Companies, individuals and academic organizations recognized with GCOI awards

Nov 20 2009

The Arizona Technology Council in partnership with the Arizona Department of Commerce today announced the winners of the 2009 Governor’s Celebration of Innovation (GCOI) awards. Companies, individuals and academic organizations that demonstrated excellence were given Arizona’s highest honor for technology innovation on November 19, 2009, at an “Academy Awards” style awards ceremony held at the Orpheum Theatre, 203 West Adams Street in Phoenix.

“Throughout the turbulent economy of 2009, innovation became more important than ever,” said Steven G. Zylstra, president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council. “It is essential that we celebrate the creative spirit of Arizona by recognizing and honoring the state’s most innovative thinkers. We congratulate all the winners and extend our thanks for their part in advancing Arizona as a top-tier technology state.”

The winners and finalists were selected by a committee of experts independent of the Council.

The winners in their respective categories are:

Individual Award Winners:

• OneNeck IT Services People's Choice Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. Craig R. Barrett, former Intel CEO/Chairman of the Board, in recognition for his efforts to educate others on the value technology can provide in raising social and economic standards globally and for his commitment to education in America.
• Chairman's Award: Ron Schott, executive emeritus, the Arizona Technology Council. Schott serves on the University of Arizona College of Business MIS Industry Advisory Council and the University of Arizona College of Engineering Industry Advisory Council. He is also chairman of the Arizona Telecommunication Information Council (ATIC) and is involved in various other community-related activities.
• Ed Denison Business Leader of the Year: Chuck Vermillion, chief executive officer and a founder of OneNeck IT Services Corporation. OneNeck has been voted the No. 1 mid-market service provider of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Hosted Application Management for the past three years, as well as the top mid-tier service provider of Data Center Management. This consistently profitable and growing business exudes Chuck’s core values of accountability, dependability and trust.
• William F. McWhortor Community Service Leader of the Year: General Ronald E. Shoopman, president, Southern Arizona Leadership Council. As Brigadier General for the United States Air Force, he was entrusted not only with the lives of the people under his command, but also with the highest levels of responsibility for protecting and preserving our security as a nation. In more recent years, Ron has brought these qualities to his work as a community leader, regularly piloting efforts that build and fortify the community’s economic competitiveness, supporting technology business and industry development.

Company Award Winners:

• Pioneering Innovation: Universal Avionics Systems Corp. - a Tucson-based leading manufacturer of avionics systems used worldwide on a full range of aircraft types from helicopters to corporate aircraft and large commercial airliners. UASC is now offering the business jet industry’s first product line of Wide Area Augmentation System enabled Flight Management Systems. This new generation of flight management systems will be used on Business/Regional Jets around the world to safely guide an aircraft down to point 1/2 mile to the runway and only 200 feet above the ground.
• Green Innovator of the Year: Yulex Corporation - a clean-tech biomaterials company commercially producing a diverse, renewable product from the desert plant, indigenous to Arizona, known as guayule (why-YOU-lee). The company has developed proprietary processes and patents to produce the only U.S. source of sustainable latex and rubber for use in medical and specialty consumer products.
• Innovator of the Year - Start-Up Company: Ubidyne Inc. - a manufacturer of digital antenna embedded radio systems for wireless communications. Ubidyne’s first product, the uB900 micro-radio, is the world’s first digital radio system enabling operators worldwide to deploy UMTS services on the 900 MHz band.
• Innovator of the Year - Small Company: General Plasma Inc. - a multi-million-dollar international supplier of thin film deposition equipment and technology serving numerous market segments including solar, architectural glass and industrial manufacturing. GPI has developed a deposition technology that revolutionizes the solar industry by allowing companies to produce highly efficient solar panels at a lower cost.
• Innovator of the Year - Large Company: Universal Avionics Systems Corp. (see Pioneering Innovation.)
• Innovator of the Year – Academia: Arizona State University Polytechnic - Qiang Hu and Milton Sommerfeld, co-directors of the Laboratory for Algae Research and Biotechnology (LARB) and Professors of Applied Science and Mathematics at ASU, have developed a sustainable algal feedstock technology for production of a renewable petroleum substitute that can be converted to aviation fuel.

Future Innovator of the Year Award Winners:

• The "Best of the Best" of the Arizona Engineering and Science Fairs (grades 9-12) for the year 2008. Each of these students will receive a $1000 scholarship to further enhance their education:
  • Scott Boisvert, Basha High School, Chandler: “Growth of the Amphibian Pathogen in Response to the Chemical Properties of Aquatic Environments,” Microbiology category.
  • Rahul Mitra, Corona Del Sol High School, Tempe: “The Effect of Gold on the Superconducting Transition Temperature of Lead,” Materials and Bioengineering category.
  • Ebaa Al-Obeidi, Canyon Del Oro High School, Oro Valley: “Sonoran Solar Solution,” Plant Science category.
  • Michael Wallace, Tucson High Magnet School: “Artificial selection for polystyrene degradation in bacterial communities,” Environmental category.

Teacher of the Year Award Winner:

• Dr. Michael Frank, Empire High School, Tucson: Dr. Frank is currently instructional team lead (department chair) for Science at Empire High School in the Vail School District of Vail, Arizona. Over the four years that Empire has been open he has taught nearly every science subject offered at the school and is coach of the Science Olympiad team and science club. His research has been published in Plant Physiology and in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Tech Ten Awards:

The honor is given in recognition of Arizona legislative members who have demonstrated outstanding support for promoting and advancing Arizona as a top-tier technology state. These legislators are:

• Arizona State Senate: Manny Alvarez (D-25); Al Melvin (R-26) and Richard Miranda (D-13). Barbara Leff (R-11) was named “Senator of the Year” for the second consecutive year.
• Arizona House of Representatives: Frank Antenori (R-30); Tom Boone (R-4); Chad Campbell (D-14); Lauren Hendrix (R-22); Lucy Mason (R-1); Michele Reagan (R-8) and David Stevens (R-25). Bill Konopnicki (R-5) was named as “Representative of the Year.”