SSTI Digest

Lizabeth Ardisana was elected Chairperson of the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, becoming the first woman to hold the position in the state.

Sonya Buckner has resigned her position as director of the small business incubator for the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce to become vice president of special projects for the Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce. Douglas Jones will assume leadership of the Montgomery Incubator.

The Chicago based Committee of 200, an organization of leading women in business, has named Diane Graham as its new chair.

The University of Minnesota Duluth Center for Economic Development has named Elaine Hansen as its new permanent director.

The winners of the Siemens Westinghouse/AAAS Competition for the Best Teen Scientists and Mathematicians of the Year were announced this week: 17-year-old Yin Li of New York City was the individual grand prize winner for his project "Characterizing the Prion Properties of a Translational Regulator Expressed in Mouse Brain." Brothers Mark and Jeffrey Scheider, 18 and 16, respectively, of South Windsor, Conn., won the grand prize in the team category for the "Simulation of the West Nile Virus using STELLA 7.02." Each award comes with a $100,000 prize. More information, including a list of all national winners, is available at: http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2003/1208siemensIntro.shtml

Ken Olsen will become the new executive director of the Palouse Economic Development Council in Washington State.

Tom Wallace has stepped down as president of the Tampa Bay Technology Forum.

Two months into the fiscal year and several federal offices of importance to the state and local tech-based economic development community are finally learning how much money they will have available in fiscal year 2004 — once the consolidated appropriations bill is signed by the President in January. Economic Development Administration (down $2 million from 2003) Public Works and Economic Development: $202.280 million Economic Adjustment Assistance: $40.9 million Planning: $24 million Trade Adjustment Assistance: $12 million Technical Assistance, including university centers: $8.435 million Research: $500,000 Administrative expenses: $30.565 million National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Technology Program: $179.175  million ($60.7 million available for new awards — same as FY03) Manufacturing Extension Partnership: $39.607 million (down $67 million from FY03) Small Business Administration – SBA is barred from extracting operating funds from the following programs' appropriations: SCORE: $5 million…

Legislation that would authorize $3.7 billion over the next four years for the National Nanotechnology Initiative awaits the President's signature, having cleared Congress before the Thanksgiving Holiday recess. The 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act (S. 189) was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 20, following passage in the Senate two days earlier. S. 189 provides for the creation of a National Nanotechnology Coordinating Office, research centers, education and training efforts, and research into the societal and ethical consequences of nanotech. It also supports efforts to spur technology transfer and includes a series of coordination offices, advisory committees and regular program reviews. The bill's $3.7 billion authorization levels are spread over fiscal years 2005-08 to five federal agencies — the National Science Foundation ($1.73 billion), Department of Energy ($1.46 billion), National Institute of Standards and Technology ($307.2 million), NASA ($153.9 million) and the Environmental Protection Agency ($24.76 million). No appropriations were made…

The University of Southern California (USC) will serve as the first Homeland Security Center of Excellence, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced last week. DHS anticipates providing USC with $12 million over the course of the next three years for studying risk analysis related to the economic consequences of terrorist threats and events. The first HS-Center is designed to address both the targets and means of terrorism, with emphasis on protecting critical infrastructure systems such as electrical power, transportation and telecommunications. As part of the agreement, USC will offer its expertise in natural disasters, system safety and nuclear threats. Two centers within USC's School of Engineering, the Integrated Media Systems Center and the Information Sciences Institute, also will contribute research in advanced computer modeling and cybersecurity. DHS and outside advisors reviewed more than 70 proposals to establish the first HS-Center. Other HS-Centers are planned for research and development areas such as agro-terrorism countermeasures and behavioral research on…

The risks of identity theft, e-mail viruses, denial-of-service attacks, system glitches and other online hazards can make the average person's reliance on computer systems more of a leap of faith than a bond of trust. To promote research into more dependable, accountable and secure computer and network systems, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued a solicitation for the Cyber Trust program, which expects to fund up to $30 million in awards. The Cyber Trust program will support up to three research center-level efforts as well as single-investigator and team awards, subject to NSF's merit-review process and the availability of funds. NSF expects that Cyber Trust research centers will involve collaborations among academic, industry and other partners. "Interconnected computer systems are part of the nation's critical infrastructure as well as part of people's homes, cars and offices," said computer security expert Eugene Spafford of Purdue University, who recently joined NSF as a senior advisor. "The goal for Cyber Trust research is to make these systems-and their successors-not only…

Pennsylvania's Tobacco Settlement Investment Board (TSIB) recently approved a commitment of up to $20 million to Birchmere Ventures III LP to invest in life sciences companies based in Pennsylvania. Birchmere Ventures III, a new fund jointly formed by Pittsburgh-based Birchmere Ventures and San Francisco-based Bay City Capital, will raise up to $150 million. The commitment to Birchmere Ventures/Bay City Capital will leverage the Tobacco Settlement money three-to-one by raising $30 million from other sources to match an initial $10 million made available by the TSIB. The TSIB stipulated that the total $40 million must close by March 31, 2004. Birchmere Ventures/Bay City Capital must raise an additional $30 million from other sources to leverage the total available $20 million in TSIB funds. The $30 million must be raised one year from the date of the first close. Following the $20 million TSIB contribution, Birchmere Ventures/Bay City Capital would then be expected to invest a minimum of 70 percent of $80 million, or $56 million, in Pennsylvania life sciences companies, raising another $70…