very important" to their overall marketing strategy for 2010; 26 percent said "important"; and 28 percent said "somewhat important." Only 8 percent said "not important." The majority of respondents, 41 percent, said their main reason for executing a mobile marketing campaign was "company awareness," followed by "lead generation," 33 percent.

Quantifying the return on investment was considered the most critical area of improvement for planned mobile marketing campaigns among respondents at 43 percent. Forty nine percent said an increase in customers would measure a successful campaign.

"It appears that 2010 will be a year of experimentation and education on mobile marketing as marketers struggle to come to terms with its practicality and ROI," says Matt Goddard, co-founder and CEO, R2i. "This shouldn't suggest that marketers ought to table their mobile marketing plans, but that they should pay considerable attention to how they can connect the dots back to driving revenue."

The biggest impediments to executing a mobile marketing campaign were "not knowing how to develop the business case," 32 percent, and "not enough analytics to measure the ROI," 30 percent. Sixty three percent of respondents said they'd only allocate up to 15 percent of their budgets on mobile marketing.

More than half (52 percent) of respondents said that their mobile marketing campaign would focus on mobile Web site development channel, while 40 percent said they would focus on mobile application development. When asked to rate the importance of mobile platforms, 59 percent of respondents said the iPhone and 40 percent said the BlackBerry were "very important"; only seven percent thought that Android was a "very important" platform.

"I think because the technology is still working to fully prove itself, most marketers are playing it safe by focusing on the mobile browsing experience, where they can leverage existing Web assets, rather than on mobile marketing where the ROI proposition is still being evaluated," says Goddard. "The iPhone still reflects the largest base for marketers to sell into even though the Android may be the platform du jour in terms of hype.

Source: Matthew Pugh, R2integrated
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Ecologists from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Baylor University in Texas have developed a new method for measuring the impact of human-caused environmental degradation on biodiversity that is much more precise than those currently used and has revealed a dramatically lower ecological "tipping point" at which species are threatened.

The new method of statistical analysis appears online in the Feb. 1 issue of the British Ecological Society's new journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution and includes a free download of a program to apply the analysis, created by co-author, and UMBC geography and environmental systems professor, Matthew Baker.

Environmental scientists have increasingly begun to rely on statistical methods for determining thresholds, or "tipping points," beyond which ecological systems are damaged by changes to the environment. More recently, ecologists have asked whether biological communities show similar responses � the proverbial "canary-in-the-coal-mine" test.

"This particular method came about because my colleague and I were trying to evaluate whether biological communities show a "tipping point response to environmental disturbance and degredation, mostly caused by human development near streams. We were looking for measures to do that - response measures that would characterize that - but found that existing measures weren't very sensitive. They might show huge changes but didn't show subtle changes," Baker explains.

"Scientists aren't really convinced, even though ecosystems can be shown to show tipping points in terms of their physical and chemical characteristics, it's not entirely clear that biological communities show that same response," he continues.

Accurately measuring these tipping points is important for protecting threatened species and better understanding how ecosystems respond to major changes such as global warming, coal mine leaching, agricultural pollutants or water-runoff from highly developed areas, says Baker, who with Ryan King, a biology professor from Baylor University, used stream invertebrate samples collected from Maryland tributaries by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and data from Florida's Everglades in their analyses.

"

According to Baker the precision of their new method is significantly greater than methods that have been widely used for the past 40 years.

" They took a tool that already existed in their toolbox and rather than developing an entireely new technique, people started to evaluate the existing measures we had. Depending on the measures used, you found some weak evidence or no evidence of a tipping point. They find evidence of degredation but it's more like a linear decline. They aren't really focused on species-specific responses. They focused on the aggregate or entire community response," he says.

For example, a decade-old analysis widely-cited by environmental professionals and policymakers suggests that it takes up to 10-15 percent of impervious surface  -- that is surface that does not absorb water, including roads, roofs, or parking lots -- or about 20 to 30 percent developed land in a given area before local water-systems no longer sustain normal aquatic life. Baker and King's new method demonstrates that aquatic life actually shows significant loss of biodiversity with only 1 to 3 percent developed land in a watershed.

