AirPhoton and Phoenix Operations Group are the newest bwtech@UMBC companies to win Maryland Incubator Company of the Year (ICOY) awards. AirPhoton won best technology product company, and Phoenix Operations Group won best data analytics company at the awards event held June 21 at the American Visionary Arts Museum.  Six other bwtech@UMBC companies were recognized as finalists.

AirPhoton produces customized scientific equipment for air quality data collection. The instruments they build are employed on the ground, in aircraft, and on satellites.

“AirPhoton is very excited to be recognized with this award, especially given the other very fine companies that were selected as finalists,” says Lorraine Remer, CEO and research professor of physics at UMBC. “We hope to continue growing and contributing to the incubator program and the Maryland economy.”

Phoenix Operations Group offers data analytics, cloud application design and administration, and platform optimization services to the intelligence community. Devin Edwards, director of strategic development, says the research park has served the company well.

“The cyber incubator at bwtech@UMBC was able to provide Phoenix Operations Group with access to industry professionals to help set up our infrastructure,” Edwards says, “thereby allowing us to compete and grow within our domain in a matter of months, surpassing companies that have been in the industry for years.”

The event’s keynote speech by Andy Jones, managing director of the Maryland Venture Fund, centered on advice for new entrepreneurs. Stay focused on a small range of products or services and embrace board meetings as opportunities to take stock, he said. Also, “growth is your friend,” because revenue gives a company leeway to try new things. Perhaps most important, “Surround yourself with good people,” he told emerging entrepreneurs. “It really is a marriage, so pick your partners carefully.”

Previous ICOY winners from bwtech@UMBC include:

2014

Light Point Security (Best Cyber Company)

2013

Plasmonix, Inc. (Best Technology Transfer Company)

2012

Noxilizer (Best Life Sciences Company)

StormCenter Communicaitons, Inc. (Best Cyber/Homeland Security Company)

SemaConnect, Inc. (Best Green Company)

2009

Oculis Labs, Inc. (Best Information Technology Company)

2007

Lentigen Corporation (Best Life Sciences Company)

BDMetrics, Inc. (Best Graduate Company)

2006

Profectus BioSciences, Inc. (Best Technology Transfer Company)

2005

AVIcode, Inc. (Best New Incubator Company)

TechGuard Security, LLC (Best Information Technology Company)

2004

BDMetrics, Inc. (Best New Incubator Company)

2003

Scientific Products & Systems, Inc. (Most Promising Technology Transfer)

2002

Columbia Technologies (Best Innovative Technology Company)

In Vitro Technologies, Inc. (Best Graduate Company)

Header image: Andy Jones gives the event’s key note.

Other images: AirPhoton team members accept their award (top) and Phoenix Operations Group team members accept theirs (bottom).

Photos sourced from www.mdincubatoraward.com

In Baltimore, women hold approximately 31% of the positions in computer and mathematical fields, compared with the national average of 26.5% of women who hold positions in these areas. On MDBiz News, the Maryland Department of Commerce features a list of 20 leading women who are driving Maryland’s leadership in tech, including Julie Ross, UMBC’s dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT).

Through her work in at UMBC, Ross has helped advance UMBC’s reputation as a powerhouse in STEM fields. Before being named dean of COEIT, she was the chair of the department of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering at UMBC. She has received external grants totaling nearly $13 million to advance her research and engineering education.

Two UMBC alumna were also included in the blog post. Linda Burger ‘86, information systems management, is the director of Technology Transfer Programs at the National Security Agency (NSA). Stephanie Hill ‘86, economics, is the vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems & Training, Ship & Aviation Systems. Additionally, the piece features Zuly Gonzalez, CEO of Light Point Security, located at the bwtech@UMBC research park.

See the full list of featured leaders in the article “In Maryland, Women in Technology Thrive,” on the MD Biz News blog.

Image: Julie Ross. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

The bwtech@UMBC Research & Technology Park is home to more than a third of all finalists for the 2016 Maryland Incubator Company of the Year Awards (ICOY). These eight (of 22) ICOY finalists include: Airphoton LLC, Blue Wave Semiconductors, Inc., Bricata, Grip Boost Inc., Huntress Labs, Phoenix Operations Group, LLC, Plant Sensory Systems, and Sparks Dynamics.

