The State with the Best Education Wins!
	MATR Newsletter - Fri Aug 10, 2007

This MATR newsletter sponsored by: Add an event... Upcoming Events Montana WIRED MAP Academy Registration, 8/14-16, Havre, MT Lean Manufacturing Workshop, 8/17. Kalispell MATR supporter: New Events Electric Racecar To Visit Missoula On U.S. Tour, 8/24-25, Missoula, MT Missoula Hempfest, 09/08, Missoula Defense Training Arms IT Professionals Against Cyber Threats, 9/10-13, Bozeman, MT TCI Global Competitiveness Conference - Focus On Rural Clusters, 10/8-12, Portland, OR 2007 National Rural Entrepreneurial Gathering, 11/1-3, Fairfield, Iowa MATR supporter: MATR Web services provided by: To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page

If you are a Psychiatrist or know of one who would like to live and practice in one of the most beautiful communities in the U.S., please consider this great opportunity. - Montana Career Opportunity - Psychiatrist - Missoula, Montana http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html

Missoula and Western Montana were honored to host the annual meeting of the Council on Foundations due to the efforts of Sen. Max Baucus to raise the visibility of the need for a greater focus on rural non-profit needs to national foundations. Here are some of the stories and papers from the conference: http://matr.net/news.p ... +News

Come Home Montana

• Montana Career Opportunities - Various Positions - Project WET
  Project WET is currently hiring


• Sidney, Montana business manager makes right contacts to help supply U.S. military
  Johnson Hardware and Furniture and its manager Bob Hutchens epitomize the things that make living in a small town so great.


• Montana Career Opportunities - Refinery Operator(s) 4, Mill Operator(s). 6, Material Handler(s) 3 - Sustainable Systems, Inc.
  Join the renewable energy, biobased product and food manufacturing leaders in Montana.


• Montana Career Opportunity - Cost/Fixed Asset Accountant - GlaxoSmithKline
  Opportunity available in Hamilton, MT Cutting edge science driving the discovery of new medicine.


• Montana Career Opportunity - Accountant - Yellowstone National Park
  ACCOUNTING/FT, year round position with the Yellowstone Assoc., in Yellowstone Park.


• Montana Career Opportunity - Logistics Coordinator - GT Solar, Inc.
  Main aspect of position will be arranging the transportation of capital equipment from several locations worldwide to GT's customers in Asia and Europe.


• Montana Career Opportunity -- Lead Technician/Web Specialist - Bozeman
  


• Ennis, Montana welcomes new doctor. Community now has 2.
  “We now have a team of two physicians and two mid-level providers. That seems to be a comfortable number that works well covering all the services we offer while handling the needs of the community,”


• Montana Career Opportunity - Psychiatrist - Missoula, Montana
  Health-care providers who agree to work full time in a federally designated health-shortage area may qualify for up to $25,000 in loan forgiveness for their first two years, Schroeck explained. HPSA designations may also make it easier, through a special visa program, to attract foreign-born physicians looking for work in the United States.

Come Home Washington

• When Loggers Become Bloggers - Forks, Washington
  But Forks would dearly like to acquire a modest share of Seattle’s genius for spinning money in cyberspace. After the extreme rancor of the divorce proceedings, here are potential grounds for amicable reconciliation.


• Washington State Career Opportunity - Grants Administrator - The Life Sciences Discovery Fund
  The grants administrator will manage aspects of a grants portfolio of approximately $35 million per year and will be responsible for information management regarding LSDF’s grant administration processes.

Come Home Wyoming

• Wyoming Community Development Authority hires David Haney as new executive director
  Haney said he was attracted to the WCDA position because of the professional challenge it offers and because it afforded him an opportunity to be closer to Colorado, where he grew up.

Developing Tech Jobs in Rural Communities

• The Internet vs. The Automobile. "Place" becomes more important.
  "The more we live and work in cyberspace, the more important real place becomes." John M. Eger

Funding and Building your Business

• Stanford Technology Ventures Program - New Podcasts for the Summer including Steve Young and Mariss Mayer of Google.
  There are well worth your time....


• If you're looking for referrals, use these ideas as a reference
  What makes a referral so attractive and desirable is that it is, for the most part, a warm lead.


• Venture Capital Firms Set Their Sights on New Ideas -- Not New Technologies
  In today's venture capital environment, ideas are valued more highly than innovative technology.


• Leading for the Next Act: Why CEOs Must Evolve or Step Aside
  The secret to long-term CEO success, suggests David Nadler, a consultant to boards and senior executives, is conceiving of a CEO's tenure as a performance with a series of distinct acts.


• Clicks that stick: Re-targeting users that leave your website
  Ninety-eight percent of Internet shoppers leave ecommerce sites without buying, which is why Internet-savvy marketers are starting to use re-targeting technology to pursue customers who have left their website, and to recapture lost sales.


