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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Apr 10, 2007 |
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man (and woman)." -- George Bernard Shaw
"Delaware Focuses on the Economic Advantages of Early Childhood Education" "So much of the brain is developed in the first three years. If children don't get that correct wiring of the brain, they often begin school at a deficit." http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- "Classrooms for the Future" to help "out-innovate" using technology to ensure our students are ready for the jobs of the future." http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Boomtown Institute
Come Home Montana
- The Agurban from Boomtown Institute - The New Economy
What exactly is The New Economy?
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Montana Career Opportunity - Mechanical Engineer - Big Sky Laser Technologies, Inc.
The position involves working in Engineering designing the mechanics of laser systems: including optical mounts, optical subassemblies, optical beds, cooling systems and enclosure design.
- Montana Career Opportunities - CTA Architects and Engineers - Missoula, Great Falls, Livingston, Bozeman, Helena, Kalispell and additional communities
At CTA The Golden Rule, rules. This philosophy has carried us through 65 years of business. It is the reason CTA remains a leader in its market as one of ENR's Top 500 Design Firms in 2002 and 2003 and among Zweig-White's Hot Firms of 2003.
Developing Tech Jobs in Rural Communities
- Energizing Young Entrepreneurs in Rural Communities
When channeled and combined with entrepreneurial education and real world experience, they can found businesses with significant wealth and job creation potential. Engaging, equipping and supporting young entrepreneurs are keys to long-term vitality and sustainability of rural communities.
- Montana students tackle the "High School Business Challenge"
"Business Challenge takes students out of textbooks a little bit and gives them a realistic look at the often difficult decisions that business people must make."
- Small Business Week 2007: Entrepreneurship in America
Small businesses drive our economy. They create 60-80 percent of the new jobs every year and represent more than half of our non-farm private GDP. Since August 2003 more than 7.2 million jobs have been created – more jobs than the European Union and Japan combined.
Montana Education Excellence
- India High-Tech Industry Out of Workers
Nearly two decades into India's phenomenal growth as an international center for high technology, the industry has a problem: It's running out of workers.
Education
- Montana among four states awarded student communications grants
"Student members are an important voice in state board of education deliberations," said Brenda Welburn, NASBE executive director, in a statement. "But once outside the board room, student leaders often have limited opportunities to effectively communicate their opinions, insights and board decisions to other students -- the very constituency most affected by a state board's actions.
- Global warning: University of Montana scientist, Steve Running, who worked on U.N. study says warming issue can no longer be ignored
“The end of the tunnel is already in sight. And I hope this will give the public more incentive to demand to national leaders that as a society, we can't ignore this issue any longer.
- Teachers use stage skills for life lessons
"If the kids are engaged, they are not passive learners," Constance said. "They're active learners, and that's when you get authentic learning."
- The inaugural issue of "Mountains & Minds" from Montana State University
It is often said that Montana State University is the "University of the Yellowstone."
- Superintendent Linda McCulloch is seeking recommendations of outstanding Montana educators for the Superintendent's "Talent Pool".
"Montana has the best educators in the country. This is an opportunity to help them get the recognition they deserve."
2007 Montana Legislature
- Twentysomethings on the Books That Inspire and Guide Them
Twentysomethings often feel like they are reinventing the wheel just to exist.
- Clear the ivy on academia Colleges should welcome a federal role in judging their success.
If the project goes through, it could be either a heavy-handed government intrusion into the finest education system in the world, or it could bring needed accountability and lower tuition to a creaking system that's failing many of its graduates. Both students and schools that rely on federal money should welcome this call for more accountability on behalf of taxpayers.
- Delaware Focuses on the Economic Advantages of Early Childhood Education
Vision 2015, a coalition of community leaders trying to turn Delaware's average school system into a world leader in the next eight years, calls for greater state investment in early childhood education. The group argues a strong start ensures children enter kindergarten prepared to learn.
- Community colleges convert campuses to villages
"There's a national trend . . . where universities are looking at transforming from commuter schools to residential campuses,"
- Financial gap widens for college kids
"Not only (does) the gap exist, it's growing, and there's nothing to suggest that we're reversing this gap."
