Good News, Bad News as Connecticut Seeks Economic Rebound

The assessment of the Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC) is good news, bad news for Connecticut’s economic recovery.  In a presentation to The Alliance for Nonprofit Growth and Opportunity, CERC Vice President of Research Alissa DeJonge and Research Analyst Carmel Ford reached two central conclusions:

•  Connecticut has structural problems that continue to make its economy recover more difficult.  Structural problems include workforce and industry compositions that are not particular strengths in the overall U.S. ecnomy.
•  Connecticut has advantages in some areas such as healthcare employment, and we may see improvements in the state’s housing market as forecolousres start to diminish and inventory supply inequities become smaller.

Among the key stats that contributed to the overall analysis from CERC:

1. Connecticut ranked 5^th lowest among the states in per capita energy consumption in 2010.  However, Connecticut ranked 3^rd highest in total energy prices and had the highest energy expenditure among all New England states.
2.    Connecticut’s youth unemployment rate was 17.1 percent in July 2013, compared with the national rate of 16.2 percent.
3.   The unemployment rate in New London county hasn’t decreased significantly since 2010, and in Tolland County since 2011.  Overall, the states unemployment rate by county has been decreasing steadily in the state’s other six counties.
4.   Median prices of single family homes in Connecticut increased 2.7% to $429,000, according to most recent data, and the inventory of single homes went down by 12.9% compared with a year ago.
5. Newly issued housing permits in July 2013 incased slightly to 420 from 375 in July 2012.
6. Connecticut remains the richest state with a per capita income of $58,908.

The CERC officials also pointed out that some of Connecticut’s leading industry categories, such as insurance and finance, are not performing well nationally, thus slowing the opportunities for the state’s economy to advance.

Based in Rocky Hill, CERC is a public-private partnership that provides economic development services consistent with state strategies, leveraging Connecticut’s unique advantages as a premier business location.  CERC was recognized earlier this month  for excellence in economic development marketing by key industry group, the Northeastern Economic Development Association (NEDA).  The award was presented at the recent NEDA annual conference in Portland, Maine among more than 130 economic development professionals from across the Northeast.

Sports Statistics Conference Features Sabermetrics As Part of National, Global Focus on Influences of Stats

Connecticut-based ESPN is among the sponsors for the upcoming New England Symposium on Statistics in Sports, to be held on September 21 at Harvard University, that will include a panel discussion to feature Eric Van, sabermetric baseball operations consultant for the Boston Red Sox, Ben Baumer, who handled statistical analysis for the New York Mets from 2004 through 2012, and Vince Gennnaro, a consultant to a number of Major League Baseball teams during the past decade.

Panel moderator is Andy Andres, head coach and lead instructor of the MIT Science of Baseball program and Fenway Park datacaster/stringer for mlb.com.    Featured speakers are Jim Albert of Bowling Green State University, on “Assessing Streakiness in Home Run Hitting,” and Richard Smith, of the University of North Carolina, who will present for the first-time a statistical model for predicting the finish times of individuals who were running in the 2013 Boston Marathon but were unable to complete the race, as previously reported by Connecticut by the Numbers.

The Symposium is a meeting of statisticians and quantitative analysts connected with sports teams, sports media, and universities to discuss common problems of interest in statistical modeling and analysis of sports data. The symposium is part of a year-long series of programs and events around the world during the International Year of Statistics.

In addition to the featured presentations, the scheduled presentations at the Sept. 21 Symposium will focus on statistical research and analysis conducted in areas including:

• statistics-based revisions to defensive alignments in the NBA,
• how weather affects the knuckleball,
• whether crossing helps or hurts scoring in premier soccer, and
• trends such as match time and game duration in professional tennis.

Co-chairs of the conference are Mark Glickman, Senior Statistician at Boston University and Scott Evans, Senior Research Scientist at Harvard.   Registration is now open for the day-long symposium.

ESPN operates a Stats & Info blog that shares with fans the information that the ESPN Stats & Information Group provides to its production teams around the company. The Stats & Info blog's content is a must-read at ESPN - on-camera talent, producers, bloggers, columnists and editors use Stats & Info insight on a daily basis. Individuals can subscribe to the blog for around-the-clock notes, stats and trends, using a blend of traditional statistics and the advanced metrics that the network describes as  the "next level."

