Gov. Phil Bredesen’s budget proposal for 2007-2008 includes more than $100 million in new funding for several new education and high-tech development initiatives and a strategy to spur the state’s alternative fuels industry.

 

The nonprofit Challenger Learning Center of Alaska Board of Directors recently announced the hiring of Sharon Gherman as its new Executive Director. Gherman was the former K-12 program executive for the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation.

Michael Terry, president and CEO of EmergeMemphis, has announced he will resign at the end of the year.

Earlier this week, 22 states and Puerto Rico were named recipients of more than $2.2 million in combined fiscal year 2004 Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST) and Rural Outreach Program (ROP) awards. All but one of the 21 FAST awards distributed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) were worth $95,000 -- they totaled nearly $1.98 million. Five ROP awards of $49,470 also were made by SBA.

The Metropolitan Development Association, of Syracuse and Central New York, also recently named a new chairman, John Zawadzki, of its Regional Development Alliance.

Measured over a three-year period, minority women-owned businesses had similar survival rates and employment growth compared to all women-owned firms, according to a recent series of federal reports. However, when measured against other minority women-owned firms, African American women-owned businesses showed greater job loss and lower survival rates.

For many states, increasing industrial research and development (R&D) within the state's academic research institutions is a priority. Some state tech-based economic development agencies offer financial assistance, such as matching grants to foster greater university-industry research collaboration. Some offer tax credits to companies for research expenditures within the state higher education community.

Eric Cromwell has been appointed to serve as Director of Technology for the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development.

Alaska Technology Councils To Merge

Referring to his fiscal year 2008-09 budget recommendation as “back to basics,” Gov. Phil Bredesen proposed significant investments in research and workforce initiatives while vowing not to tap into reserves or raise taxes.

 

A complete description of this opportunities and others is available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

Complete descriptions of the position openings described below are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

Complete descriptions of these opportunities and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

Jeff Wadsworth has been named the next director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Wadsworth was a former deputy director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Fred Tompkins, professor and interim dean of the University of Tennessee (UT) College of Engineering, has been named interim executive director of the UT Research Foundation.

Andrew Kim is the new policy director for Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen.

Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski has named Edgar Blatchford, a journalism professor at the University of Alaska, to serve as commissioner for the Department of Community and Economic Development.

Whether it is oil, gas, logging or fishing, only one other state in the nation, Alaska, is as dependent on natural resource extraction as Wyoming. Using tech-based economic development to diminish the impact of the boom and bust cycles experienced by all "colonial" economies to diversify the state's economy has been one of the goals of Alaska's gubernatorial leaders since 1988, with the creation and continuation of the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF).

Bill Madia is leaving his position as director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory to oversee all Department of Energy business for Battelle Memorial Institute.

Chris Matthews is the president of the new Chattanooga Technology Council, which held its official kickoff event earlier this month.

The Senate unanimously confirmed Anne B. Pope of Tennessee as Federal Co-Chairwoman of the Appalachian Regional Commission. Pope currently serves as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance.

While the 2002 election marked the return of Republican control of the U.S. Senate and the departure of a number of governors that had been strong supporters of investing in science and technology (e.g., John Engler of Michigan, Angus King of Maine, and Roy Barnes of Georgia), it may also mark the beginning point of a new group of governors that embrace technology-based economic development as a focal point of their administrations.

The state technology-based economic development community is losing one of its most dynamic and longest-serving leaders by the end of the year. Jamie Kenworthy, executive director of the Alaska Science & Technology Foundation (ASTF), has announced his retirement effective December 1.

Caroline Young has been named executive director of the Tennessee Biotechnology Association and director of the Tennessee Technology Development Corporation's life science initiative.

Alex Fisher, chief of staff for Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist, is leaving to become the director of technology transfer and economic development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.