The Maryland Technology Extension Service (MTES), which offers manufacturing solutions to Maryland companies, had a $145.4 million economic impact from January 2000 through December 2006. MTES has assisted Maryland manufacturers in: increasing sales by $22.6 million; retaining sales by $83.6 million; saving $8.5 million in costs; saving $7.3 million in investments; avoiding $9.1 million in unnecessary investments; and increasing plant or equipment investment by $14.3 million. MTES has also helped manufacturers create or retain 889 jobs.

The Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program (MIPS) approved 28 new research projects teaming faculty with Maryland companies to develop commercial products. The projects included new cell-phone software for first responders; real-time, wireless video surveillance for law enforcement; explosives detection; new methods for drug delivery; and personalized cancer treatment. Worth $5.2 million, the projects combine $3.3 million from participating companies and $1.9 million from MIPS. Funding supports work in the laboratories of participating faculty, who work closely with partner companies to advance their product development.

Four former MIPS funding partners swept the Greater Baltimore Committee's 2007 Baltimore Region Bioscience Awards. Winners included: Lentigen Corporation, for Best New Product or Process; Blake M. Paterson, co-founder and CEO, Alba Therapeutics Corporation, for Leadership in Bioscience; Profectus Biosciences Inc., for Best Academic/Industry Collaboration; and Shira Kramer, president and founder, Sterilex Corporation, for Entrepreneurial Spirit.


The Clark School's Maryland Performance Excellence Awards Program, along with U.S. Senators Barbara Mikulski and Benjamin Cardin, recognized nine high-performing organizations in March. Baltimore-based Chimes won the prestigious U.S. Senate Productivity Award. Maryland Quality Awards were given to Asbury Communities, Asbury Methodist Village Inc., Howard Community College, Lorch Microwave, Mechanicsville Elementary School, Savantage Financial Services Inc., and SGT Inc. Household of Angels Assisted Living received a Certificate of Recognition. The Maryland Performance Excellence Awards foster process-based, measurable, continuous improvement that drives results, creating successful organizations that strengthen the Maryland economy.

Martha Connolly, director of MTECH Partnerships and director of the Clark School's Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) Program, was named one of 50 Influential Marylanders for 2007 by The Daily Record during a ceremony at the Baltimore Museum of Art on April 25. Connolly was selected in the area of technology.





Dean Chang, who brings 15 years of combined experience in Silicon Valley, as well as degrees from MIT, Stanford, and Wharton, joined the Clark School on May 1 as director of MTECH Ventures. Chang previously held the dual roles of chief technology officer and vice president of gaming business at Immersion Corporation. Chang holds 30 U.S. and international patents in the field of haptics.



The Clark School's MTECH Ventures announced the winners of its seventh annual University of Maryland $50K Business Plan Competition. Winners, in the categories of Faculty/Graduate Students, Alumni, and Undergraduate Students, offered new technologies for medical imaging, wireless vital sign monitors for medical patients, and educational kits for teaching Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems fabrication at the college level. Finalists were selected among 18 semifinalists, and nearly 60 initial entries.

Through two MIPS projects, Clark School faculty Ashwani Gupta, mechanical engineering, and Kenneth Yu, aerospace engineering (AE), along with AE graduate student Ram Balar, successfully designed and tested a combustor for a space plane, which uses an inward-turning scramjet engine. Such a plane would not only shorten flights (designers estimate a flight to Australia could one day be as short as two hours), but also provide travelers with a bird's-eye view of the earth as the plane orbits around the globe during the flight. The collaboration is with College Park-based Astrox Corporation