A common practice by state and federal environmental protection agencies (U.S. EPA) is to rate the health of streams by comparing overall biotic life with data from "reference" streams using indices that combine various measures to provide a general scoring of health. This approach does a good job distinguishing highly degraded and relatively pristine systems, but isn't as clear about what happens when conditions fall in between, Baker says.

"What we do instead -- and is more intuitive and makes more common sense -- is we analyze every species seperately and look for a signal in the species responses. Then to understand what the community is doing we aggregate the signals of the species rather than using an aggregate measure to look for a signal," he says.

"It's not that the species are disappearing entirely, but that our actions are impacting the abundance of affected species. One-third of the biodiversity of a stream is impacted with just 2 to 3 percent of development. We used to think that development was benign, but now we see that it's not," Baker adds.


Source: Matthew Baker, UMBC
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Starting in February 2010, the Carey Business School will begin offering an exciting new technology commercialization program, it has dubbed Innovate!, at the Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus.

Innovate!, which is funded by a National Science Foundation grant to The Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, is a 12-month program led by successful serial entrepreneurs that will take a class of 15 business professionals and 15 postdocs through evaluation of a technology's commercial viability, preparation of a business case based on the technology, and launch of the business. The businesses will be based on technology from NIH, Johns Hopkins University, the University System of Maryland, and other research institutions and federal agencies.

"The Innovate! program is perfect for professionals who have thought about starting their own technology company and are looking for a supportive, structured environment to help make it happen," says Yash Gupta, dean, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.

"We're extremely excited to have the Innovate! program on our campus because it fits so well with the County's economic development goals," says Elaine Amir, executive director, Johns Hopkins Montgomery County. "The County recently released its Biosciences Task Force report, and one of the reports five key objectives was to 'enhance the environment for entrepreneurship and the creation of new life sciences companies.' It's great that Johns Hopkins can help advance that goal."

The Innovate! program is based on the highly successful ACTiVATE® program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, which has led to the formation of more than 25 companies since its inception in 2005.

Partners for the Innovate! program include Rockville Economic Development, the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, and the National Institutes of Health.

Source: Johns Hopkins Carey Business School
Writer: Walaika Haskins

The Board of Public Works has approved an agreement between the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH), the Department of General Services and the Maryland Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO) to begin planning a new state-of-the-art public health laboratory to replace the antiquated and crowded facilities at the State Office Complex on West Preston Street. The new facility -- to be built by September 2013 -- will be located at the East Baltimore redevelopment project known as the Science and Technology Park at Johns Hopkins.

The Board -- comprised of the Governor, State Comptroller Peter Franchot, and State Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp -- approved the $6.45 million expenditure to begin the design phase of the new laboratory, which will help the state respond more rapidly to such public health events as newly emerging epidemics, foodborne outbreaks and incidents of bioterrorism. The laboratory is expected to have a price tag of $180 million, which will be funded by Lease Revenue Bonds issued by MEDCO and backed by the DHMH lease.

"The new public health lab will advance our goal of providing Maryland families the best public health service and protection that modern science and technology can offer," says Gov. O'Malley. "This state-of-the-art facility maximizes our abilities to protect the health and well-being of all Marylanders under a creative financing agreement that minimizes the cost to taxpayers."

As a member of the national Laboratory Response Network, the State laboratory acts as an early warning system for public health threats and shares this information with other state and federal agencies so that threats such as the drug resistance to H1N1 influenza can be identified, tracked, and quickly contained.

"As the H1N1 (Swine) flu experience clearly demonstrated, the public health laboratory is the backbone of Maryland's public health system," says John M. Colmers, DHMH Secretary. "The investment we are making today will provide Maryland families with decades of protection against disease and illness."

The structure will be a significantly more efficient building than the old facility that opened in 1974. The new laboratory will provide a 29 percent increase in useable space over the current facility, growing from 100,000 net assignable square feet to 129,000 net assignable square feet, while decreasing the actual gross square footage from the current 227,000 to an estimated 200,000 gross square feet. It will have 41 high-level biosafety laboratories, an infrastructure to support sophisticated instruments and equipment, and more sophisticated levels of security.

