On board: Roy Keller, Director of the Louisiana Technology Transfer & Technology Center at LSU’s Innovation Park, was recently re-elected to the board of directors of the National Small Business Technology Council in Washington, D.C. According to a press release, the council is the nation’s largest organization of small, technology-based companies in diverse fields that aims to protect the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. SBTC serves as the Technology Council of the National Small Business Association, a nonprofit small business organization that serves over 150,000 companies.
Top honors: IBM is among six winners of the national 2015 STEM Mentoring Award, a competition launched earlier this year at the White House Science Fair. IBM received the Excellence in Corporate Culture award for its work with STEMup Baton Rouge, an initiative of the Foundation for East Baton Rouge School System in partnership with the Capital Area United Way. The STEMup Baton Rouge initiative brings business and industry mentors into East Baton Rouge Parish public middle schools using a high-impact mentoring model. The goal is to increase the number of students who ultimately enter and remain in STEM careers. STEMup BR is funded by Capital One Investing for Good. The Foundation for EBRSS has more details.
Assistance available: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared a natural disaster involving 35 Louisiana parishes and eight counties in three neighboring states because of floods and storms from April 27 through June 26. Farmers and ranchers can apply for low-interest loans to help them recover from severe damage. The USDA announced Wednesday that 12 parishes are primary disaster areas, and the rest are adjacent. The primary disaster area covers Avoyelles, Bossier, Caddo, East Feliciana, Franklin, Grant, Iberville, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Rapides, Red River and West Baton Rouge parishes. Adjacent parishes are Allen, Ascension, Assumption, Bienville, Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, Evangeline, Iberia, La Salle, Madison, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, St. Martin, Tensas, Vernon, Webster, West Feliciana and Winn.
