Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud computing arm is doubling down on its partnership with George Mason University with a new area of focus to keep up with one of the fastest-growing industries in Northern Virginia.
Amazon Web Services is working with the Fairfax university on developing a new project-based curriculum and course work focused on data centers for engineering students. Right now, Mason is rolling out data center engineering projects for mechanical engineering students in a senior design program, said Liza Wilson Durant, Mason’s associate provost of strategic initiatives and community engagement at the Volgenau School of Engineering.
The curriculum will officially launch through its bachelor’s degree programs in electrical and mechanical engineering in 2023 at the school’s main Fairfax campus, Durant said.
-Washington Business Journal
Entrepreneurs seeking to innovate in the mid-Atlantic’s aerospace and defense sector now have some extra consolidated support thanks to the State of Maryland and the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation granted the Maryland Department of Commerce $641,573, with part of the funds being used to restart the Defense Commercialization (DefTech) Center. The resurrected program will now be administered by the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), the state-connected investment vehicle for tech companies across the state.
-technic.ly
Unmanned aircraft software maker Red Cat Holdings has found a buyer for its consumer division as the company looks to focus its efforts and investments on government work.
Red Cat will fetch $18 million in cash and stock from its agreement to sell the unit to Unusual Machines. This transaction involves two businesses that make drones for recreational use and first-person-view goggles.
-Washington Technology
D.C. software company BuildWithin has been awarded the Apprenticeship Building America grant through a federal program aimed at creating more apprenticeship programs across the country. The company plans to create 10,000 apprenticeships for unemployed or underemployed employees across the D.C. region.
-WTOP
The Brentwood, Maryland-based company Throne Labs is trying to solve the issue of not having a nearby toilet when someone is out and about via a fleet of portable, high-tech public toilets. The company hopes to banish the days of holding your breath in a smelly park bathroom or trying to find a coffee shop that will let you use its restroom.
Instead, Throne users can find a location via its app and use a QR code to open the bathroom. Inside, users will find a flushable toilet, a flushless urinal, a sink, a trash can, a robust ventilation system, and a mirror (COO Jessica Heinzelman says she hopes people will take #ThroneSelfies for Instagram). It’s basically a 180 from the typical portable bathrooms you’d find at a concert or sports game.
-Washingtonian