The new facility will be financed through the Maryland Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO), an instrumentality of the State created by the General Assembly to assist private and government agencies in expanding and modernizing existing enterprises in Maryland. Forest City-New East Baltimore Partnership, a nationally recognized developer of laboratory facilities and chosen by East Baltimore Development, Inc. as the developer for the Science and Technology Park at Johns Hopkins, will be the developer for the new public health laboratory.

Source: Board of Public Works
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Job seekers looking for work in the city don't be discouraged! Baltimore is the third least difficult metro area in which to find a job with just 2.93 unemployed persons for each job listing. That's according to the lates Job Search Difficulty Index from job search engine Juju.com. The index measures the difficulty of finding employment in major cities around the country.

The Index was calculated by dividing the number of unemployed workers in each metro area, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), by the number of jobs in Juju's comprehensive index of millions of online jobs in the U.S., which is compiled and updated continuously from thousands of employer career portals, recruiter websites, and job boards all over the Internet.

Washington, D.C. with 1.93 individuals for each job and San Jose, Ca. with 2.5 were the easiest places to find work, while Salt Lake City, UT and New York City came in fourth and fifth.

In terms of states offering the best job search opportunites, D.C. -- despite its lack of statehood -- was No. 1, followed by Virginia, North Dakota, Nebraska and Maryland.

Source: Juju.com
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Prognosys LLC, a company developing rapid, multiplexed diagnostics for multiple diseases, has joined the University of Maryland's Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech) Technology Advancement Program (TAP) incubator.

One of the company's first products, supported by a $100K phase 1 contract from the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, is a test for multiple cardiovascular diseases built on Prognosys' proprietary barcode platform.

The product is designed to rapidly and economically diagnose patients with acute cardiovascular diseases in emergency rooms, enabling physicians to make quick decisions based upon whether a patient tests for acute vascular clots, deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary emboli, or potentially acute coronary syndrome.

"When a person goes to a hospital with chest pain, the triage nurse or physician may initially have no idea what a patient has," says Kenneth Gabriel, president of Prognosys. "A blood sample is taken and shipped to the lab, where technicians work to process samples, but some tests can take up to two days for results, and in some cases patients die. Our test can be done in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, with results in as little as ten minutes."

Prognosys' patent-pending technology involves embedding multiple sensors on a barcode that react to certain indicators and show results when scanned with a standard bar code reader. Results are then sent through the company's software to a Web-based portal accessible by nurses and physicians or to a handheld device.

Prognosys plans to expand its barcode sensors to additional medical and other markets. The company's barcodes can be equipped with biological, chemical, physical and intelligence-gathering related sensors, as well as tracking devices and medical monitors, according to Gabriel.

"We can test for substances such as cocaine," says Gabriel. "We can test for temperature, radiation, humidity, pressure, vibration, and lethal substances such as anthrax. Prognosys' researchers are also working on quantitative as well as qualitative tests that don't just tell you when a substance is present; they also measure how much of it is there. This type of test is critical for monitoring the progress of disease and general treatment."

A privately funded company, Prognosys was founded in February 2007, by Gabriel and Dr. Marc H. Cohen. Dr. Gabriel is affiliated with the A. James Clark School of Engineering's department of electrical and computer engineering and an adjunct faculty member in the Robert H. Smith School of Business's department of management and organization.

Prognosys Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Marc Cohen is an assistant research scientist in the Institute for Systems Research in the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland.

Prognosys' technology was developed outside of the university.

Gabriel and Cohen relocated Prognosys to the University of Maryland to collaborate with its world-class faculty and student researchers.

"We liked the fact that it is co-located with bright people," says Gabriel. "It's not just the talent but the diversity of talent�people in engineering, biomedical applications, and environmental health. Working with people in these fields increases the chances our proposals will be winning ones, which translates to faster diagnostics for medical and other industries."

