Posts Tagged ‘Los Alamos National Laboratory’

Article courtesy of the NMSU News Center

By Janet Perez

The business of ensuring the nation’s security has evolved into a vast and intimidating industry, but that doesn’t mean entrepreneurs and innovative researchers are shut out of the field.

The 2011 National Security Technology Conference & Expo, hosted by New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Center, is committed to helping entrepreneurs and researchers create networks, get valuable advice about venture capital and log face time with representatives from some of the biggest names in national security.

“This conference and expo will provide a venue for technology entrepreneurs and researchers to network with and learn from federal agencies, contractors and venture capitalists,” said Garrey Carruthers, dean of the NMSU College of Business and vice president for economic development.

The conference, sponsored by the Arrowhead Technology Incubator in support of a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration, takes place Sept. 12 at the Las Cruces Convention Center, 680 E. University Ave.

Kathy Hansen, chief operating officer of the Arrowhead Center, said the conference aims to bring technologies being developed in labs to the attention of commercial ventures, as well as take technologies being developed by small businesses and expose them to potential customers.

One small business ready to make its National Security Technology Conference & Expo debut is the Navitus Group, a current client of the Arrowhead Technology Incubator. Josh Kauffman, the CEO and chief technology officer of Navitus, has developed a battery management system that is capable of handling high-current loads. The system also is constantly monitoring and maintaining the battery, which can make it stronger and increase performance.

With a booth at the expo, this is the first time Kauffman and Navitus are taking on the role of vendors.

“I’m usually on the other side – the guy walking around looking at other companies and their technologies,” he said. “The exposure and the clientele that are going to be walking through this conference are just too much not to be there.”

Small businesses will have booths at the expo alongside major entities, such as Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Hansen hopes small businesses and researchers in the region will take advantage of the exposure the expo offers as a way of bringing attention to their products.

“Many times, smaller businesses have a hard time knocking on the door and getting into DOD (Department of Defense) or DOE,” she said. “One speaker will talk about how DOD and DOE need to go to technology incubators such as Arrowhead in order to get access to those technologies being developed by small businesses.”

This year, the organizers of the National Security Technology Conference & Expo have opted to focus the event on the fields of cyber security, energy and aerospace.

“We tried to pick the areas that were the hottest topics, and energy is hot and certainly we have local businesses and researchers at NMSU involved in that,” Hansen said.

Also this year, a group of private investors and venture capitalists will be on hand to discuss what business sectors and technologies they are interested in funding.

“That’s very important, because a lot of ideas and technologies die for lack of that funding.” Hansen said. “Of course, the venture capitalists are usually later-stage funding. They are going to be funding technologies that look like they have near-term commercial potential.”

Kauffman understands all too well the importance of venture capital funding. His company already has received an initial investment of $200,000 and he credits the incubator at Arrowhead, particularly Chris Penner, director of business incubation, for helping him reach that milestone.

“I don’t have any doubt that the incubator has helped tremendously,” Kauffman said, “I think we would have gotten there eventually, but I think the incubator has accelerated that – and I’m talking accelerated by years.”

That statement underlines Hansen’s assertion that business incubators are a vital part of the economy.

“There is a much higher success rate for businesses that have been incubated than those that have not,” Hansen said. “Of course, our end goal is to grow the region, do economic development here and try to grow the number of jobs.”

For more information on attending or purchasing a booth at the 2011 National Security Technology Conference & Expo, visit arrowheadcenter.org.

The August meeting of the MVEDA Business on the Border Forum will be held on Tuesday, August 3, 2010 from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, 705 S. Telshor. The meeting will begin with a hot entree buffet followed by a brief update by MVEDA staff.

Leigh Schutzberger, Project Manager for the New Mexico Small Business Assistance Program, will be the featured speaker. The New Mexico Small Business Assistance (NMSBA) Program allows New Mexico small businesses facing technical or business challenges to access the unique expertise and capabilities at Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories.  NMSBA technical assistance projects are provided at no cost to the small businesses.  Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories operate NMSBA as a single program in partnership with the State of New Mexico.

Luncheon cost is $20.00 per person, payable by cash, check or major credit card. Due to space limitations, reservations are required. Please confirm your attendance no later than Thursday, July 29^th by sending an email to rsvp@mveda.com or by calling the office at (575) 525-2852. The meeting is open to the public.

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin

By Gabriel Vasquez

A spark of genius is returning to Las Cruces. The second annual Re-Energize America conference, slated for Thursday and Friday, June 3 and 4, will corral a group of national experts in the energy field to speak on various topics related to short-term planning for long-term energy independence. U.S. Representative Harry Teague is once again the program’s honorary chair.

