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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Feb 3, 2012 |
"You must do the things you think you cannot do." -Eleanor Roosevelt
Montana University System to Seek Input on Renaming of Colleges of Technology - Online Survey will Provide Regents with Public Feedback on Historic Initiative http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Globalization Partners International
Montana Department of Commerce
- Twitter in Arabic and Right-to-Left Languages
Twitter finally is stepping into the right-to-left languages including the Arabic Language, Farsi, Urdu and Hebrew.
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- Montana SBDC Network Highlights February 2012
Top 5 Reasons to Work with an SBDC in 2012
Missoula BarCamp
- Benefits of Early Education Persist at Age 30
"When we previously revisited them as young adults at age 21, we found that the children who had received the early educational intervention were more likely to go to college; now we know they were also more likely to make it all the way through and graduate."
- $3M gaming project could help spark STEM education
Part of the grant's purpose will be to change the way that science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) topics are traditionally taught in secondary schools.
- Pedometer wristband motivates schoolchildren to be active
What makes MOVband different is that it is available to schools as part of loan program, which could encourage a far wider uptake of the device.
MSU Leadership Institute & UM Global Leadership Initiative
- 5th Annual Missoula BarCamp, 4/13-14, Missoula, Montana
BarCamp puts you in charge of the conversation for creating, contributing, and connecting. YOU are the right people. What, Where, How, Missoula?
Come Home Montana
- UM Student Conference To Focus On 'The Many Faces Of Leadership', 2/25, Missoula
The 2012 conference is rooted in the social-change model and will focus on the many faces of leadership. Participants will leave feeling empowered to use their leadership resources to be effective, personal leaders with a global perspective.
Warren Miller Freedom Foundation
- Montana Career Opportunities - Staff Accountant - Sr. Crystal Growth Technician - Technical Sales Engineer - Lattice Materials
If you want to join a company that takes pride in each individual's workmanship and expertise, where we celebrate the achievements of the team as a team, and share the successful performance of the company, we are interested in you!
- Ingomar, Montana's fortune
Today, no one in Ingomar knows what "Ingomar" means.
Montana Business
- The Secret to Raising Entrepreneurial Kids
What are your strategies for raising entrepreneurial kids?
Bill Payne
- A Blueprint for America: American Manufacturing - Wood's Powr-Grip in Laurel, Montana
Wood's Powr-Grip http://www.powrgrip.com employs 80 people at its facility in Laurel, Montana.
- SBA Kicks Off Emerging Montana Leaders Initiative for 2012
"Over the last few years Emerging Leaders has helped expand opportunities for many promising small businesses in underserved communities - in particular those that have been most impacted by these tough economic times," SBA Administrator Karen Mills said.
- New Co-Working site being developed at Missoula's Buttercup Market and Cafe - Your input is requested
We would like to develop the upstairs as a coworking site and would love to have your input and approval so that we could be considered an official Coworking site.
- Oracle plans 'aggressive' investment in Bozeman, Montana's RightNow
"I want you to know you're in good hands. I'd say great hands," Mark Hurd told investors, customers and the public in an hour-long webcast. "This is a big deal for us... and we're going to invest in this."
- Lattice Materials - High Tech Manufacturing Company Helps Bozeman Economy - Careers Available
It's a global business with a network of sales reps around the world but managers came to Bozeman for a reason.
- Solar panels set to be installed at Ravalli Entrepreneurship Center thanks to NorthWestern Energy and Sunelco
In 2010, NorthWestern provided $1.5 million in grants for renewable projects and research and development, said the company's spokesperson Claudia Rapkoch.
Careers
- Follow-on Funding: A Dilemma for Angel Investors
Frankly, the conclusion that angels who make follow-on investments can expect lower returns is distressing to me.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- 15 Mind-Bending Interview Questions That Every Google Engineer Can Answer
Check out these crazy problems for Google's technical geniuses
- Computer Coding: Not for Geeks Only - Codecademy
Free online courses are instructing non-techies in JavaScript and other coding and design of Web apps
- Do the Job You're Meant to Do
Next time you're given an "offer you can't refuse," ask yourself if it will place you squarely in your sweet spot. If it won't, you know what to do.
Funding and Building your Business
- Angel investor tax credit reaps rewards
"One hundred thousand (dollars) was really too high (a threshold)," said Rooke, who is on the Autotether board. "We wanted to tap the individual angels in Connecticut so they could invest.
