Business Honors for May 6, 2012

Roy Keller, director of the Louisiana Technology Transfer Office within the LSU Louisiana Business and Technology Center, was among six individuals awarded the Tibbetts Award by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The awards are presented to outstanding small businesses and individuals who participate in the SBA Small Business Innovation Research program. They are based on the economic impact of their technological innovation and whether they have encouraged diverse participation in technological innovation and increased the commercialization of federal research.

Eunice McCarney, development director at McMains Children’s Developmental Center/United Cerebral Palsy of Baton Rouge, is among 13 people selected nationwide for participation in United Cerebral Palsy’s Emerging Leaders Academy.

Dr. Marie Acierno, a professor of clinical ophthalmology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, who maintains a clinical practice in Baton Rouge, is among 54 people accepted to the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women.

Harold W. Bagley, an electrical and instrumentation instructor at ABC’s Pelican Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, was named 2012 Craft Instructor of the Year by the national organization.

Andrew Alch, a process technology student at ITI Technical College, has been named the Baton Rouge chapter of Executive Women International’s Thomas F. Airhart Adult Students in Scholastic Transition scholarship winner. The scholarship provides financial support and guidance to adults in the community who are in a variety of transitional situations and identify their career goals and objectives along with meeting the necessary educational and financial requirements.

The National Associated Builders and Contractors has presented ISC of Baton Rouge a National Safety Excellence Award in the specialty contractor category, based on self-evaluation scores, lost workday case rates, total recordable rates and interviews conducted by members of ABC’s national environment, health and safety committee. ISC is an industrial instrumentation, electrical and heat-tracing company offering construction, maintenance and engineering services.

Meredith Blackwell, the Boyd professor of biological sciences at LSU, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her research involves isolating yeasts and other microbes from the gut of insects, especially wood-feeding beetles, with potential uses of rare enzymes in pulping wood and fermenting wood components into alcohol and other chemicals.

The Association for Corporate Growth Louisiana has named winners of its fifth annual business awards: outstanding corporate growth, Ochsner Health System; emerging growth company, Peter A. Mayer Advertising Inc.; deal of the year, Hancock Holding Co.’s merger of Hancock Bank and Whitney Bank; dealmaker of the year, Superior Energy Services Inc. and CEO David Dunlap for the acquisition of Complete Production Services Inc.; and lifetime achievement award, John P. Laborde Sr.

A collaborative project that involves LSU and Southern University called MARSLIFE is on the cover of the April 2012 issue of Discover. The project — Modes of Adaptation, Resistance and Survival for Life Inhabiting a freeze-dried-radiation-bathed Environment — studies earthly microorganisms that tolerate conditions similar to those found in extra-terrestrial environments such as Mars. A group of researchers, including LSU physicists and biologists, more than 20 undergraduate and graduate students, plus collaborators from Southern University, Louisiana Tech, NASA-Ames and Aarhus University in Denmark, are involved in the project.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Recreation and Park Commission has received a 2012 Excellence in Planning Award from the National Association of Recreation Resource Planners. BREC won for “The Imagine Your Parks — Strategic Plan,” which since 2004 has charted the course for the parish’s 155 indoor and outdoor park and recreation facilities. The plan contains recommendations that address park and open space planning, recreation program development, operations and maintenance issues and funding requirements.