Keystone Edge - Innovation & Job News

CMU-startup builds learning kits for kids with $100K NSF grant

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

roBlocks, a startup firm that is developing robotic blocks for children to use in science centers and education institutions, has received a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research Grant from the National Science Foundation.

Engineers finding new uses for industrial ceramics at Penn State-Behrend College

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Engineers at Penn State's Erie campus, The Behrend College, have developed two new processes for shaping industrial materials, and one of them may reshape the market for ceramics, a material commonly molded in simple forms that resist heat and electrical current. Their insights may soon transform the clunky character of most ceramic products from ugly ducklings to supple swans.

Jobs galore: Web site posts 30,000 openings in Pittsburgh region

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A Web site designed to attract skilled workers from outside the region into the Pittsburgh job market may also offer Pittsburghers a boost against news of declines in employment nationwide, says Bill Flanagan, executive VP for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

Salvage Direct brokers total wrecks on the web to buyers around the world

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Salvage Direct is one company that car owners never want to encounter--and as a salvage management service for the insurance industry's totally destroyed vehicles, it is perfectly content to operate way behind the scenes, in cyberspace.

York-based GEA PHE North America plans to add 60 jobs in 2009

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

York-based GEA PHE North America anticipates growth in 2009 on the order of 60 new jobs, mainly on the plant floor, according to Jon Paulus, business development manager for gasket and heat plate exchangers.

Erie's Gannon University nurses pass the number one test

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The proof is in the passing for Gannon University's Villa Maria School of Nursing. The two classes that graduated between October 2007 and September 2008 scored the highest percentage of first-try passers in Pennsylvania for the national licensing exam that allows trained nurses to enter the practice in their field. Passing the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses is a requirement for licensure in all U.S. states and territories.

Fayette County Community Action Agency building wins LEED Silver rating

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Fayette County Community Action Agency has earned the distinction of being the first community action agency office building in the U.S. to earn a LEED Silver certification for it's state-of-the-art energy efficient design. The 18,459-square-foot building houses the agency's administrative staff as well as offices of the Pennsylvania Labor and Industry Workers' Compensation Agency. It was designed by Altman & Altman Architects.

Green Homebuilding How-To shares the adventure of two Pennsylvania homeowners

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

With a growing army of architects giving green designs to commercial spaces, who's going to guide individuals into environmentally friendly habitats when they go home from work?

EcoTech Marine to expand, roll out new products in 2009

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Inasmuch as 2008 was a high growth year for Bethlehem-based startup EcoTech Marine, 2009 looks to be more of the same.

GeoDecisions maps the terrain for decision-makers throughout the nation

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

As our nation's new president looks to increase investment in public infrastructure, GeoDecisions will also have a new president--and an outlook for continued growth.

Nature Conservancy to award companies working to save the planet and a buck

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Is there a connection between environmental conservation and good business practices? The Nature Conservancy thinks so, and it wants to recognize companies that excel in both.

Highmark opens first retail insurance store in the state

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Pittsburgh-based Highmark Inc. plans to opens the state�s first retail insurance stores early next year.

Leave it to Vivisimo to launch a social search enterprise for companies

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Move over Facebook, social networking is growing up.

DG Power Systems creates new co-gen options for small-to-medium-sized businesses

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Reed Hayes, founder of DG Power Systems, extends the economies of small-scale, distributed energy production to small-sized businesses "beginning at the base of the commercial-industrial pyramid."

Carnegie Learning gains ground as it competes with publishers of traditional textbooks

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Carnegie Learning, Inc. is gaining ground in so-called "textbook adoption states," where traditional publishers have long held the upper hand, with curricula that blend textbooks and software to teach math.

Hanson Technologies prepares for 2009 launch of revolutionary system to test safety of vegetables

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

With some 53-billion servings of salad and 75-billion servings of fruit reaching American tables each year, the health and safety of the nation's produce supply is no small matter.