Incubators and R&D
- SBA Kicks Off Emerging Leaders Initiative for 2012, Maintains Focus on Underserved Communities - (Helena, Montana)
The eight-month training includes approximately 100 hours of classroom time per participant and provides the opportunity for small business owners to work with experienced mentors, attend workshops and develop connections with their peers, city leaders, and financial communities.
- How To Avoid Hiring The Wrong Person For Your Startup
Startup owners rarely have dedicated HR staff, software tools or a hiring process that will take some of the risk out of hiring.
- Why You Should Ditch Your Annual Budget
Entrepreneurs need to be quick on their feet, able to adapt their businesses to the ebb and flow of an evolving marketplace.
- Scaling a Business by Cloning Yourself is Tough
Do what you know and what you love.
- Entrepreneur, Sell Yourself
So how can you figure out which tactics will work best for you?
- 3 magical VC pitch questions
The following that are three questions which I frequently ask that attempt to raise the level of discussion beyond that of a typical pitch and break the mold of a "typical VC meeting":
- Social Media is a Boon to Startups Who Do It Right
Five key social media mistakes that I often see
- Hiring Contractors Without Getting Into Trouble
The government has been cracking down on companies that treat workers as contractors for wage, tax and benefit purposes but as employees when it comes to their work duties.
- What Makes An Awesome Board Member?
Here are my top 5 things that make an awesome Board member, and my interview/vetting process for Board members.
- How to Find the 'Star Performer' in Every Employee
Ten strategies to leverage conversations into game-changing moments for team members and your company.
- No More Angling for the Best Seat; More Meetings Are Stand-Up Jobs
Stand-up meetings are part of a fast-moving tech culture in which sitting has become synonymous with sloth. The object is to eliminate long-winded confabs where participants pontificate, play Angry Birds on their cellphones or tune out.
- Startup Lessons From 17 Hard-Hitting Quotes In "Moneyball"
We're going to change the game.
Montana Education Excellence
- University of Wyoming professor helps create 'monster' silk
Within the next year or two, researchers say, silkworms could be producing 100 percent spider silk to be used in everything from stronger underwear to artificial tendons to body armor.
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- Montana Teachers in Hard-to-Fill Positions Eligible for Student Loan Repayment Program
"It is important that we do what we can in this economy to keep good teachers in our rural schools, especially in areas like career and technical education and special education which are difficult to fill," said Superintendent Juneau. "Identifying these shortage areas helps us recruit the right people for the right places."
- Branding session shows UM has to overcome liberal image
"As a researcher, I want to know why they call it a tree-hugger school. That's probably not what President (Royce) Engstrom wants his brand to be."
- Montana's Senator Baucus wants money continued for rural schools
These are the last payments counties will receive unless the program is reauthorized.
- Montana University System to Seek Input on Renaming of Colleges of Technology - Online Survey will Provide Regents with Public Feedback on Historic Initiative
"Mission expansion is the driving force behind the renaming of our Colleges of Technology in Montana. Through the College!NOW imitative, our objective is to make two-year higher education in Montana better coordinated, better understood, and as a result, better utilized statewide," said Cech.
- Montana higher ed chief pushes campus cooperation
"It needs to move forward in terms of how it benefits the state and is something new and unique."
- The future of two-year education in your community
What do a single mother of two, an unemployed construction worker and a medical office employee have in common? They are all real-life examples of the students seeking a brighter future for themselves and their families through Gallatin College Programs, your local two-year college.
Regional Business
- Montana State University research VP Tom McCoy credits school for helping construction industry through tough times
MSU is the largest research institution in Montana, spending more than $100 million a year for the past several years.
University Business Plan Competitions
- All States Should Have a Made in (Fill in name of state here) Product List - Bozeman, Montana, Anders Lewendal hopes home he's building will be a blueprint for creating jobs in America.
An ABC News online report tells the story of a contractor in Bozeman, Montana, Anders Lewendal, who is building a home he hopes will be a blueprint for creating jobs in America.
- EDA grant for manufacturers
In order to qualify, a company must demonstrate that their business has been negatively impacted by foreign competition.
- Denver Health Becomes Profitable After Using Toyota as a Template - Lean manufacturing has made Denver Health a model for public health care.
One co-worker, Gabow recalls, took her aside and told her it was "the craziest idea I've ever heard."
Idaho Business
- Entrepreneur Contests Take Practical Turn
Less planning, more legwork. That's the formula some business schools are using to overhaul the competitions they conduct each year to test their students' mettle as entrepreneurs.