Combined, bwtech North and bwtech South cover 71 acres and offer 525,000 square feet of office and lab space. Housing more than 120 companies in various stages of development, bwtech@UMBC’s estimated economic impact on the state is $500 million annually. The research park includes incubator programs for cybersecurity, life sciences, and clean energy technology companies. All incubator companies have access to entrepreneurs in residence, experienced business professionals who help with aspects of owning a company that are new to many researchers.

“It’s a financial benefit, but also an educational benefit,” to be part of the incubator, says Lorraine Remer, research professor of physics at UMBC and CEO and co-founder of AirPhoton, a company that designs and produces custom equipment for earth and climate scientists. In addition to the entrepreneurs in residence, Remer appreciates that the incubator connects companies with an excellent network of professionals, such as lawyers and accountants, whom they know they can trust.

“From the monthly E2E [executive to executive] roundtables to the always available hands-on mentorship, bwtech@UMBC has created a fantastic environment for local startups,” says Chanda Arya, COO and co-founder of Grip Boost, Inc., which sells a product to restore grip-ability to football gloves.

Kathy Turano, founder and president of Plant Sensory Systems, an incubator graduate company, agrees. “Plant Sensory Systems has benefited greatly from the entrepreneurial training and support services provided by bwtech@UMBC,” she says. “We are honored to be a finalist for the Incubator Company of the Year Award and to have our achievements recognized by the Maryland business community.”

One of Plant Sensory Systems’ projects produces plant seeds that contain nutrients typically absent in plants, but that are required for fish like salmon and tuna. The seeds can be used in plant-based fish feed, reducing demand for wild-caught small fish traditionally used in fish feed, which are currently harvested at unsustainable levels.

For Remer, being part of the incubator is about more than producing a product: it’s about giving back. She and the other AirPhoton leaders enjoy building “a structure that creates employment,” she explains. Incubator companies create jobs in Maryland and keep top talent, including UMBC alumni, in the state.

Jennifer Reynolds, bwtech@UMBC’s director of venture creation, shares, “The entire bwtech@UMBC community is extremely proud and excited to have eight finalists in this year’s Maryland Incubator Company of the Year award competition. The selected companies represent a wide array of industries, products and stages of maturity, and thus are excellent representatives of the diverse and dynamic entrepreneurial community we have built and support here at bwtech. It is so rewarding to see these innovative and promising companies achieve commercial success, and to see ICOY recognize their tremendous growth.”

Award winners will be announced at an event on June 21 at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.

Image: Lorraine Remer, research professor of physics. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

On May 3, UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski joined WAMU’s The Kojo Nnamdi Show for a discussion about the state of diversity in STEM fields and the importance of connecting STEM with work in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

Pres. Hrabowski was joined by Brian Kelly, editor of U.S. News & World Report, and James Maiden, assistant dean of student affairs at University of the District of Columbia and principal investigator of the Minority Male Makers Program. The wide-ranging discussion covered several issues, including how studying the arts, humanities, and social sciences can help students develop the skills and knowledge needed to address some of society’s most pressing challenges.

“One of the ways we can get students to appreciate what STEM can do for our country is through the humanities, not only through reading skills, but understanding many of the ethical issues involved in the achievement gap, in health disparities, and in the environmental issues that we face,” Dr. Hrabowski said.

Pres. Hrabowski highlighted UMBC’s national leadership and strengths in inclusive excellence and focus on under-representation in STEM. Mentioning centers and programs like the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT), Meyerhoff Scholars Program, Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program, and Humanities Scholars Program, Pres. Hrabowski shared how many students are combining majors in the arts and humanities with taking courses in STEM disciplines to pursue careers in a range of professions.

“We need many solutions that will connect disciplines that will solve the problems we find in society,” Dr. Hrabowski explained.

Later in the program, President Hrabowski also described UMBC’s partnership with Northrop Grumman and Baltimore City Public Schools to support students, teachers, and communities in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) education.

