SSTI Digest

Bill Shipp, president of Bechtel BWXT Idaho and lab director of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, is retiring effective Oct. 25. Paul Divjak will be his replacement.

Team Northeast Ohio has picked Texan Robert Farley for its first executive director.

Holmes Foster, chairman of the Iowa Values Fund, has announced his resignation.

Tony Jeff has been selected to serve as executive director of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Mississippi.

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney appointed Kathy Kottarodis to serve as the state’s first small business advocate. Kottarodis had been director of small business and entrepreneurship within the state’s office of business and technology.

Dan Lohymeyer has stepped down as president of Ohio's IT Alliance.

Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology has promoted Dan Mills to vice president for regional operations.

The new executive director of the Center for Regional Economic Issues is Edward Morrison.

Paul Ray has left his position as director of the Colorado Office of Life Sciences and Biotechnology.

The Modernization Forum seeks qualified candidates to serve as a project manager for a one-year position. The manager will plan, staff and facilitate research involving focus groups, phone and mail surveys, and secondary resources related to small manufacturing and the economy. The manager will work in collaboration with contracting organization as part of a highly qualified research team. The manager also will work with the president of the association to develop proposals for members to deliver specialized services to small manufacturing sectors. Reporting directly to the ModForum president, the manager will serve in this position for one year pending continuation of research projects and location of the ModForum office. The nonprofit organization is currently located in Livonia, MI. A more complete description is available on the SSTI Job Corner: http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm Responses should be submitted no later than November 1, 2003 to: Project Manager, The Modernization Forum, 38777 West Six Mile Road, Suite 211, Livonia, MI, 48152.  More information about the ModForum…

The SSTI Weekly Digest and Funding Supplement will resume publicaton October 31 as the office will be closed to attend SSTI's 7th Annual Conference, Building Tech-based Economies: From Policies to Practice, on Oct. 20-22. For those readers fearing withdrawal symptoms, you can still get more than your weekly fix by perusing the Digest and Funding Supplement archives on the SSTI website: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm

Within the last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a slew of awards – 128 in all – for rural tech-based economic development initiatives. Collectively, the awards total $53.7 million, including: 84 Distance Learning and Telemedicine grants for a total of $32.4 million, providing greater educational opportunities and medical service to rural citizens in 41 states. The education projects will help 556 schools provide students with educational tools to better equip them for the global digital economy. Additionally, rural residents will have access to better, faster and more modern health care through 190 medical service facilities. 34 broadband community grants across 20 states totaling $11.3 million. The grants are expected to enable more residents to access the Internet. Communities selected do not have access to broadband connectivity for the essential services of police and fire protection, hospitals, libraries and schools. In return for receiving a grant, the communities will provide residents with computer and Internet access. The grant program…