North Dakota Business and Economic Development
- Idaho's iGem program - Increasing the state's knowledgeÂ-based economy
Successful implementation of iGem strategies will increase the research capacity of Idaho's universities in strategic areas, develop a world-class talent pool, and develop dynamic consortium of industry, university and government partnerships.
- Idaho's Otter creates panel to push nuclear power
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has created a new panel to investigate how to keep the 63-year-old Idaho National Laboratory http://www.inl.gov and its nuclear energy mission alive and relevant.
Oregon Business
- University of Mary Uses North Dakota Economy to Recruit
Myron Schulz-U Mary Head Coach: we use it as a selling point, we talk about Mike Offerdahl and Roger Thomas and they're going to go out raising money and go to an area that's good and the state coffers are good, and there's lots of growth.
Utah Business
- Angel Oregon semifinalist hopes judges embrace his effort to create a new building material
Meyers says the material, which he has not yet named, could be used to replace Sheetrock and lumber as building materials, and it could be used to mix into concrete, instead of rock and sand.
Missoula Children's Theatre
- Governor Herbert stresses Utah's economic strength
"Government must create an environment where free enterprise can succeed and then get out of the way," said Herbert, when talking about his goal of 100,000 jobs to be created in the private sector in 1,000 days.
Government
- US Forest Service Partners with World-Renowned Missoula Children's Theatre for Performances in Virginia
The Missoula Children's Theatre International Tour is commissioned by schools and communities around the world to deliver a live performance to local children.
Community
- Attracting Skilled IT Workers to Public-Sector Jobs
There is once again fierce competition for IT employees with the right mix of skills.
Connectivity & Communications
- Sustainable is not enough: a call for regenerative cities
Because so much damage has already been done to the world's ecosystems, and solutions need to be found to reverse it, the challenge today is no longer just to create sustainable cities but truly regenerative cities.
Energy and Climate Change
- FCC looking to help connect low-income homes to broadband
"This order is not only about increasing efficiency and eliminating waste," said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, "it is about beginning to modernize Lifeline from telephone service to broadband."
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- NASA: Global warming caused mostly by humans
Scientists have been refining calculations of the Earth's energy imbalance for years, but NASA researchers say their newest estimate is an improvement because they had access to better measurements of ocean temperature.
- Supercharged! Battery Power for the Future
Researchers are looking at the entire periodic table for new combinations of elements that can conduct and store electrons in smarter ways. And the sooner they find it, the sooner society can get off fossil fuels and use more sustainable energy sources.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Butte, Montana man starts 100 mph police chase to satisfy 'bucket list' wish
A police report says Hughes told officers he "just always wanted" to see what it would be like to be in a police chase. Officers say Hughes had not been drinking.
Government Technology
- Neuroscientists make headway turning thoughts into speech
Forget Siri, the iPhone voice program -- neuroscientists may someday have your brain babbling on the phone.
- Portable device to detect disease in 30 minutes
Cornell researchers will combine two inventions to develop a handheld detector that is able to quickly identify pathogens, such as tuberculosis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and HIV, even under harsh conditions like those that exist in developing countries.
Non-Profit News
- Raleigh, N.C., Drives Openness From All Angles
Open data and open source software could make Raleigh open for more business.
- Louisiana city blazes high-speed Web trail
More than 800 miles of fiber-optic cable hum invisibly underground in Lafayette, a city of 120,000, delivering Internet speeds of up to 100 megabytes per second -- rare for even major cities. The cutting-edge connectivity in the heart of Cajun country is due not to a private telecom giant but to a public municipal service that offers higher speeds and often lower rates than the private sector.
Transportation
- Spotlight on Association Leadership: 3 invaluable skills to learn by 2020
Association leaders must become more sophisticated in their understanding of what data does or does not represent.
- Great Falls Airport Authority boosts incentives for landing new low-cost air carrier
Airport Director John Faulkner said he has met with officials of two low-cost Western airlines, Frontier and Southwest, and is hopeful one of them could announce in the next two or three weeks that it is adding Great Falls to its summer flight schedule.
- Wireless power could revolutionize highway transportation, Stanford researchers say
The long-term goal of the research is to develop an all-electric highway that wirelessly charges cars and trucks as they cruise down the road.
- House Bill Would Gouge Rural Transit
The move would leave transit funding levels in doubt and reverse a system that has been in place since Ronald Reagan was president.
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