Listen to the full segment “Local D.C. STEM careers are soaring-but for whom?” on the WAMU website.

Image: Pres. Hrabowski speaks at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School, Jan. 2016. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Maryland Secretary of Commerce Mike Gill visited UMBC on April 7, 2016, for an afternoon focused on UMBC research and entrepreneurship.

While at UMBC, Secretary Gill met with President Freeman Hrabowski and UMBC leaders focused on research and technology commercialization, including Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of the bwtech@UMBC Research & Technology Park. He also toured the lab of Govind Rao, director of the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST) and professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering (CBEE).

CAST is known as an international leader in developing revolutionary technologies intended to scale up to impact lives across the globe. One tool currently under development is a portable, briefcase-sized bioreactor that rapidly manufactures medicines, replacing airdrops of pharmaceutical supplies to battlefields with point-of-care technology to manufacture specific drugs as they are needed. Rao’s lab has also developed an affordable incubator for vulnerable newborns in low-resource areas. With co-PI Yodan Kostov, CBEE research professor, and faculty collaborators from the College of Engineering and Information Technology, Rao is also working on a wearable system to track asthma triggers in pediatric patients, supported through a nearly $2 million award from NIH.

“I often say that economic development is a team sport, and an important player on Maryland’s team is UMBC,” says Secretary Gill. “Our higher education institutions foster the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that help drive Maryland’s industry sectors like cyber and life sciences. It was terrific seeing firsthand the great work that UMBC’s researchers and innovators are doing.”

“We were proud to share with Secretary Gill the strong record of our faculty in launching new companies and contributing to the Maryland economy,” says Karl Steiner, vice president for research. “UMBC and bwtech have been partnering successfully for a long time on creating and attracting businesses that match our scientific strengths in cybersecurity, life sciences and environmental technologies.”

Secretary Gill began his service in the Maryland Department of Commerce in January 2015, after four decades as an entrepreneur, tech executive, and investment banker. His work with UMBC extends back over a decade, through his service on the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, 2004-2009. Sec. Gill’s team includes Brady Walker ’08, political science, special assistant to the secretary.

Image: Maryland Secretary of Commerce Mike Gill, Brady Walker, and  Prof. Govind Rao (left-right). Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

With the flurry of recent internet hacks, how safe is the information that we post online? Who will develop the innovations needed to secure our data in cyberspace? In a new Baltimore Sun op-ed, bwtech@UMBC Executive Director Ellen Hemmerly writes that the necessary innovation will come from Baltimore, thanks to the city’s proximity to the federal government and major defense and intelligence contractors, high concentration of cybersecurity and IT startups, and early experience with “revolutionary cyber companies.”

“Ultimately, cybersecurity is not just about national security, it’s also about our own economic security,” writes Hemmerly. “We’ve been vulnerable since day one, and what has changed has been the realization of how vulnerable we truly are.”

Hemmerly explains that Baltimore is already home to many innovative cybersecurity firms, and the city is attracting even more early-stage companies from around the nation and the world that want to be near leaders in , IT, security, defense and intelligence companies.

“The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) ranks fourth among U.S. research universities in information technology degrees and certificates awarded,” Hemmerly writes. “With cybersecurity becoming more interdisciplinary, Maryland has morphed itself into a leading ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship in the space.”

Read Hemmerly’s op-ed “A cybersecurity future in Baltimore,” published November 25 in the Baltimore Sun.

Image: Ellen Hemmerly. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. 

UMBC welcomed new University System of Maryland (USM) Chancellor Bob Caret for a busy, full-day campus visit on September 24, 2015. Chancellor Caret has a long relationship with UMBC, but this visit offered a special opportunity for him.

“We are delighted the chancellor is taking this time to connect directly with our students, faculty, and staff, and to develop a deeper understanding of UMBC’s culture, vision, and priorities,” said UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski.

Chancellor Caret shared his view of the special role Maryland’s public universities play in a region that boasts so many high caliber, internationally known centers of higher education. “In the USM,” he said, “we wake up every day and think about what we can do for Maryland.”

