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Posted on Thu, Feb 4, 2010 : 4:56 a.m.

People & Achievements in the greater Ann Arbor area, including Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan and ProQuest

By AnnArbor.com Staff

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Yasminah Ketchman

The following is a list of achievements by businesses and individuals in the Ann Arbor area:

• Yasminah Ketchman and Karen Boyd have been appointed as membership specialists for Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan, Ann Arbor Region. Ketchman will serve Girl Scout volunteers and troops in Milan, Saline, Willow Run and Ypsilanti. Boyd will serve Girl Scout volunteers and troops in Livingston County. Both women are former Girl Scouts.

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Karen Boyd

• Ann Arbor-based ProQuest took top honors for its aggregated full-text database, ProQuest Central, at the CODiE Award ceremony in New York Jan. 26. CODiES are presented annually by the Software & Information Industry Association to recognize exceptionally newsworthy products and services. ProQuest Central received the CODiE for the Best Online General Reference Service.

• The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, based in Ann Arbor, recently made two additions to its board of directors. Thomas Kurfess of Clemson University and Ramsen Betfarhad of Bridgewater Associates. Kurfess is the BMW Chair of Manufacturing and director of the International Center for Automotive Research, Clemson University. Betfarhad is a senior research associate with Bridgewater Associates, an investment management firm in Westport, Conn.

• Ann Arbor-based Quinn Evans Architects celebrates its 25th anniversary in business this year.

• Ann Arbor SCORE, a business mentoring organization providing free and confidential business counseling opened its office at a new location Dec. 2. SCORE is now located on the Washtenaw Campus of Cleary University, 3601 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor.

• Ypsilanti-based Community Driven Credit Union and other credit unions around the state have partnered to promote a Web-based program called "Just File It!" that helps individuals and families file for state and federal tax credits that often go overlooked.

• Retirement community Silver Maples of Chelsea recently welcomed three new members to the board of directors: Chelsea resident Alison Pollard, vice president of provider affairs for BlueCare Network; John Nixon III, Capital Wealth Advisors at Commerce Bank; and Northville resident Rich Brown, retired from Chrysler in 2006.

• The American Institute of Architects Michigan recently announced a list of newly-elected officers. Among those new officers is Tamara E. Burns of HopkinsBurns Design Studio in Ann Arbor, elected as secretary.

• Jenean Kaiser of Ann Arbor-based Synergy Broadband has been promoted to vice president of operations.

• Amish Tables, headquartered in Ann Arbor, has partnered with Barbara Wilson and other local engineers to create a solar-powered LED lamp.The lamp was on display at Amish Table’s open house Jan. 28. The open house also gave customers a chance to see the company’s newly expanded showroom.

• Michigan Aerospace Corporation, an engineering and products company based in Ann Arbor, was selected to receive a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research contract from the National Science Foundation for a ground-based sensor array for wake vortex detection. Dominique Fourguette, chief technology officer, will lead the effort, in cooperation with researchers at Michigan State University. The goal of the effort is to develop a sensor system for the detection and characterization of wake vortexes which restrict airport capacity and present a hazard to smaller aircraft.

• DTE Energy's charitable arm, the DTE Energy Foundation, has partnered with 57 nonprofit agencies across Michigan and has awarded more than $760,000 in grants to help families and individuals in crisis. Washtenaw County organizations that received funds from the foundation are Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw County, Food Gatherers, Hope Medical Clinic, Safehouse Center and The Salvation Army of Washtenaw County.

• Ann Arbor-based Busch’s Fresh Food Market recently introduced Busch’s MyWay, a free online program that alerts customers to sales and allows them to create customized shopping lists.

• The Women Business Owners of Southeastern Michigan presented its 2009 Outstanding Woman-Owned Business Award to Debi Scroggins, founder and president of Bearclaw Coffee, at the organization's Celebrate Women in Business Dinner Nov. 10. Recognition for Outstanding Community Service was presented to Gail Nicklowitz of GN Communications. The Business Growth Award was presented to Cindy Neam of Preferred Solutions who recently purchased Yogaware. Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw founders Carrie Hensel of InnerCircle Media and Debra Power of Power Marketing were recognized for Cutting Edge Innovation.

• CPA Andrea Krasna has joined Yeo & Yeo, CPAs & Business Consultants as a senior accountant. She serves in the audit department in the firm’s Ann Arbor office.

• The Delta Dental Foundation board of trustees recently re-elected officers to serve one-year terms. Among those re-elected member-at-large was Stephen A. Eklund of Ann Arbor. He is a professor emeritus of dental public health at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

• On Feb. 2, Google announced the first round of Google Focused Research Awards -- funding research in areas of study that are of key interest to Google as well as the research community: energy efficiency in computing, machine learning, privacy and the use of mobile phones as data collection devices for public health and environmental monitoring. The awards include $1 million for a consortium of researchers at the University of Michigan, Rutgers University, University of Virginia and the University of California - Santa Barbara. Thomas Wenisch at University of Michigan will receive $250,000 as part of his research into energy-efficient computing for a project titled, "Data-Centric Approach to Energy Proportionality." A team at University of Michigan including Thomas Wenisch, Trevor Mudge, David Blaauw, and Dennis Sylvester will also receive a $100,000 award for a project titled, "Rearchitecting Memory and Processors for Energy-Efficiency." In total the Google Focused Research Awards will provide $350,000 to the University of Michigan.

• On Feb. 2, Farelogix, a provider of distribution technology and services for the travel industry, and Mobiata, a provider of mobile travel applications headquartered in Ann Arbor, announced a partnership to deliver advanced airline merchandising capabilities to mobile devices, beginning with iPhone and Android smartphones, and soon followed by Blackberry devices.

• Accuri Cytometers Inc., a life sciences company marketing bench-top flow cytometer systems, announced Jan. 29 that co-founder and CEO Jennifer Baird has resigned and will be replaced by Jeffrey S. Williams, most recently president and CEO of HandyLab Inc., an Ann Arbor-based molecular diagnostics company.

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