The interim director for Cleveland's new Industrial Technology Institute will be Charles Alexander, dean of the College of Engineering at Cleveland State University.

Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Townsend recently announced the release of Founders of Maryland Bioscience and Medical Instrument Companies, a report on the career pathways taken by founders of biotechnology companies in Maryland.

Correction: Lara Vande Walle is the director of membership and business development for the Maryland Technology Council, not Maryland's TEDCO as was previously reported.

The Wright Center of Innovation for Advanced Data Management and Analysis changed its name to daytaOhio and named Paul Cashen as its new president.

Ted Ford, former president and CEO of the Edison Welding Institute, recently was named president and CEO of TECHColumbus.

Roger Kilmer was appointed director of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Kilmer served as acting director since Kevin Carr's departure last June.

Already, more than 20 organizations are taking advantage of SSTI's new affiliate membership program. In addition to being able to tap into SSTI's resources, among the benefits available to SSTI affiliates are two perks that many are taking advantage of: discounted registration fees for Building Tech-based Economies: From Policy to Practice, SSTI's Sixth Annual Conference and a 10 percent discount on any purchases from SSTI's 150+ title bookstore and catalog.

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) has hired Lara Vande Walle to serve as director of membership and business development.

You know that feeling you get when you've done something nice for no apparent reason? Or at least the grounds for being good are hidden so deeply within you that you aren't aware of the potential payoff?

Well, the annual readers' survey for the SSTI Weekly Digest presents another one of those opportunities to ignite or rekindle that warm inner glow that made the Grinch's heart grow three sizes that day.

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.

Gov.-elect Robert Ehrlich has officially put forth his first economic development initiative for Maryland, according to recent press reports. His initiative, the creation of the Commission on Development of High Technology Business, is designed to encourage more technology business in the state.

A strategy to make Maryland's Harford County a competitive jurisdiction for attracting and expanding technology ventures has been unveiled by the Northeastern Maryland Technology Council (NMTC). Offering an analysis of the county's technology resources and assets, the Harford County Strategic Plan is expected to serve as a "road map" to help guide policy efforts for the next 5-15 years.

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) has announced 40 awards potentially totaling $101.6 million in ATP funding matched by an industry cost-share of $92 million if carried through to completion. These awards were selected from proposals submitted to 2002 competition.

Because knowledge-based services can be supplied anywhere across the world due to increased international investment in IT infrastructure, future U.S. competitiveness hinges on diversification and broadening of the technology-based manufacturing sector, according to NIST Senior Economist George Tassey.

President Bush has nominated Elias Zerhouni, executive vice dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as the new director of the National Institutes of Health.