This theme carried through the day as UMBC community members shared their experiences, goals, and innovative work with the chancellor.

One highlight of Caret’s morning was a meeting with undergraduate and graduate student leaders, which included a discussion on college affordability. Caret remarked that this meeting with students, in particular, gave him “a sense of excitement about the future.”

A subsequent meeting with faculty and staff senate leaders demonstrated the important role of shared governance at UMBC, where faculty, staff, and student groups actively collaborate to make decisions that impact the university.

Following a lunch with college deans, Chancellor Caret toured spaces known across campus as hubs for collaboration and hands-on learning—places that foster interdisciplinary work and harness creative potential. These spaces included, among others, the Retriever Learning Center, Linehan Concert Hall, Imaging Research Center, English Writing Labs, and Science Learning Collaboratory, a model for the future Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building.

Vice President for Research Karl Steiner explained that while the university is tremendously excited about these new facilities, in a certain sense “a building is just a building.” When it comes to how the university advances education and research, he said, “It is what happens inside that matters.”

A tour of the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park offered a clear picture of what makes UMBC a distinctive community: promoting collaboration among creative faculty researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, alumni entrepreneurs and key partners.

UMBC provides essential support to bring innovations and best practices to the public, for the benefit of the state’s economy and the health and well-being of Marylanders. Faculty from psychology to cybersecurity, as well as young companies led by talented USM alumni, explained what this can look like across academic disciplines and industries.

Each conversation offered a different glimpse of what Karl Steiner has called the “unique research culture here at UMBC”—a culture focused on bringing together inquisitive minds with diverse perspectives, but the shared goal of social and economic impact. The recent expansion of collaborative research between UMBC and the University of Maryland-Baltimore demonstrates the exciting potential of this work. Steiner explained, “We call it innovation that matters.”

Caret began his service as USM chancellor in July 2015, after four years serving as president of the University of Massachusetts System. His time in Massachusetts followed more than 25 years at Towson University, where he began as a faculty member and served as president 2003-2011. The chancellor will visit additional USM institutions during a statewide listening tour, October 12-15, 2015.

Learn more about Chancellor Caret through his video greeting to USM communities:

Image: Chancellor Bob Caret and Ganna Vikhlyayeva ’15, animation and interactive media, in UMBC’s Imaging Research Center. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11.

As the country struggles to attract more women to technology, an article in the Baltimore Business Journal this week explored how women tech leaders in Baltimore are encouraging diverse and inclusive work environments. Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of bwtech@UMBC, and Zuly Gonzalez, founder and CEO of Light Point Security based in bwtech@UMBC, were featured in the article for the example they are setting for women entrepreneurs.

Gonzalez shared her experiences as a women in the cyber security industry, recounting the sexism she has faced in her career. However, she is determined to perverse, saying, “I try not to let that kind of thing affect me.” Hemmerly was also mentioned in the article as one of Baltimore’s several “strong female leaders who others can turn to for inspiration and mentorship.”

“We’re trying to build a stronger innovation economy in Baltimore and Maryland, and we have to harness all the talent and all the brainpower and all ideas to make it happen,” the article quoted Baltimore venture capitalist David Wise as saying. “It’s just common sense to be as inclusive as possible.”

Read “Leveraging leadership to get women to the top of Baltimore’s tech community” in the Baltimore Business Journal.

On February 3 Ellen Hemmerly, executive director, of bwtech@UMBC spoke with AHA
Business Radio. She talked about her career path, the economic impact of
bwtech@UMBC on the Baltimore metropolitan area and the benefits of being at bwtech@UMBC.

“We welcome a diverse set of companies,” she said, “but they have to be technology companies.”

Hemmerly says that bwtech@UMBC is not just about real estate, but that it’s about helping companies to grow and succeed.

Listen to the entire interview.

A new study from the Sage Policy Group reveals that the bwtech@UMBC research park has grown at a remarkable pace. The park contributes nearly 2,500 jobs to Baltimore County today, an increase of 41 percent since last measured in 2006.