Invivodata's SitePRO Tablet offers new reporting tool for patients and clinicians in drug trials

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Pittsburgh-based Invivodata, the pioneer of hand-held, electronic diaries for patients to report their daily experiences during clinical trials, added a new platform to its product line this year: an electronic tablet that makes it easier for patients to complete in-office questionnaires and report changes in quality of life and other more subjective self-assessments.

NanoLambda's spectrometer-on-a-chip moves closer to market with $500,000 research grant

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The optical spectrometer, which makes it possible to interpret the exact properties of light and materials that reflect and project light, has become one of the most powerful instruments in modern science. However, it is also a bulky and expensive device--or at least it will be until University of Pittsburgh spin-off NanoLambda begins to manufacture its widely anticipated spectrometer-on-a-chip, Spectrum Sensor®.

Cabot Oil & Gas says Marcellus Shale production gaining momentum

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Natural gas drilling rigs are coming online and production is gaining momentum in northeast Pennsylvania, says Cabot Oil & Gas, a Houston, Texas-based energy company involved in the Marcellus Shale play.

Vein Clinics of America opens office in Monroeville, hires 5

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

IntegraMed America Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Vein Clinics of America, opened a clinic Monday in Monroeville at 400 Penn Center Blvd., its first in Pennsylvania and the 31st nationwide. The clinic will use state-of-the-art laser technology to treat patients with varicose veins.

Harrisburg University showcases campus, students and faculty with unique 'Synthetic Interviews'

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Harrisburg University recently unveiled a Web site that not only showcases its new, 16-story, $73-million Academic Center in a three-dimensional fly-through, but also enables visitors virtually to ask questions about the school and get video responses from students and faculty.

SJI to develop deep natural gas drilling operation on 21,000 acres in Marcellus Shale in NEPA

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

South Jersey Industries, energy services holding company, announced Monday that Potato Creek LLC, a company in which it is a stakeholder, has entered into a lease agreement with "an experienced exploration and production company" to set up a deep well natural gas drilling operation and exploration on 21,000 acres of land in the Marcellus Shale in northeast Pennsylvania.

How Pittsburgh manufacturing stays strong in tough times

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Despite the downward dive of the rest of the nation, manufacturing in Western Pennsylvania is looking up.

Industry Weapon unleashes do-it-yourself digital signage--hiring too

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Pittsburgh-based Industry Weapon has launched innovative new software that is breathing new life into tech-heavy digital signage.

A stellar year for innovation at University of Pitt

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

It was a good year for innovation and technology at University of Pittsburgh.

With direct flights to Paris, Pittsburgh protects large stake in international business

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:21:42 GMT

Two irreconcilable facts have characterized Pittsburgh's relations with the rest of the world for the last few years. The expansion of business for the Pittsburgh region has reflected a greater boost from international than domestic customers, and the city has also had no direct flights to Europe since 2004. At last though, the contradiction will fly away--starting June 3, 2009, when Delta Airlines, in a joint venture with Air France, begins five flights a week to Paris.

Impact Games ready to find partners for Play the News, an on-line current-events game platform

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Since its 2006 launch in an industry better known for conflict and mayhem, Impact Games has been developing a path for diplomacy and negotiation in the world of computer games.

New lab, NCI funding provide ITSI-Biosciences with broader base for new breast-cancer detection test

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Dr. Richard Somiari, the founder of ITSI Biosciences, a life-science enterprise in the Johnstown region, is preparing to move his company into its new headquarters by year's end--just in time to expand field investigations of a blood-sampling method that promises to increase the speed and lower the cost for early detection of breast cancer.

Precision gears enable Brad Foote/Pittsburgh Gear Works to turn with the wind industry

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The idea that "what goes around comes around" could very well be the motto for the company known in its hometown since 1914 as Pittsburgh Gear, even while it has been owned since 1953 by Brad Foote Gear Works of Cicero, Illinois.

Angel investors collaborate, pump $1.1M into NanoPack Inc.

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Four Philadelphia-area angel investor groups joined forces to fund NanoPack Inc., a materials science company, with a $1.1 million investment late last month. The collaboration was a first for angel groups Robin Hood Ventures, Mid-Atlantic Angel Group, Delaware Crossing Investor Group and LORE Associates.