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Ohio Third Frontier Interns

Summit Data Communications (SDC), located in Akron, makes radio cards that slip into mobile devices, handheld bar-code readers, wireless cash registers, and portable ultrasound machines that allow the devices to communicate with a base location from challenging environments. A young technology company currently housed in an Edison Incubator, the Akron Global Business Accelerator, SDC was looking for cost-effective ways to add technically qualified employees to support the company's growth, especially in these tough economic times. SDC has since hired seven Ohio Third Frontier Interns.

"Our industry, and by extension, our company, requires fairly specific employee skills," said Ron Seide, SDC's president. "Finding people that already have these skills is a difficult and expensive process. Alternatively, one can bring in recent college graduates and provide them with specific career training. The Third Frontier Internship Program has enabled us to take this latter approach in that it defrays a substantial portion of these training expenses."

James Kalbfleisch

Of the seven interns, two have been hired as full-time employees. James Kalbfleisch, who earned a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Akron, is now on SDC's software development team writing test and automation programs. Dan Haas, also a graduate from UA in Management Information Systems, is managing the company's internal information systems and working as webmaster.

For 25 years, Bionix Development Corporation, located in Toledo, Ohio, has been a leader in the development, manufacturing and marketing of innovative medical devices including products for ear care, wound treatment, and even a novel formula bottle to help premature babies learn how to oral feed. A small manufacturer in a highly competitive market space, Bionix continually looks to manage costs.

Tamara Masters

The company discovered the Ohio Third Frontier Internship Program, using it to help cover the costs of a summer co-op student. Through the program, Bionix found Tamara Masters, an undergraduate student in the Biomedical Engineering Program at the University of Cincinnati.

She worked in the company's Product Development Department on devices for the radiation therapy market. As an intern with Bionix, she was given many challenging tasks including work on 3-D CAD modeling, prototyping, and creation of the design documentation needed for the launch of a new medical device.

"My experience at Bionix gave me the opportunity to apply classroom concepts and develop new engineering skills to help in my future career," Masters said.

The ability of the Ohio Third Frontier Internship Program to facilitate matchmaking between students with specific skills and companies that can use those skills to address immediate needs creates a positive result for everyone involved.

"With Tamara's assistance, we were able to get more products to market faster than we normally would have," said Product Development engineer Edward Markewitz.