- Professor details flaws in American education in speech at the University of Montana. “The Crisis of Education in America”
“I don’t want a comfortable class. I want an anxious class. You learn better when you’re on edge,” said Patrick Allitt, a history professor at Atlanta’s Emory University, on his teaching philosophy to a full house in the University Theatre during the President’s Lecture Series.
Montana Business
- Montana House Speaker Scott Sales takes hands-off approach to leadership
Under Sales’ leadership in the 2007 Legislature has been decidedly low key. He is a hands-off leader, encouraging party members to vote the way they want rather than as a bloc and sometimes even voting against key GOP legislation himself.
- 2007 Montana legislature lobbying finances on the Web
"We're working toward providing internet access to all the information reported for lobbying and political campaigning in Montana," according to Dennis Unsworth, Commissioner of Political Practices. "It's a more efficient way to do business and simplifies access to the information."
Montana Economic Development
- Rarus Railway sale pending. Local railroad hauls freight and passengers between Anaconda and Butte
The new owner has the experience and financial resources to strengthen Rarus’s position in the local economy, expand its freight-customer base and significantly invest in the passenger line
- Portlock Software of Butte, Montana closing rumors are just rumors
The company is opening up a new location in western Washington “to be close to Microsoft,” Hanley said. “Since last September we have a facility that’s still being assembled. We have huge infrastructure there also. We don’t have any plans to close. We are here in Butte and not leaving.
- Great-West Lifeco’s U.S. subsidiary to acquire Montana third-party health plan administrator
Allegiance is the leading medical administrator for large employer groups in Montana and has the second largest overall market share among health plans in the state.
- Northwest Health Care breathes life into Kalispell regional economy
Of the 80 economic sectors Davis studies, health care ranks 14th in economic contributions.
- Dimension EDGE Inc. of Billings, Montana, sells motorized bikes worldwide
Felt makes engines for bicycles and sells them all over the world.
- Montana Web Designers & Developers Association Newsletter April 2007
According to Wikipedia, Web 2.0 refers to the second generation of Web-based services that emphasize online collaboration and sharing.
- SBA Honors Montana's Top Small Businesses & Advocates, 5/4, Bozeman
Outstanding small business owners and advocate champions from across the state will be honored in various categories for their achievements and contributions to Montana’s economy.
- Summit Aeronautics of Helena, Montana grows to meet commercial, defense contracting needs
Summit does precision machining work on aluminum and titanium parts of several aircraft, including contracting with both Lockheed and Boeing for various pieces on the F-22 fighter jets.
Montana Biotech
- Shaping Market Square - Affordable Housing an integral part of how we want to see this area of Missoula developed
“Missoula alone cannot solve Montana’s affordable housing crisis,” and says the MHA is hard at work building new housing here, but unless other Montana communities succeed at it too, their residents may end up on Missoula’s waiting list. He says the 450 units MHA has added over the last five years constitute “more than any housing authority in the state, and more than every housing authority in the state combined.”
- "Reinstating A Train Route Across Southern Montana", 4/10, Helena
High gas prices and frustrations with airlines are sending people to the train.
- Activists look to add passenger rail through Missoula
Reinstating that defunct route is a topic for discussion at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Governor's Reception Room at the state Capitol in Helena.
- Missoula Housing Authority considers legal action on denial of affordable housing tax credits
The stakes were high for the Missoula housing agency, which already invested at least $3 million toward creating a mixed-use development on Russell Street. The development needed $4.7 million in tax-credit equity to help provide 36 units of affordable rentals on a small portion of the land.
- Development Council selects Growth Through Agriculture projects ~ Next Application Deadline is April 30, 2007
"We had an excellent and diverse group of applicants, including projects using new technology and the expansion of existing businesses through marketing and equipment upgrades," said Nancy K. Peterson, director of the Montana Department of Agriculture.
- Urban areas pace Montana growth
Larry Swanson, director of the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West at the University of Montana, said there has been a lot of talk about growth in a few energy-rich counties in Eastern Montana, but the real story is the continued growth of the "urban counties."
- Wheeler Center hosts Montana affordable housing forum May 17-18 in Missoula. Missoula Housing Authority considers legal action over denial of funding for affordable housing project
Affordable housing has become nonexistent in Bigfork because the community’s well-off residents don’t want it here, a local advocate charges.
