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3D Systems CEO Avi Reichental helped Potomac Photonics open a new era of Digital Fabrication at bwtech@UMBC Research and Development Park.

Keynoting a Digital Fabrication Summit that Potomac organized in celebration of the new Center, Reichental expanded upon the symposium’s theme: The Impact of Digital Fabrication on Our Lives. The inspiring talk included examples of the many ways in which people’s everyday lives were improved by 3D Printing. While cool medical applications such as the “sexy” prosthesis 3D Systems has created for amputees, it was the ways in which 3D Printing can lower barriers to market entry for entrepreneurs and spur economic growth that caught the attention of Maryland State and local business and government leaders who were in attendance.

The day was introduced by Potomac CEO and UMBC Alum Mike Adelstein, who is leading the company into a new era of digital fabrication. Founded as an excimer laser and laser micromachining manufacturing and contract services company, Adelstein has expanded the range of contract service offerings to include 3D Printing, micro CNC machining, hot embossing, and advanced quality control and measurement. Potomac is also an authorized 3D Systems 3D Printer re-seller, and one of the few re-sellers in the country with trained service technicians to support customers.

Adelstein’s inspiring talk, entitled IMAGINE, spoke to the many ways in which Potomac’s contract service work helps groups cure cancer, improve diagnostic testing through new microfluidics devices, create new businesses by building prototypes for innovators and entrepreneurs, and improve STEM education. He also described the company’s Education Manufacturing Initiative where thousands of dollars of digital fabrication work has been donated to college and universities. As part of this program, Potomac is conducting joint R&D with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where the new Center is located.

Dr. Neil Gershenfeld, Director of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms and founder of the MIT-based FabLab Network, spoke about Digital Fabrication advances that are at the center of his group’s work. These included Machines that Make Machines and self-assembling 3D Printed materials. A lively presentation followed by Kegan Schouwenburg, founder of Sols, who ispassionate about the intersection of 3D Printing and good business practice. Her vision to 3D Print customized orthotics in a way that is beautiful, efficient, and affordable seems clearly achieveable given her concrete analysis combined with boundless energy!

Following a welcome by the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park Executive Director, Ellen Hemmerly, the ceremonial ribbon was cut by Potomac employees. Perhaps most fun of all was a tour of the Potomac Digital Fabrication center that includes all manner of CNC machines, lasers, 3D Printers, software, and measurement tools.

It was a day that saw a glimpse into what people are calling the next industrial revolution. And Potomac Photonics is leading digital fabrication toa time when technology will be impacting our lives in unimaginable ways.

Nearly two dozen UMBC faculty researchers and bwtech@UMBC entrepreneurs attended a media workshop held in the research and technology park’s new CyberHive on Thursday, February 20th. UMBC’s Office of Institutional Advancement organized the event in collaboration with bwtech@UMBC as an opportunity for researchers and entrepreneurs to learn about media relations and strategies to gain visibility for their work.

Attendees heard from three local journalists: Sarah Gantz from the Baltimore Business Journal, Liz Gormisky from Defense Daily, and Lisa Palmer, an NSF-funded science communication fellow at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center and freelance journalist who has written for publications such as The New York Times, Scientific American and Slate.

In their talks and the Q&A session that followed, Gantz, Gormisky and Palmer discussed how to communicate and build relationships with journalists to generate interest in new research or technologies. Additional topics included how various types of publications work on different timetables and use different types of sources, and how to tailor story pitches to fit particular news outlets.

Maryland Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch held a press conference today to announce a package of bills relating to economic development initiatives. The proposed legislation would leverage public and private sector resources for higher education research endowments; create a seed fund to invest in cybersecurity and privacy companies; and strengthen ties between key state, federal and higher education institutions and neighboring communities by creating Reduced Tax Zones (called RISE zones).

President Hrabowski spoke at the press conference (photo at right), emphasizing the importance of investment in endowed professorships and the RISE economic development zones to increase tech transfer. He joined USM Chancellor Brit Kirwan and representatives of the University of Maryland, College Park, and Johns Hopkins University in endorsing the proposed legislation.

UMBC Vice President for Research Karl Steiner and bwtech@UMBC Executive Director Ellen Hemmerly also attended the event.

State and national voices are increasingly articulating the need for expanded training and investment in cybersecurity. This week’s U.S. News includes cybersecurity in a story about hot career fields, noting that UMBC cybersecurity programs offer students essential hands-on experience.

ABC2 News reported on the press conference and Dr. Hrabowski’s remarks. Public Policy Professor and Chair Donald Norris was also interviewed about the event in The Baltimore Sun.

“At the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s incubator for cybersecurity start-ups there’s a definite government focus. Companies can participate in a federal contracting institute, and some have scholarships from contracting giant Northrop Grumman that cover their rent.

But incubator leaders are emphasizing the importance of going after the “huge and growing” commercial market, said Ellen Hemmerly, who oversees all of the university’s incubators as executive director of bwtech@UMBC,” writes Jamie Smith Hopkins.

The Pitch Across Maryland Tour rolled into UMBC yesterday and the Daily Record was on hand to cover it.

“The statewide Pitch Across Maryland tour targets dozens of hopeful entrepreneurs from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland. At each stop, participants meet and receive feedback from top business leaders and have the opportunity to record a four- to six-minute business pitch inside the bus studio,” wrote Daily Record reporter, Alissa Gulin in her story, Startup Maryland and its studio bus rolls into UMBC. “A panel of business professionals will judge the entries and choose several to advance to the next round. The winners will fine-tune their pitches for showcase at the Entrepreneur Expo, an event on Nov. 13 sponsored by the Maryland Technology Development Corp., or TEDCO.”

Ellen Hemmerly and Kent Malwitz were quoted in the September 7, Baltimore Business Journal in an article written by Jack Lambert, Cyber security attracts attention (and cash) from venture capitalists.

Lambert writes, “Cyber security is big business in Maryland. The state’s proximity to federal agencies in Washington, D.C., as well as nearby government contractors such as Northrop Grumman Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp., has led to significant government investment in companies that can protect confidential data.”

Lambert goes on to write about his conversation with Hemmerly and Malwitz,

“The commercialization of cyber security products helped encourage investment, said Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of the UMBC bwtech Research and Technology Park. Companies developing new products for mobile devices like tablets and smartphones need to be protected, she said. And venture firms want to get in on the ground floor.

“We are seeing more and more folks trying to create a way to solve those cyber security issues,” Hemmerly said. “[Venture capital] money is agnostic. They are going to look where there is the business opportunities.”

Students and startups are taking advantage of those opportunities. Twenty-two cyber security companies are part of UMBC’S incubator and accelerator program in 2012, whereas only six companies were in the program when it began in March 2011.

Colleges and universities are seeing increased cyber security interest at the undergraduate level as well. UMBC taught 84 cyber security courses in 2011 compared to 70 courses in 2010, said Kent E. Malwitz, president of the UMBC training centers. The University of Maryland’s Cybersecurity Center has seen double the number of computer science and computer engineering majors over the last five to seven years, said Eric Chapman, the program’s deputy director.”

Ellen Hemmerly, executive director for bwtech@UMBC, was profiled in Catonsville Patch by reporter Meg Tipper August 12th.

The article covered not only Hemmerly’s background, family life, as well as her work and research at bwtech@UMBC, but her involvement and thoughts on the greater Catonsville community, as well. Speaking on what she would like to see happen in the area’s future, Hemmerly told Tipper that “Catonsville could have a better mix of retail, more mixed use housing, and more activities on Frederick Road.  We could make the business district more attractive than it is.  I also would love for Catonsville and UMBC to be better integrated.  There is so much potential for both.”