Northeastern Maryland Technology Council (NMTC) Honors Visionary Awardees for 2019
Thirteen Marylander’s honored at February 28, 2019 Ceremony, at the Richlin Ballroom, Edgewood
Havre d Grace, MD ― A select group of Marylanders received the prestigious Visionary Award on February 28, 2019, for their contributions in building our STEM educated workforce, and advancing technology and innovation to grow our economy and protect national security. The ceremony is the largest of its kind in Maryland, held at the Richlin Ballroom in Edgewood, MD, and now in its eight year. It was attended by almost 200 leaders in industry, government, and education.
“We honor remarkable people who continue to play key roles in moving our region forward in the areas of STEM education and technology,” said NMTC Board Chair, Michael Janus and VP/GM Battelle. “These are individuals who selflessly donate their time and talents to make a difference in our community.”
Highlights of the night were the unique use of trading cards of each honoree (and the two keynote speakers) that encouraged networking by having trade cards to get a complete set – the winner awarded $100 by the creator of both these cards and the STEM Illustrated yearbook, Marco Ciavolino of enktesis.com.
An additional highlight is the much looked forward to tradition of our keynote speakers be the students themselves and why this awards celebration exists. This year we had what we called ‘Bookends’; two students with one representing their beginning journey in STEM and the other well on their way to a career in STEM.
They are:
Lila Dobry is a 7th grade student at Perry Hall Middle School. Outside of school, Lila helps design and build robots as a member of a FIRST Tech Challenge team that is heading to the Maryland State Championships. This past year, Lila was very excited to get her first paid programming job with Empower Mats, helping write sample programs in a new programming language to help blind and visually impaired students participate in FIRST Lego League. She is not sure yet which direction she wants to focus on; but is currently excited about the “Intro to Biomedical Sciences” camp this summer.
Sarah Patrick is a first-year student at the University of Maryland – College Park studying Information Science. She graduated from the Science and Mathematics Academy at Aberdeen High School this past May Sarah also completed an internship with the Project Management Institute (PMI) where she built a speaker database using SharePoint, PowerApps, Forms, and Flow for their annual events. She is currently speaking about her experience with the applications at various technical conferences such as SharePoint Saturday and Philly Code Camp.
Visionary Award honorees are:
Visionary Claudine Adams, President, Bravura Information Technology Systems
Leader Kathleen Kirk, DSA, Inc. – Senior Vice President, Strategic Solutions Group
Leader Susan Manning, Freedom Federal Credit Union – Community Liaison
Leader Jamie Gurganus Ph. D., University of MD, Baltimore County – Associate Director Engineering Education and Instructor, Mechanical Engineering
Innovator Martha Barwick Ed. D., Harford County Public Schools – Coordinator of Instructional Technology
Innovator Charles Nietubicz, U.S. Army Research Lab (Ret.) – Director of the ARL Supercomputing Resource Center
Mentor Tracey Schreiner, DSA, Inc. – Training Lead
Mentor Frank Mayer, Harford Community College – Adjunct Faculty Cybersecurity
Mentor Wilbert Moultrie, U.S. Army Public Health Center – STEM Coordinator
Mentor Carrie Kauffman, Battelle – Principal Research Scientist
Rising Star Matthew Kiefert, U.S. Army Research Laboratory – Outreach Office Coordinator
Rising Star Caitlyn Byrne, MITRE Corp – Lead Information Systems Engineer
Rising Star Gina Fugate, MD School for the Blind – Lead Technology Teacher
“We are grateful to these individuals for helping our region grow to the next level. Baltimore, Cecil and Harford Counties economic infrastructure is increasingly dependent on the economic development driven by newly emerging and complex technology,” said John Casner, executive director of NMTC. “These are the individuals who understand this technology and are sharing their knowledge to create the workforce for the future of our region.” They join the prestigious, Academy of Visionary Awards, now over 100 members.
NMTC is Maryland’s fast-growing technology council, connecting collaborative leaders in Academia, Industry and the Federal Government to build a STEM educated workforce and advance innovation & technology to expand Maryland’s economy and protect our national security.
