SSTI Digest

Forty-four research universities in 28 states and the District of Columbia will receive $80 million from Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to help address the challenges of the rapidly changing and increasingly interdisciplinary nature of undergraduate biology education. The grants will support programs that encourage graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to hone their teaching skills in undergraduate courses. Other programs will bring emerging scientific disciplines such as genomics and computational biology into the undergraduate curriculum and encourage minorities to pursue careers in science. The four-year grants range in size from $1.2 million to $2.2 million each. A panel of scientists and educators reviewed proposals from 189 institutions. The new grants support programs that can become models for bringing undergraduate teaching and research closer together, as well as exposing undergraduates to emerging fields in biology and to the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of the life sciences. They also support efforts to attract minorities to science and to…

Anne Armstrong, president of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology since 1999, has resigned from the position effective the end of this month. Virginia Secretary of Technology George C. Newstrom will serve as Interim President during a search for a new president. Michael Anastasio is the new director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, effective July 1. He was serving as deputy director of strategic operations for the lab. Ken Berlack, formerly communications director for the National Commission on Entrepreneurship, has joined KCCatalyst, a regional organization dedicated to encouraging technological innovation and entrepreneurship in the Greater Kansas City area. John Dixon, director of the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute, a cornerstone in the state's life sciences initiative, has resigned to join the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Diego. Michael Douglas is the new associate vice chancellor for technology management at the University of Washington. Douglas comes to the position from a St. Louis biotech firm…

Anne Armstrong, president of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology since 1999, has resigned from the position effective the end of this month. Virginia Secretary of Technology George C. Newstrom will serve as Interim President during a search for a new president.

Michael Anastasio is the new director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, effective July 1. He was serving as deputy director of strategic operations for the lab.

Ken Berlack, formerly communications director for the National Commission on Entrepreneurship, has joined KCCatalyst, a regional organization dedicated to encouraging technological innovation and entrepreneurship in the Greater Kansas City area.

John Dixon, director of the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute, a cornerstone in the state's life sciences initiative, has resigned to join the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Diego.

Michael Douglas is the new associate vice chancellor for technology management at the University of Washington. Douglas comes to the position from a St. Louis biotech firm.

SSTI is excited to announce the addition of two new policy analysts to its staff. Rich Healy is an economic geographer formerly with the Columbus-based engineering and architecture firm Burgess & Niple. Heidi Findley served as press secretary to former Ohio Governor Richard Celeste for several years and, prior to that, as assistant deputy director for the Ohio Department of Development's Division of Technological Innovation.

The Greater Flagstaff Economic Council has announced Lewis Humphreys is its new vice president. Humphreys was with the Greater Tucson Economic Council.

Ruth Lange, with the USDA's SBIR Program Office and one of the most helpful federal employees for state and local SBIR outreach efforts, is taking a new position as Peer Review Director for USDA CREES.

Barbara Schilberg and Gary Kurtzman have been named co-managing directors of the Biotechnology Greenhouse Corp. in Philadelphia. The organization is one of three "greenhouses" established as part of Pennsylvania's $100 million biotech initiative.

Jacque Shaia, director of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, is leaving to pursue a doctorate degree at the University of Alabama.