Published: 05.29.2008

2 tech groups based in Tucson area and Phoenix plan to merge

By Jack Gillum

The Tucson area’s biggest high-tech cluster group will merge with the Phoenix-based Arizona Technology Council, the groups plan to announce today.

The combination of the Aerospace, Manufacturing and Information Technology Cluster (known as AMIT) of Southern Arizona with the Arizona Technology Council will create a larger pool of resources for statewide tech companies, officials said. AMIT is Southern Arizona’s largest technology-industry group, and it serves as a central voice for 800 companies in the area. It was formed in 2005 with the merger of the Southern Arizona Industry and Aerospace Association and the Information Technology Association of Southern Arizona.

The latest merger, effective Sunday, will move Justin Williams, the executive director of AMIT, to the head of a newly formed Arizona Technology Council Tucson (ATC) office at the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park.

Published: 05.26.2008

Mars landing ‘perfect’; images elate scientists

UA contingent takes control from NASA

By Aaron Mackey

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

With a flawless landing under its belt, the UA-led Phoenix Mars lander unfurled its solar wings Sunday evening and captured unprecedented images of the planet’s fractured polar tundra — signs experts say point to a subsurface filled with ice.

Capping off what University of Arizona scientists and engineers called a historic day for the UA, mission planners in Tucson took control of the Phoenix Mars Mission a few hours after the spacecraft touched down.

The UA team planned to work overnight to decide what tasks to have the lander do today, as it prepares to begin digging beneath the soil to analyze ice and determine if Mars ever had a climate suitable for life.

Published: 05.25.2008

Federal contracts worth far more to AZ than earmarks

By Daniel Scarpinato

Congressional earmarks have gotten a lot of public scrutiny and attention over the past two years. But they account for only a fraction of federal money pouring into Southern Arizona.

It’s actually federal contracts that are funneling billions — rather than just millions — into local corporations and government entities, making Arizona one of the top states to receive such funding.

Arizona ranks 13th out of the 50 states when it comes to the value of federal contracts awarded last year, with about $10 billion.

By comparison, earmarks requested by the state’s congressional delegation brought in far less, at roughly $118 million.

Published: 05.20.2008

Tucson firm maps Earth and resources

By Jack Gillum

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Businesses can now use Google Maps for more than finding directions to the next client meeting.

Tucson-based Earth Knowledge Inc., founded in 2003 as an environmental-consulting company, now offers a new set of planning tools: in-depth data that the government already collects, overlaid on top of Google-made maps used by many today on the Internet.

Last month, Earth Knowledge launched its new Web site, giving customers access to information about the Earth and its resources.

Using GIS — or geographic information systems — is not new; scientists and researchers have done so for years. But the process usually requires expensive mapping software and extensive expertise to make sense of often-voluminous data.

Research in the desert paying off in the stars

UA scientists have had big role in space exploration

ALAN FISCHER

Published: 05.20.2008

The eyes of the world will focus on the University of Arizona as the Phoenix Mars Lander mission arrives on the distant planet Sunday.

The UA-led mission, which will seek evidence of water and elements of life on Mars by analyzing soil and ice samples scooped from the planet’s northern arctic region, caps a nearly five-decade history of space science at the school.

“The fact that Phoenix is based here is a pinnacle of the efforts that began in the 1960s,” said Melissa Lamberton, UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory historian and educational coordinator for the Phoenix mission.

Phoenix makes UA the first public university to lead a mission to Mars.

Published: 05.16.2008

$2.5M Brown endowment is inducement for faculty stars

By Stephanie Innes

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Thanks to a $2.5 million donation, the lead scientist on NASA’s Phoenix Mars Mission is ensured to remain at the University of Arizona for at least five more years.

UA senior researcher Peter H. Smith was named Thursday as the university’s first Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Chair in Integrative Science.

The post will rotate every five years to reward top faculty for “transformational achievements” in their respective fields.

“This doesn’t happen to many scientists. It’s just an honor. I’m just as pleased as can be,” Smith said Thursday.

Smith is the principal investigator of NASA’s Phoenix Mars Scout Mission, whose spacecraft is scheduled to land on the red planet May 25. The mission has drawn international attention because of its ability to verify the possible presence of water and habitable conditions in the Martian arctic.

Published: 05.13.2008

Sunquest posts $1.1M sale

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tucson-based Sunquest Information Systems Inc. announced three California hospitals affiliated with Sutter Health network have bought the Sunquest Laboratory Information System and related software modules for microbiology, and blood bank to replace legacy software.

The $1.1 million software expansion also includes professional support services from Sunquest.

The hospitals are Memorial Hospital in Los Banos, Calif.; Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, Calif.; and the Sutter Tracy Community Hospital in Tracy, Calif.

Sunquest had 358 local full-time workers at the end of 2007 and ranked 146th in the annual Star 200 survey of the region’s major employers.

Doing business with the government made simple

By Joe Pangburn
Inside Tucson Business

United States government agencies are some of the largest purchasers in the world. So how does a small business get its name and product in front of those purchasers?

One can start by finding someone like Sandra DiCosola of Summit Contract Management.

Finding someone with an extensive knowledge in government procurement can help a small business secure General Services Administration contracts, Small Business Innovative Research contracts and grants, subcontracting projects and other grants without the unexpected pitfalls along the way.

DiCosola has been in contract negotiations, more specifically government procurement contract negotiations for more than 20 years at two defense contractors and then as a consultant in the private sector.

DiCosola’s experience can help business owners move flawlessly through the seven steps that she calls the Procurement Lifecycle.

Published: 05.08.2008

ImaRx has buyer for drug inventory

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tucson-based ImaRx Therapeutics Inc. said Wednesday that it has signed a letter of intent by which a Canadian company will buy inventory of ImaRx’s anti-clotting drug, urokinase.

Microbix Biosystems will acquire urokinase inventory and related assets from ImaRx for $17 million in cash, ImaRx said.

Urokinase is an FDA- approved thrombolytic, or clot-dissolving agent, used for treatment of acute massive pulmonary embolism, or blood clots of the lungs.

ImaRx acquired about a four-year inventory of the product from Abbott Laboratories and has been selling the product since 2006.

ImaRx President and CEO Bradford A. Zakes said the proceeds from the deal will provide ImaRx with additional operating capital that will “enable the company to continue the advancement of its core SonoLysis technology.”