TBED People

Bryan Allinson has joined Ohio University as director of technology transfer.

Martha Connolly, director of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute Maryland Industrial Partnership program (MIPS) at the University of Maryland, was given the President's Award at the Greater Baltimore Committee's fifth annual Bioscience Awards ceremony. In 2007, the MIPS program received an SSTI Excellence in TBED Award in the Improving Competitiveness of Existing Industries Category.

Stephen Cross has been selected as Georgia Tech's executive vice president for research. Cross has served as vice president and director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute since 2003.

Tony Jeff has been selected as the Mississippi Technology Alliance's new president and CEO. Jeff previously served as vice president and chief operating officer and director of MTA's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell tapped State Rep. Samuel Nixon to become Virginia's CIO. Nixon, who will take over April 5, becomes the third person to serve as state CIO in the past nine months, following George Coulter and Lem Stewart.

OCTANe and the Orange County Venture Group have announced a merger. The combined organization will be called OCTANe.

David Russomanno, the R. Eugene Smith Professor and Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Memphis, has been selected as dean of the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI, pending approval by the IU Board of Trustees.

West Virginia University has received the Innovator Award from the Southern Growth Policies Board for TechConnectWV, an initiative supporting the diversification and development of the Mountain State's economy.