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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.

Louis Soares, project manager for workforce development at the Rhode Island Technology Council (RITEC), is leaving to accept a fellowship at the JFK School of Government at Harvard University.

Gary Stark has resigned his position as executive director of the Indiana Information Technology Association Foundation to relocate to Connecticut. Stark raised $1 million during the past year to start an endowment for the foundation, which plans to award grants from the interest earned to combat the Digital Divide in the state.

While Congress and the Administration are looking for ways to flatten or even reduce spending for research, entrepreneurship and innovation, leaders on the other side of the pond are committing hard currency to strengthening Europe's position in the global, tech-based economy.

With the recent passage of the state's biennial budget, North Dakota's universities and colleges can now compete for a share of $20 million in matching funds to create Centers of Excellence. The money is the first installment of the state legislature's $50 million commitment to the Centers program, which is the centerpiece of Gov. John Hoeven's initiatives to transform the state's economy toward science and technology.

A ballot initiative designed to bolster the Ohio economy and create jobs by continuing the state’s public works infrastructure program and supporting the commercialization of science and technology-based research was announced last week by Gov. Bob Taft and other legislative leaders. The initiative, to appear on the Nov.

Gov. Donald Carcieri last month announced two new initiatives targeting Rhode Island's science and technology (S&T) and manufacturing industries. On April 12, Gov. Carcieri signed an Executive Order creating the Science & Technology Advisory Council.

Efforts to capitalize Hawaii's $120 million State Private Investment Fund (SPIF) collapsed Friday as a joint conference committee of the state legislature could not reconcile differences between House and Senate versions of the measure. Passage of Senate Bill 1695 was one of Gov. Linda Lingle's top economic development priorities for this legislative session.

States such as Oklahoma must leverage scarce resources if they hope to attract top scientists, stimulate development, and achieve measurable economic impact, says the latest impact report from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST).

As low-skill, labor intensive jobs are increasingly replaced by technology or outsourced in the emerging knowledge-based economy, a two-tiered labor market has emerged, thus presenting a challenge for workers to either work cheaper or work smarter, says a new report from the Southern Growth Policies Board. Only one of those options is appealing for those trying to improve your standard of living.

During the months of May and June, the SSTI Weekly Digest and Funding Supplement will be published every other week. SSTI staff over the next two months will be completing work on two major projects that require focused concentration. We look forward to resuming the Digest and Funding Supplement on a weekly basis in July. The next issue of the Digest will be May 16.

Plans for a joint five-year $320-$403 million program to accelerate the development of next generation lithography were announced Thursday by International SEMATECH (ISMT) and The University at Albany-SUNY (UAlbany).

This week's Senate Appropriations Committee markup of the FY 2003 appropriations for the Department of Commerce includes $185.4 million is for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and $106.6 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP).

The Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture will hold a meeting July 31 to get public input for the design and implementation of the new Agricultural Innovation Center Demonstration Program.

A massive state budget deficit, partisan squabbles, and a longstanding need to restructure the state's tax code almost derailed Indiana's largest commitment toward building a technology-based economy.

The National Governors' Association (NGA) released three guides at its annual meeting last week that are designed to help governors  to develop technology-based economic development strategies to improve states' global competitiveness.

Minnesota's technology sector remains a diverse, well developed and stable anchor to the state's economy, according to a new report released by Minnesota Technology, Inc. (MTI), Minnesota's tech-based economic development organization.

A new report released by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund and the Benton Foundation concludes that continued federal leadership is essential to increasing technology access, given the significant gaps that remain along economic, racial and geographic lines.

The Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Interim Committee of the Wyoming state legislature heard testimony last week encouraging the creation of two new initiatives to expand Wyoming's technology-based economic development efforts: a seed capital program and a technology incubator.