• Web Site Puts the 'Vent' Into Venture Capital - "TheFunded"
  With TheFunded, "entrepreneurs finally get to strike back,"


• The Right and Wrong Way To Critique Employees
  In "6 Habits of Highly Effective Bosses," executive coaches Stephen Kohn and Vincent O'Connell offer five strategies for delivering effective, even-handed critiques:


• Reading Up on Patents And Intellectual Property
  As the pace of innovation quickens, patent filings are booming -- and so are patent battles. Here's where to learn the latest.

Education

• Guest column: Dropping Montana SAT scores show something isn't working
  Montana's slippage is not new. It dates to the 1980s, and I first identified the trend in an article published in 1992. The state's education bureaucracy admits the general trend, but has never satisfactorily explained the cause.


• Education 2.0: Prepare for a Career That Works
  Pick wisely and you'll be well-positioned for work life by the time you graduate. Here are some of the fastest-growing jobs and how you can prepare yourself for them by graduation day.


• Why Children Must Be a Priority in the 2008 Elections
  The Every Child Matters Education Fund's new document, Homeland Insecurity Why Children Must Be a Priority in the 2008 Presidential Campaign, is a 20 page report which makes the case for new investments in children, youth and families.


• Education 2.0: Top Online Learning Resources
  Want an education? Open up a browser. With the information available online, you could probably get a complete education without ever leaving your house.


• Board of Education approves U of I Sandpoint campus
  Sandpoint, Idaho is officially a college town.

University TechTransfer

• From laboratory to market- Two UW graduate students work to market a pill alternative to colonoscopies
  If two University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate students have their way, the much dreaded screening test for colon cancer will be as simple as taking two pills and turning on a pager.


• IU sees record increase in patent applications, start-up businesses
  The increase is likely the result of stepped-up university efforts to encourage its researchers to develop their academic work with an eye for the market.

Connectivity & Communications

• Hide Your E-mail Address from Spam Bots
  No matter how hard you try, your address may get nabbed by human harvesters, people who are paid to collect otherwise uncollectable e-mail addresses on the web. Beware these evil drones.


• Prototype Internet device fails FCC test
  The government gave a failing grade to a prototype device that Microsoft, Google, Dell and other technology companies said would beam high-speed Internet service over unused television airwaves.

Incubators and R&D

• On the horizon: News from the frontiers of science
  The largest exoplanet is discovered, reviving ancient frozen bacteria, new findings about primitive man.

Regional Business

• Carbon cowboys
  Storing, or "sequestering," CO2 is a new market, and one that could prove profitable for agriculture.

The Creative and Cultural Economy

• Helena, Montana shows how to do arts in small town
  “The arts are being focused on in the three-day conference as part of what’s important about rural America,” said Linda Reed of the Montana Community Foundation http://www.mtcf.org/.

Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana

• State by State Venture Capital Investments in Q2 2007. Goose Egg for Montana
  A little more venture money (1.5%) financing a lot more deals (25%) highlights the second quarter Money Tree report. But the batting order remains the same with California and Massachusetts batting clean-up while the usual bench warmers await a chance to get to play:

Montana Business

• Treasury secretary Paulson visits Billings, Montana: Rural jobs vital to economy
  Sen. Baucus lamented the country's growing wage disparity , saying Montana was "at the bottom of the barrel" in per-capita income. He warned Republicans and Democrats are on a "collision course" over administration-sponsored tax cuts set to expire in 2010.


• WaterColor, LLC and intraLogix are teaming up to provide a number of SQL Server courses here in Missoula this fall.
  We believe this makes it easy for local IT administrators, project managers, and controllers to get the core skills needed to work efficiently with SQL Server databases.

Montana Economic Development

• Montana University System Expands Workforce Training Opportunities
  The funds will help develop more than thirty new and existing programs and enhance training opportunities in the industries of healthcare, construction, information technology, and more.


• Fortune 500 firm scopes out Billings for possible new operations center
  Joe McClure, the executive director of the Big Sky Economic Development Authority, said the people he met with two weeks ago would say only that they represent a Fortune 500 company and that Billings is one of three Montana cities being considered for a new operation.


• Gov. Schweitzer is betting Montana’s future–and just maybe his own–on clean coal. Why is nobody buying it?
  “The largest single producer of carbon dioxide in the United States is coal-fired power plants, like the ones at Colstrip,” says University of Montana climate scientist Steve Running, one of the lead authors of the recent International Panel on Climate Change report. “So…from a climate point of view—not taking into account any economics—the best thing you can do is close down coal plants all over the country as soon as possible.”

Oregon Business

• Oregon enjoys a VC surge
  Oregon attracted $173 million in VC funds from January through June, according to data out today from PricewaterhouseCoopers & the National Venture Capital Association. That's 2.3 times the $76 million Oregon startups landed in the first half of '06.