"Our tests buy physicians time and in some cases buy patients life," says Gabriel.

Source: Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Maryland Energy Sector Partnership, led by the Governor's Workforce Investment Board (GWIB), has been awarded a $5.8 million grant by the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration to implement programs that will prepare more than 1,500 Marylanders for green jobs in manufacturing, construction, environmental technology and solar energy.

"In Maryland we have set a goal of creating at least 100,000 green jobs by 2015, and we are working across our State government - along with partners in organized labor, and in the private, academic, and non-profit sectors - to implement specific action items that are designed to create new jobs, advance eco-friendly technologies, and provide more Marylanders with the skills they need to participate and maximize the benefits of a green economy for their own families," says Gov. Martin O'Malley.

"This federal funding not only represents an important step forward towards this goal for Maryland's families, but it also demonstrates the progressive strategy the Obama Administration is taking towards creating jobs for the next generation economy."

The project will involve partnerships among businesses, community colleges, labor apprenticeship programs and the One-Stop Workforce System. It will implement training for both new and incumbent workers to ensure there is a pipeline of skilled workers for jobs in the emerging green economy. Emphasis will be placed on providing opportunities for veterans and reservists, low wage workers and ex-offenders to meet the demands of Maryland employers.

"This grant provides us with a tremendous opportunity to help reach our goal of increasing skills of Maryland workers 20 percent by 2012," Sec. Alexander M. Sanchez says. "It is a much deserved recognition of the O'Malley-Brown Administration's commitment to strengthening and growing the middle class, and shows that "Smart, Green and Growing" will offer real opportunities for Marylanders in the 21st century economy."

The funding will be divided into four consortium efforts:

• Baltimore Regional Green Tech Workers Program. This effort will improve manufacturing sustainability practices, waste stream management and "lean to green" practices in the manufacturing sector. This project will train 705 incumbent and new workers in two tracks - the Green Worker Training Program for new, entry-level manufacturing positions, and Purdue University's Green Workforce Training Certificate program for incumbent workers with intermediate skills. The program will offer three levels of certification provide through the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and M-Tech programs at the University of Maryland, working with local community colleges.
• Green Training for Energy Efficient Advancement. This partnership of workforce boards, community colleges, building and trades organization and labor unions will train 850 workers to retrofit residential, commercial and industrial buildings. This project will meet the need for skilled green construction and trades workers expected to be needed in the Baltimore-Washington region to meet demands for work resulting from investments funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), building related to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program, and increased energy initiatives of major utilities to comply with the Empower Maryland legislation.
• Chesapeake Area Consortium for Higher Education (CACHE): Institute for Environmental Careers. This partnership of workforce investment boards, four community colleges and leaders from the private sector and governments in counties surrounding the Chesapeake Bay will train 210 students with community college credit courses leading to certificates in environmental technology. It is designed to help workers take advantage of the environmental technology careers that are projected to grow around the Bay.
• Go Solar! Regional Partnership. This business-driven consortium will utilize existing renewable energy curriculum, mostly from the Institute for Environmental Careers' existing courses. IBEW Local 26 and IEC-Chesapeake will act as entry-level service providers. They will collaborate with Goodwill Industries, Job Corps, correctional facilities and existing businesses to train 480 new and incumbent workers.

"We are projecting that at least 70 percent of the Marylanders trained through these programs will be placed into a related job within the three-year grant period," says Eric M. Seleznow, GWIB Executive Director. "These programs also address an immediate need to help dislocated workers, particularly those in jobs that will never come back, to obtain the new skills they need to re-enter the workforce and participate in the new green economy."

This latest grant follows a $4 million grant awarded by USDOL in November to the MidAtlantic Regional Collaboration (MARC) Green Consortium, headed by DLLR's Division of Workforce Development and Adult Learning, to define the regional green economy and develop a workforce investment plan to support it. That consortium includes the Virginia Employment Commission, the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services, the District of Columbia's Workforce Investment Council, the Maryland Governor's Workforce Investment Board and the Virginia Workforce Council.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor
Writer: Walaika Haskins