Industry sponsors Sports Data Hub, ESPN Stats & Info, RStudio and Revolution Analytics, as well as the Harvard Statistics Department, the Boston Chapter of the American Statistical Association, and the Section in Sports of the American Statistical Association are providing support for the conference.

National Outreach Symposium in November

Sports are but one aspect of the growing use of statistics throughout everyday life.  The U.S. government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics is working with other federal agencies to host an outreach symposium November 13 and 14, 2013 to celebrate the International Year of Statistics 2013.

The goal of this two-day event is to present an overview of statistical methodologies and how they can be applied to diverse applications in econometrics, demography, medicine, agriculture, energy, transportation, and more. The audience for the planned symposium, to be held in Washington, D.C., will come from a diverse background of users and consumers of government statistics, data, and analyses.

The objectives of the International Year of Statistics initiative and  awareness campaign are to increase public understanding of the power and impact of statistics on all aspects of society, and nurture statistics as a profession, especially among high school and college students.

Organizers of the year-long effort – with than 2,000 participating organizations world-wide - note that “statistics have powerful and far-reaching effects on everyone, yet most people are unaware of their connection—from the foods they eat to the medicines they take—and how statistics improve their lives.” In Connecticut, participating organizations include the University of Connecticut and Connecticut by the Numbers.

Connecticut's 40 Fastest Growing Technology Companies Earn Statewide Recognition

Some of the names may be familiar – Priceline, Alexion, TicketNetwork, HigherOne - but most will likely not be, despite steady track-records of rapid growth in their respective technology industries.  The Connecticut Technology Council (CTC) and Marcum LLP have announced the 2013 Marcum Tech Top 40 list of the 40 fastest growing technology companies in Connecticut.

Companies earn their place on the list on the basis of revenue growth over the last four years. They must have at least $3 million in revenue, with several of the public companies this year approaching or exceeding $1 billion in revenue.  Companies were grouped into six technology areas:  Software, IT Services, Life Sciences, Advanced Manufacturing, New Media/Internet/Telecom, and Energy/ Environmental Technologies.

The 2013 list features primarily privately held companies, but 14 public companies also made the list, including: Priceline.com, Rogers Corporation, Gartner Inc. and Alexion Pharmaceuticals.

Geographically, Fairfield County is home to 14 companies this year, followed by Hartford County with 10 companies and New Haven County with eight companies.

The winners in each of the six categories will be announced on September 26, and one company will be named overall winner for demonstrating the greatest percentage growth in revenue across all the technology verticals. The six category winners from 2012 – RSL Fiber Systems, FuelCell Energy, eVariant, Datto, and Alexion – as well as overall winner iSend, all earned a spot on this year’s Top 40.

Matthew Nemerson, CTC’s President & CEO said, “Connecticut is proud of its remarkable heritage of innovation and invention. The 2013 list of Tech Top 40 companies reinforces the vital role the tech sector plays in job creation. These 40 firms are also successful models in their technology verticals and deserve the attention this event brings them.”

The Connecticut Technology Council is a statewide association of technology oriented companies and institutions, providing leadership in areas of policy advocacy, community building and assistance for growing companies. Speaking for over 2,000 companies that employ some 200,000 residents, the Connecticut Technology Council seeks to provide a strong and urgent voice in support of the creation of a culture of innovation.

“Every year, the program serves as a reminder never to underestimate the promise of a great idea, the role of passion, the importance of management talent, and the significance of having the right team. Marcum is extremely proud to partner with the Connecticut Technology Council in presenting this year’s outstanding class of top technology companies. We enthusiastically congratulate all the winners,” said Anthony P. Scillia, Partner-in-Charge, Marcum New England.

CTC and Marcum LLP will honor the Top 40 companies September 26, 2013 at the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford. This year’s event sponsors include: title sponsor Marcum LLP, AT&T Connecticut, Comcast Business Class, Connecticut Innovations, MY HR Supplier, the law firm of Pullman & Comley, OneBeacon Insurance Group, Robert Half Technology, TriNet HR Corporation, UK Trade & Investment, Webster Bank, Xand, and Wellstone Insurance.  To register for the September 26 event, visit http://www.ct.org/Tech_Top_40.asp.