“Developing a comprehensive energy plan that incorporates both traditional and renewable energy resources is critical in cementing southern New Mexico as a leader in the energy industry,” Teague said, announcing the event.

The two-day conference, to be held at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road, will offer attendees the opportunity to discuss domestic solutions to energy problems with leaders in government, industry and academia.  Job creation will be a focus of the conference.

“This has been one of my top priorities while in Congress, working with great organizations like NMSU to develop research and production programs that take advantage of our state’s unique resources,” Teague said.

According to the program’s agenda, the conference will go “beyond policy discussions,” with a distinct focus on how participants can help develop a short-term plan for long-term sustainability. Participants will listen to panelists speak about creating new energy jobs, jobs through investments in energy efficiency, the technology behind energy independence, new energy jobs for New Mexico, creating new energy entrepreneurs, new jobs in nuclear energy and the role of oil and gas during the transition. Active discussions will be held during panel sessions.

“Energy is one of the most important issues we’re faced with in this country,” said Abbas Ghassemi, director of NMSU’s Institute for Energy and the Environment, announcing the conference. “Energy availability, sustainability, delivery and impact on natural resources like water and reliable and dependable sources of energy are so significant to the sustenance of the way of life that we have.”

NMSU’s Institute for Energy & the Environment is sponsoring the conference with support from the Arrowhead Center’s PROSPER Project, International Relations Institute, Water Resources Research Institute and the College of Arts and Sciences.

At last year’s conference, the event featured an impressive lineup of speakers that included Steven Chu, U.S. secretary of energy; Dick Williams, president of Shell Wind; Diane Denish, lieutenant governor; Jeff Trucksess, president of Green Earth Fuels; Bob Gallagher, president of the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association; Paul Foster, CEO of Western Refining; and Tom Bowles, science advisor to Governor Bill Richardson.

“At Shell, we operate on three hard truths,” Williams said during last year’s conference. “One, our source of energy is going to die. Second, the easy-to-get stuff is gone. Third, anything we do has an environmental stress.”

Panelists and speakers this year include Barbara Couture, president of NMSU; Jim Ford, vice president of federal government affairs for ConocoPhillips; Jason Pyle, CEO of Sapphire Energy; Steve Fischmann, state senator; Russell Schmitt, president of CleanSwitch; Jon Goldstein, secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department; Jeff Bingaman, U.S. senator; Margie Tatro, director of Fuel and Water Systems for Sandia National Laboratories; and Arun Bose, program manager for the National Energy Technology Laboratory. Several other speakers from various sectors related to the energy industry are also slated to make an appearance.

The conference is free and open to the public, but registration is required and is limited to 400 participants. At last year’s conference, more than 400 showed up for the two-day event.

“We hope participants and audience members alike will participate in coming up with solutions,” Ghassemi said. “Solutions to these problems are very complex in nature. It is not as simple as coming up with a technology … to solve all the problems.

“(Attendees) will be able to participate in developing a plan on how to go about achieving energy independence. We cannot come up with a solution that is forced down; it really needs to be a grassroots, working up as well as the highest level of our local, state and federal governmental policies that meet each other halfway.”

Other conference sponsors include ConocoPhillips, Lockheed Martin, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Sapphire Energy and the Carlsbad, N.M., Department of Development.

“We have not come close to reaching the limits of renewable energy technologies and now is the time to collaborate our efforts and resources,” Teague said. “Building off the success of last year’s conference, this year’s Re-Energize America will once again bring together policy, industry and academic experts and help move New Mexico’s energy future forward.”

For more information on the conference and to register, visit energize.nmsu.edu or call Karen Mikel at 646-2162 or Aggie Saltman at 646-9323.

On Monday, January 25, Governor Bill Richardson unveiled an interconnected system that will eventually link 33 sites around the state to Encanto, New Mexico’s Supercomputer.  Encanto is the fastest public supercomputer in the world. The Supercomputer, which is housed at Intel in Rio Rancho, can perform 172 trillion calculations per second.

The “Connect New Mexico” event connected all eight new gateway sites into the Supercomputer using its new teleconferencing capability. The sites are:

• The University of New Mexico
• New Mexico State University
• Eastern New Mexico
• Western New Mexico University
• New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
• Santa Fe Community College
• San Juan College
• The State Capitol

These sites will be utilized by the universities and local businesses that need high performance computing for design and modeling purposes. The Supercomputer can be used for research, educational activities, training, and business modeling in the areas of energy, environment, digital film, aerospace, and biotechnology, among others.

The founding institutions for the New Mexico Computing Applications Center, which runs the Supercomputer, are UNM, NMSU, New Mexico Tech, and Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.

For more information about the event and future Supercomputer gateways, see the Governor’s newsroom and the NMSU News Center.