Ellen Wiggins Hemmerly, Executive Director of the UMBC Research Park Corporation, has been named president of the Association of University Research Parks (AURP), a non-profit group that supports over 200 university research parks and technology incubators worldwide.

"Thanks to Ellen Hemmerly's leadership, UMBC's research park and business incubator are among the nation's best," said UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski. "Past AURP presidents have come from such outstanding places as North Carolina's Research Triangle Park and Rensselaer's Technology Park. We are delighted that UMBC is being recognized for its contributions to economic growth through research and technology development."

Hemmerly oversees the University's bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park and works closely with the Park's developer, Grosvenor. According to Hemmerly,she hopes her appointment will help draw more high-tech businesses to Baltimore.

"AURP's mission is to help connect the innovations of academia with regionaleconomic growth and development," Hemmerly said. "With so many excellentresearch universities in greater Baltimore, I look forward to helping new ideasbecome solid business models that add to our region's high-tech economy."

The announcement is a timely one for Baltimore, as the city prepares to host the international 2003 BioParks convention later this year. AURP and The Council of Biotechnology Centers (CBC) will co-sponsor the gathering of representatives from biotech research parks around the world on June 20 through 21. The convention is co-sponsored by a consortium of regional universities including UMBC, The Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland Baltimore, the University of Maryland College Park and the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, in partnership with city and state economic development agencies.

Hemmerly, a member of AURP for seven years, is also a special assistant to the vice president for administration and finance at UMBC. She oversees the development of bwtech@UMBC, the University's on-campus research park that houses RWD Technologies' Applied Technology Laboratory. Hemmerly also directs techcenter@UMBC, the University's business incubator that is home to 30 start-up and emerging tech firms.

Prior to joining UMBC, Hemmerly was a vice president at the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) serving as its senior lender and director of the Enterprise Development Fund, the City's venture capital fund. While at BDC, she successfully started a business incubator as executive director of the Technology Development Center. Hemmerly also spent two years as a business development officer specializing in marketing Baltimore to high technology businesses.

Hemmerly's background also includes extensive real estate development, venture capital and banking experience. She has an M.B.A. from Cornell University's Johnson School of Management and a B.S. from Moravian College.