2013 Marcum Tech Top 40 Companies by Industry Category Advanced Manufacturing Amphenol Corp., Wallingford APS Technology, Inc., Wallingford ATMI Inc., Danbury Dymax Corporation, Torrington EDAC Technologies Corp., Farmington Foster Corporation, Putnam Harman International Industries, Stamford Rogers Corporation, Rogers RSL Fiber Systems, LLC, East Hartford

Energy/Environment/Green Technology FuelCell Energy, Inc., Danbury Proton OnSite, Wallingford

IT Services Amnet Systems LLC, Stamford Cervalis LLC, Shelton Cierant Corporation, Danbury Datto Inc., Norwalk Gartner Inc., Stamford Information Services Group Inc., Stamford VLink Inc., Hartford

Life Sciences Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cheshire Bio-Med Devices, Inc., Guilford Metrum Research Group, LLC, Tariffville New Media/Internet/Telecom EasySeat, LLC, Plainville iSend, LLC, Middlebury JobTarget, LLC, New London M2 Media Group, Stamford Mediabistro Inc., Norwalk Priceline.com, Inc., Norwalk TicketNetwork, South Windsor

Software Clarity Software Solutions, Inc., Guilford Core Informatics, LLC, Branford ePath Learning, Inc., New London eVariant, Inc., Farmington Evolution1, Inc., Avon Higher One, Inc., New Haven PASSUR Aerospace, Inc., Stamford Shoptech Corporation, Glastonbury Square 9 Softworks, Inc., New Haven SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc, Windsor Tangoe, Inc., Orange Triple Point Technology, Westport

First McCarthy and Comey, Now Schwartz and Handelsman: Four CT Nominees for Obama Administration

All roads have been leading to Connecticut lately as President Obama has sought top talent for his administration.  Among key Presidential appointments announced by the White House last week was Linda Spoonster Schwartz, as nominee for Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Policy and Planning, in the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Schwartz is the fourth Connecticut resident and second who previously led a Connecticut agency, to be nominated recently by President Obama.

Linda Schwartz, a disabled veteran, has led the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs through Republican and Democratic administrations since 2003.  She concurrently serves as an Associate Clinical Professor of Nursing at the Yale School of Nursing, where she has been on Faculty since 1999 and was appointed Associate Research Scientist and Scholar.  From 1980 to 1993, she taught at several University and College Schools of Nursing and held leadership roles in Nursing organizations in Connecticut. Her nomination was sent to the Senate for confirmation on Aug. 1.

The White House also announced last week that President Obama intends to nominate Jo Handelsman of Yale University as Associate Director for Science, Office of Science and Technology Policy.

 Dr. Jo Handelsman is the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and Frederick Phineas Rose Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University, a position she has held since 2010.  Previously, she served on the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty as a Professor in Plant Pathology from 1985 to 2009 and Professor and Chair of the Department of Bacteriology from 2007 to 2009.

“The extraordinary dedication these individuals bring to their new roles will greatly serve the American people.  I am grateful they have agreed to serve in this Administration and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come,” President Obama said in the formal announcement.

On July 17, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Gina McCarthy as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.  McCarthy, whose nomination was held up for a time amidst political wrangling in Congress, has served as Connecticut’s Commissioner of Environmental Protection  prior to heading to Washington to join the EPA as assistant administrator earlier in the administration. McCarthy, is a 25-year veteran of state and local government in New England where she worked for Republicans including former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell.

The Boston Globe reported that the newly confirmed McCarthy told an audience at Harvard Law School that cutting carbon pollution will “feed the economic agenda of this country” and vowed to work with industry leaders on shaping policies aimed at curbing global warming.

In June, the President nominated James B. Comey, Jr., of Westport, to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a term of ten years.  Comey was confirmed as the seventh director of the FBI on July 29 by a vote of 93-1 in the Senate.  He served in the Justice Department official in the Bush administration.