Funding and Building your Business
- Dr. Irving Weissman, Stanford University "Stem Cell Research And The Future", 4/20, Bozeman, MT
Weissman graduated from Montana State College in 1961 and received an honorary doctorate from MSU in 1992. He holds multiple professorships at Stanford University in pathology, developmental biology, neurosurgery and biological sciences.
Legislative Newsletters
- Innovation must be a process, not a result
Even the most impressive breakthrough eventually becomes mundane, with all producers offering more or less identical versions of the same item and competing largely on the basis of price: Innovation runs its course, and the thing becomes a commodity.
- Google brain drain? The best and the richest could cash options - and quit
Google's story is also a case study of how companies must learn to manage overnight millionaires who think more like "volunteers" because they're no longer motivated primarily by pay and can quit at any moment.
- Netflix or Netflex? Flex time works for Net startup
When it comes to vacation, Netflix Inc. has a simple policy: Take as much as you'd like. Just make sure your work is done.
Regional Economic Development
- Man of the dirt: Montana Senator Jon Tester rolls up his sleeves to keep Big Sandy farm in the family
“When you are running tractor, you can actually clear your mind,” he explains. “You get the chance to work through stuff. It's kind of like doing math problems three or four or five different ways, just because you can.”
Utah Economic Development
- Nearly $128 Million Available for Telemedicine and Distance Education in Rural Communities. Will the funds actually go to rural communities? Sen. Baucus thinks it's outrageous when they don't.
"Telemedicine and distance learning are the foundation on which the quality of education and health care in rural America can and will improve," Dorr said via a video teleconference with health care providers in five states over a USDA-financed telemedicine network. "With these systems in place, rural residents will be able to take advantage of the wide variety of health care services and education programs available now and into the future."
- Vancouver, Seattle mull joint work on tourism. Groups look to promote new high-profile events
Maybe the two largest cities in the Pacific Northwest can combine forces to bid on and stage a one-time internationally recognized event such as a world's fair, a Summer Olympic Games or the World Cup soccer tournament.
- Major solution to global warming - Urban planning and transit-oriented development
The solutions to global warming are found in modern urban planning and zoning and three little words: Transit Oriented Development. Build well-designed, affordable housing within walking distance of efficient mass transit, and the air-fouling traffic jams will unclog themselves. Better yet, build well-designed, affordable housing within walking distance of jobs, schools and retail, and car use will plummet.
- Innovative local entrepreneurship programs in the Northwest including case studies of initiatives in Minnesota, Montana (The Montana Fund), North Dakota, and Iowa.
This study has created a powerful sense of how continued entrepreneurship efforts in the Northwest can be the font of real change for rural families and their communities.
- Digital Prosperity: Understanding the Economic Benefits of the Information Technology Revolution
This report examines the impact of IT in five key areas: 1) productivity; 2) employment; 3) more efficient markets; 4) higher quality goods and services; and 5) innovation and new products and services.
- Reports from the New Partners for Smart Growth conference
The 2007 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference in Los Angeles, California, hosted record attendance of over 1500 people from across the country for three full days of presentations, discussions, and information sharing.
Government Technology
- Rural agency offering grants and loans to Utah businesses to produce renewable energy or make energy-saving improvements
Grants can be used to cover up to 25 percent of a project's cost and can be combined with the guaranteed loan program to further lower the cost of a variety of energy projects.
Idaho Business
- Montana lets drivers check records on Internet
''We're trying to make it more convenient for the public to access documents they should be able to access,''
Washington State Business
- Ketchum, Idaho Community Development Corporation Executive Director Tom Hudson poised to make a difference, despite naysayers
It's the first time in 30 years Ketchum has had significant drive toward solving many longstanding social and economic conundrums, but there are still dissenting voices that threaten to derail this mounting momentum.
Wyoming Business
- Top 25 Law Firms in Washington State
Ranked by number of attorneys in Washington
Government
- Wyoming wind advocates feel rush to build
Wyoming's next energy boom could ride in on the wind.
- Wyoming drawing interest of wind power investors
"The Wyoming Legislature, and in particular Gov. Dave Freudenthal, have done a stellar job of planning and executing new transmission out of Wyoming," Bruce Morley said. "The Wyoming Infrastructure Authority has been a leader in that."
