On Tuesday, April 22nd, the Tulsa Business and Legal News (formerly the Tulsa Business Journal) at its annual award dinner named OII’s George Louthan, computer scientist and director of the Tandy Supercomputing Center, to its 2014 class of the Tulsa 40.

According to TB&LN: The Tulsa Business & Legal News recognizes the best and brightest of Tulsa’s up and coming business and community leaders as part of its class of The Tulsa 40.  Nominated by their peers, TB&LN profiles 40 individuals who have distinguished themselves in the business community and whom we expect to be among the next generation of movers and shakers.

For a full list of awardees and more information, see the Tulsa Business and Legal News article “2014 Tulsa 40 Honorees.”

On Wednesday, April 23rd, The Journal Record announced at its annual awards luncheon that the Oklahoma Innovation Institute, and its program the Tandy Supercomputing Center, has been selected as the overall 2014 Innovator of the Year.

Accepting the award, OII Executive Director David Greer said “The concept of collaboration has really taken hold not only in Tulsa, but Oklahoma in general. By sharing resources in models like the Tandy Community Supercomputer, we can elevate everyone.”

“High-performance computing increases the efficiency of research while decreasing the time it takes to transition products to market. The result is a competitive advantage in the development of new technologies and commercially viable products,” said George Louthan, Director of the Tandy Supercomputing Center. “We believe that the Tandy Community Supercomputer, nicknamed Tandy, is the nation’s first truly community supercomputer.”

More information and a full story is available at The Journal Record’s story, “Oklahoma Innovation Institute Takes Top Prize.”

Dear Colleagues,

The first quarter of the Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance (TRSA) our innovative and dynamic mesh network has been moving full steam ahead!  We wanted to update you on the many incredible things that are happening in the Tulsa region because of TRSA!
US2020 City Competition Grant

Learned 3/24/2014 that Tulsa was not selected as a winning city in the US2020 City Competition.  We do however have the opportunity to continue to work with US2020 in the following ways:

US2020 will pay for a Tulsa representative to attend two convenings of US2020 cities over the next year
Continued “community of practice” involvement through webinars, conference calls, aforementioned in-person convenings, etc.
Quarterly “coaching” calls with US2020 staff
Introduction to the relevant Americorps VISTA people

Innovation Rooms Updates

Curriculum Kits IR – Had a teleconference with Robin Schott of PLTW to better understand their curriculum and how it might be amended to after school mentorship program.
Communication IR – Held meetings at OII.  Planning to launch a TRSA Tuesday E-mail, monthly newsletter and quarterly meeting of Council to improve communication of TRSA.
Oklahoma Women in STEM: Breaking the STEM Glass Ceiling Conference – Date set for May 17 at Tulsa Tech Owasso, 9:30 AM – 4:30 AM.  Arranging funding and speakers/facilitators.
Website: http://womeninstem.oklahomainnovationinstitute.org/  Twitter: BrkSTEMGlass
Spring Break/Summer STEM Activities – Met with William Ollar and planned additional STEM camp for elementary students for July 1-3.
Logistics IR – Met and planned logistics for a pilot mentorship effort for the spring.  Working with local STEM businesses and schools to establish two pilot STEM mentorship 4 week programs for April.

General Updates

Business Plan for TRSA – Business plan is complete and ready to present to anchor funders and business partners.
TRSA Presentations – TRSA was presented to Oklahoma Employment & Training Advisory Council – a gathering of representatives of 26 Native American Tribes.  The tribes are very interested […]