“To know Jim Comey is also to know his fierce independence and his deep integrity,” Obama said in making the nomination. “He’s that rarity in Washington sometimes: He doesn’t care about politics, he only cares about getting the job done. At key moments, when it’s mattered most, he joined Bob in standing up for what he believed was right.”

Before serving as deputy attorney general, Comey was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he helped bring down the Gambino crime family, and served as the managing assistant U.S. attorney in charge of the Richmond Division of the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to news reports.

Handelsman is currently President of the American Society for Microbiology.  In 2011, Dr. Handelsman received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Mentoring.  From 2002 to 2010, Dr. Handelsman was the Director of the Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching.  In 2004, Dr. Handelsman co-founded the National Academies Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education in Biology.  She received a B.S. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Handelsman will help advise President Barack Obama on the impact of science on both international and domestic affairs.  “This is an enormous opportunity that I felt I just could not pass up,” she told the Yale  News.

“In addition to being a superb biologist, Jo Handelsman is nationally recognized as an exceptional mentor of young scientists and an effective champion for increasing diversity in the scientific work force,” Steven Girvin, deputy provost for science & technology at Yale told the News. “Her energetic devotion to improving science education is of critical importance to the nation.”

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal released a statement calling Schwartz "a champion of veterans and a national star."  From 1979 to 1980, Schwartz was a caseworker in the Office of the Field Director of the American Red Cross at Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany.  Dr. Schwartz served in the United States Air Force (USAF) Nurse Corps from 1968 to 1986, both on Active Duty and as a Reservist.  She retired as a Flight Nurse Instructor, with the rank of Major after sustaining injuries in a USAF Air Craft accident.

In 2001, she served on the Board of Directors of the American Nurses Association and was elected to the American Academy of Nursing.  From 1996 to 2000, she served as a Member and Chair of the VA Advisory Committee on Women Veterans.  She received a B.S. from the University of Maryland, an MSN from Yale University School of Nursing, and a Dr.P.H from the Yale University School of Medicine.

Veterans Education and Career Training Gains New Focus in Connecticut

With veterans returning from active duty in increasing numbers and seeking to pursue higher education or achieve a place in the workforce, efforts are underway in Connecticut to respond.

The Veterans Vocational Training Program (VVTP), is a new initiative of Hartford-based Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network (CPBN).  The program offers veterans,free of charge, two different programs of study.  Media Arts, which focuses on the Adobe programs Photoshop, Illustrator, and In-Design, is offered during the Fall 2013 semester, which begins on August 26.   The other program seeks to develop the talents of budding video producers and editors.

Both programs include 90 hours of classroom instruction, professional portfolio development, and an additional 60 hours of hands-on learning. In addition, the VVTP helps potential employers connect with veterans seeking specific employment opportunities.

There will be an Open House for veterans to learn more about the program on July 18 at5:30 PM at CPBN, located at 1049 Asylum Avenue in Hartford.  Inquiries about the program can be directed to Major (ret) Tim Krusko, Program Manager, at 860-275-7337 or email veterans@cpbn.org.  Questions can also be directed to CPBN’s Director of Education Services, Donna Sodipo at dsodipo@cpbn.org or 860.275.7337.  Individual tours of the facilities are also available.

The initiative has quickly developed a wide range of partners that will help CPBN provide veterans with a real-world education while increasing their employment opportunities. CPBN is also reaching out to colleges and universities for referrals of veterans who might benefit from the VVTP as a no-cost way to supplement or enhance their current media education experience through hands-on learning. The VTTP is not restricted to Connecticut residents.

The Fall 2013 semester starts August 26, 2013 and ends December 19, 2013.  The Spring semester will run January 13 through May 12, 2014.  The goal is to have 85 percent of program participants successfully employed after completing the program.

In a separate effort, the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges, which includes 16 higher education institutions in the state, recently held a one day, state-of-the-art training for over 100 campus participants from throughout Connecticut that focused on military culture and serving student veterans.

Offered by the Center for Deployment Psychology, the training was designed to increase competency in the concerns, challenges, culture and experience of service members and veterans attending college. Mental health professionals as well as non-clinical university staff specializing in student affairs, financial aid, disability services, housing, campus security and others attended.