Other Economies
- Polling the Populace
Citizen surveys are an increasingly popular tool for soliciting feedback on policies, programs and priorities.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Community College Foundation to launch $1M fund for tech startups
Companies offering a new high-tech product or a new use of existing technology would be eligible to receive grants smaller than $100,000. The average grant likely would be between $25,000 and $50,000, Mr. Knechtges estimated.
- Arizona Ideas: Policies from A to Z for a Livable and Competitive State describes 26 public policy ideas that have made a difference in the state.
In an A-Z format, this publication highlights a wide variety of ideas that have served the state in one way or another.
- Enriching Arizona's Knowledge Economy
The primary goal of the research is to train the next generation of scientists and engineers, discover new scientific processes, and develop new applied technologies that will help Arizona become more competitive in the global knowledge economy.
Incubators and R&D
- Tracking Down a Tune - "Melodis"
A new website is tackling a tough problem: searching for songs based on hums.
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- Collaboration formed here to work on research for ISM. Companies, experts to look at bio-, medical informatics in Spokane, WA
Medical informatics weds information science and medical and health-care knowledge to improve the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of health and biomedicine information.
- “Expanding the R&D Tax Credit to Drive Innovation, Competitiveness and Prosperity”
“If the United States is to remain the world’s preeminent location for technological innovation (and the high paying jobs that result), Congress will need to significantly expand the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit.”
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- Montana Senator Max Baucus donates 25 computers to the "Computers for Schools Program".
25 computers from his office to be used by students at Libby, Lodge Grass, Poplar and Browning high schools.
- "Classrooms for the Future" to help "out-innovate" using technology to ensure our students are ready for the jobs of the future."
Through Innovation America, governors are working to raise standards, strengthen curriculum, improve teaching and motivate more students to pursue careers in science and technology."
Careers
- "Amber Waves" The importance of the “creative class” for rural growth.
Some rural areas can generate economic growth by attracting people in creative occupations who value natural amenities.
Non-Profit News
- A Memorable Cover Letter Will Boost Your Chances
The longer your experience, the shorter and more direct your cover letter.
- The Future of Leadership - 4 I.T. Managers Leading From The Middle
"As IT professionals, it's really important to understand the content area we work in with as much depth as possible," he says. "You need to understand the non-IT processes you are working to support, so you can play a positive, efficient role in the process."
Energy
- Students create programs to get out the word, Nonprofits benefit from marketing efforts that would be unaffordable
"The students make a connection. It's an aspect of the program that I'm really proud of. The students have something to be proud of, too."
- 'Voluntourism' becomes popular
Vacations with humanitarian focus can be satisfying
Making the Most of the American Prairie
- Shedding light on bulb-shopping
Some compact fluorescent light bulbs may not be right for a consumer's purpose, so it helps to do a little research before making any purchase.
- Next task: 'Repairing' the climate "Are you part of the problem or are you contributing to the solution?"
"It's clear that the heart of climate change issues has shifted … to figuring out what we can do to reduce the impact,"
- The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to Offer $100 Million to Deal With Global Warming
“It has decided to take a path that should have a disproportionate impact, to sponsor the analysis and research to shape policy,”
- Chicago Climate Exchange welcomes carbon credits from Montana's farmers
The practice, which is voluntary, is an attempt to try a market-based approach to reducing carbon dioxide.
- Virginia Gov. Kaine Includes Telecommuting, Energy-Star Rated Equipment in Energy-Saving Order
To reduce the environmental consequences of that level of energy consumption and save taxpayer dollars, I am directing state government to use proven and innovative conservation technologies and energy procurement processes."
- Agriculture Goes Vertical And Green
"Imagine a cluster of 30-story towers on Governors Island or in Hudson Yards producing fruit, vegetables, and grains while also generating clean energy and purifying wastewater. Roughly 150 such buildings, Despommier estimates, could feed the entire city of New York for a year. Using current green building systems, a vertical farm could be self-sustaining and even produce a net output of clean water and energy."
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Group aspires to energize prairie people
At the root of the institute's mission is giving people a greater sense of the beauty, wonder and uniqueness of prairie ecosystems. Using place-based education programs, the institute will attempt to foster a greater tie among educators, the community and the prairie.
- Better, More Accurate Image Search
By modifying a common type of machine-learning technique, researchers have found a better way to identify pictures.
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