Regional Economic Development

• Community-Based Funding Opportunity - 100 Best Communities for Young People
  The 100 Best Communities for Young People is an annual competition which recognizes outstanding community-wide efforts that improve the well-being of youth.


• Marketing Western beauty. Study touts outdoor recreation as key to economic longevity
  Western counties that rely on timber, coal mining and oil and gas drilling at the expense of natural beauty are trading short-term gain for an economy that could rely on hunting, fishing, tourism and attracting affluent residents from other parts of the country.

Idaho Business

• Boise firm, Lucky Bums, in running as Forbes contest finalist. Vote Early - Vote Often!
  But to make it to the finals, the company, which specializes in children's skiing and snowboarding safety equipment, needs people to vote for them on the Forbes magazine Web site at: http://www.forbes.com/byb/byb07_luckybums.html


• A Mustang P-51 roars above Jerome, Idaho. Airpower Unlimited
  Experiencing history drew Lane Jr., the founder of Airpower Unlimited http://www.airpowerunlimited.com/ , to World War II airplane restoration more than 25 years ago. The senior John Lane flew his P-38 Lightning in the Pacific Theater to ace status by downing at least five enemy fighters.

Washington State Business

• 4 Washington State venture firms give startup, illumita, a vote of confidence
  "It really is a game-changing technology," said Brad Silverberg, formerly a top Microsoft executive and a founder of Ignition Partners, which joined Madrona Venture Group, Bezos Expedition and Washington Research Foundation in the financing round to be announced today.

Other Economies

• Efforts to pitch Wisconsin business need a fresh approach
  The next state budget, which is now being hammered out in Madison, should not shortchange the need for targeted business attraction, especially when the importance of such marketing is not lost on neighboring states.

Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)

• TechniScan Medical receives $1.66 million in second-phase SBIR funding
  TechniScan Medical Systems Inc., a Salt Lake-based developer of ultrasound technology for breast imaging, said Tuesday it has received a continuation of its Small Business Innovation Research funding from the National Cancer Institute.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

• Wow site for animation..... Animator vs. Animation
  For all of you who'd like to see what's possible with web animation.... here's a very entertaining site

Montana Education/Business Partnerships

• Qwest Supports Montana Media Arts with $10,000 Grant
  "We are pleased to support MAPS' initiatives for a second year," said David Gibson, Qwest president for Montana. "Qwest is committed to education in Montana, and this organization gives us a unique opportunity to make a difference in the lives of students interested in learning about communications technology."

Careers

• Job-Search Expert Revises His Advice for the Unemployed
  Mr. Birkel has gleaned powerful insights into how best to cope with unemployment. The most important: Don't let anger stall your search.

Non-Profit News

• Johnson & Johnson offering Grant Opportunities to Underserved Communities - Arts to enhance the healthcare experience
  Johnson & Johnson (J&J) working in conjunction with the Society for the Arts in Healthcare (SAH), seeks to promote the use of the arts to enhance the healthcare experience for patients, their families and caregivers.


• "Rural America Must Be Philanthropic Priority", Says Speakers" at Conference in Missoula, Montana
  “Rural communities that are trying to go it alone and not focusing on a regional strategy are pretty much doomed to failure.”


• Correcting and Replacing: Rural Nonprofits Must Overcome Significant Hurdles to Attract Funding
  Report studies disparity in giving between urban and rural nonprofits, suggests ways to bridge gap


• Rural Philanthropy-Update on Foundation Giving to Rural Communities
  The attention of Senator Baucus to the rural, to the philanthropic divide, promises to increase the attention of the philanthropic world to rural needs. I anticipate good things.


• Small-Town Philanthropy- Charities, grant makers, and politicians seek more support for rural causes
  When it comes to foundation assets, few states rank lower than Montana.


• Council on Foundations conference in Missoula, Montana focuses on rural giving
  “We're so proud of them,” said Reed, whose organization (Montana Community Foundation) was one of three co-sponsors for the conference. “In terms of being able to showcase good work in Montana, we've done that very well.”

Montana Education Excellence

• Sign up now for Montana State University online science courses
  The courses are designed to help elementary, secondary and community college teachers develop a deeper understanding of science concepts while interacting with and learning new techniques from other teachers around the globe. Some are open to non-teaching professionals.


• Montana State University hosts unique program on carbon sequestration
  Future thinkers and leaders in the field of carbon dioxide capture and sequestration have been getting an intensive and broad-ranging tutorial on the subject at Montana State University for the past two weeks.

Community

• Montana HOME 2nd round applications announced
  The second round is open to Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs) only. During this second round, projects within the entitlement cities of Great Falls, Billings, and Missoula are also eligible.

VIRUS ALERTS

• Storm Worm Attack Shifts To Malicious Web Pages
  Storm worm attacks have always come in the form of massive e-mail campaigns, but researchers have spotted the attackers creating malicious Web sites.

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