The training covered:

·  Culture and Experience of Service Members & Veterans on Campus

·  The Deployment Cycle and its Impact on Students

·  Reintegration on Campus

·  Outreach Strategies and Group Exercise

·  Overview of Treatments for PTSD on Campus

The training was offered free of charge to every non-profit public and private college in Connecticut.  It funded by a grant from the Bob Woodruff Foundation and was offered through a collaboration of the American Council on Education and the Center for Deployment Psychology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.  The event was part of an ongoing effort coordinated by CCIC “to help campus representatives learn best practices and gain an understanding of resources available to make the campus experience successful for those who made the commitment to protect and serve our country.”

The VTTP is made possible through the generous corporate sponsorship of organizations and businesses including the Wounded Warrior Project, Newman’s Own Foundation, Walmart Foundation, the SBM Charitable Foundation, Farmington Bank Community Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Wounded Warrior Project awarded CPBN with a $250,000 grant for the economic empowerment of wounded warriors and their family members. CPBN is currently seeking additional grant programs to help grow the program beyond the first year and replicate it in other parts of the country.

The VVTP program is a component of CPBN’s soon-to-be-completed $3.5 million Learning Lab, which will also offer education programming aimed at Hartford public school students. CPBN will dedicate a state-of-the-art learning space to these initiatives, to include studios, sound rooms, classrooms, offices, and video production and media arts facilities.

New Technologies to Assure Safety Provide Challenges, Opportunities for Law Enforcement

New technologies are being designed and implemented in Connecticut and across the country aimed at ensuring safety by improving the effectiveness and speed of police operations. Two of the most fascinating systems, and probably the most advanced, are next-generation 911, which support text, data and video from any device, and drones, which are aerial vehicles that act as watchdogs of the sky, according to the website StateTech.

Recent news reports, however, are raising questions in Connecticut regarding at least one of the new technologies, now on the ground here.  In 2011, the city of Hartford introduced a technology to boost public safety that was ushered in as a way to respond to  Hartford gun violence, FOX Connecticut recently reported. It’s called the ShotSpotter system, built to detect gunfire and it is also used in New Haven and Springfield, Mass.

In an investigative story on the technology, FOX Connecticut reported that during an analysis of ShotSpotter in spring 2012, police records show that out of 60 total alerts, only six were confirmed, meaning the system was only 10 percent accurate. Nearly a year later, an interdepartmental police memo shows the system’s accuracy on 27 alerts was even lower, at just eight percent. Two of those 27 alerts were labeled as gunfire but really weren’t, including one which was just noise from a snow plow.

Additional assets are being sought, and received, by Connecticut municipalities, using both local and federal resource to boost efforts on the ground, in the air, and in the water.

The Stamford Advocate reported earlier this year that a plan to purchase a new high-tech public safety boat capable of detecting an arsenal of hazardous materials took another step forward, when the Board of Finance agreed to spend $610,000 to purchase the vessel.  The boat will ultimately be paid for by the federal government, according to the report, which noted that the federal government is also paying for other boats delivered to, or on order from, Greenwich, Norwalk, Fairfield and New Haven.

Last September, Fairfield took possession of a $488,000, 34-foot police boat paid for by the grant, the Advocate reported. In June and July, New Haven expects to take possession of a $1.1 million, 39-foot fire boat paid for by FEMA with two fire nozzles capable of spraying a total of 4,000 gallons per minute. That boat will be operated by the fire department, but the city's police department will have access to the vessel for its dive team.  And Greenwich is expecting delivery of a 38-foot, $600,000 boat to be paid for with a Port Security Grant. The police department will have ownership of the boat, but fire and EMS will have access to it.

In Bridgeport earlier this year, what ultimately proved to be an innocent wind-driven error brought a response by local police and the FBI when a drone crashed near a waterfront power plant, the Connecticut Post reported.  Among the other technologies in use around the country are automatic license plate recognition and wearable cameras, which the Hartford Advocate has reported are being used by officers in Branford.  The high-tech license readers, now mounted on 87 police cruisers statewide in Massachusetts, scan literally millions of license plates in that state each year, not only checking the car and owner’s legal history, but also creating a precise record of where each vehicle was at a given moment, according to the Boston Globe.