Daily Business Report-May 9, 2016
Lockheed Martin illustration
Air Force Picks Defense Contractors
For GPS III Space Vehicles Studies
Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Lockheed Martin Selected
Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Lockheed Martin have received separate contracts to conduct readiness feasibility studies for the development of an 11th and succeeding GPS III space vehicles for the U.S. Air Force.
Each GPS III SV11+ Phase 1 Production Readiness Feasibility Assessment contract has a 26-month base value of $5 million and two six-month options worth up to $1 million combined, the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center said.
The contracts were awarded four months after the service branch posted the solicitation for proposals on the FedBizOpps website.
“The scope of these contracts include insight into each of the contractor’s readiness efforts in preparation for the Phase 2 competition for production SVs and includes access to design artifacts as well as a demonstration of navigation payload capability,” the Space and Missile Systems Center noted.
Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract to build eight GPS III satellites and works with Exelis on the satellite navigation technology.
The Air Force aims to build GPS III Space Vehicle 11 and successors via the current GPS III SV01–08 technical baseline and integrate nuclear detonation detection system, search-and-rescue and laser retro-reflector array government-furnished equipment hosted payloads into the space vehicles.
Follow-on space vehicles will also be designed with unified S-band compliance and regional military protection systems.
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Carlsbad’s TaylorMade
About to be Sold
By City News Service
Carlsbad-based golf equipment company TaylorMade and clothing manufacturer Ashworth Inc. may soon be sold off by its German parent company, Adidas.
Adidas announced last week that it planed to sell TaylorMade, Ashworth and Texas-based Adams golf brands and operations following a strategic review, although the sporting goods corporation will continue to make golf clothing and shoes, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
“TaylorMade is a very viable business,” Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer said. “However, we decided now is the time to focus even more on our core strength in the athletic footwear and apparel market.”
In 1997, Adidas purchased the company that owned TaylorMade. Golf shirt company Ashworth was purchased in 2008.
TaylorMade cut its global workforce by 15 percent after revenue dropped 13 percent last year, according to the Union-Tribune. Its first quarter sales were 1 percent lower than in the first quarter of 2015.
Community College District to Confer
Record Number of Associate Degrees
A record 3,500 Associate Degrees are being awarded this spring by San Diego City College, San Diego Mesa College, and San Diego Miramar College, according to the San Diego Community College District.
The total represents a nearly 7 percent increase from the number of degrees awarded last year, and a 45 percent increase from the 2,414 degrees awarded in 2014. Two of every three degrees conferred this year are being earned by students of color.
The district also is awarding 6,477 certificates at its three colleges and San Diego Continuing Education, an increase of 17 percent over last year.
Following is the schedule of commencements for the second largest community college district in California:
San Diego Miramar College will hold its 2016 commencement on Friday, May 13, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Hourglass Fieldhouse on campus. Keynote speaker will be San Diego Fire and Rescue Chief Brian Fennessy, who graduated from the Fire Academy and Miramar College in October of 1990. An estimated 870 associate degrees and 484 certificates of achievement will be awarded by the college. San Diego Miramar College is at 10440 Black Mountain Road, 92126,
San Diego Mesa College will hold its 2016 commencement on Saturday, May 14, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the University of San Diego’s Jenny Craig Pavilion. Rory Pullens, the former head of one of the nation’s top arts schools is San Diego Mesa College’s 2016 Distinguished Alumnus. Pullens for a decade led is the nationally renowned Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. He now serves as executive director of arts education for the Los Angeles Unified School District. An estimated 1,610 associate degrees and 368 certificates of achievement will be awarded by Mesa College.
San Diego City College will hold its graduation ceremony from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, May 20, at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. Among those scheduled to speak is student scholar Issanna Loughman, a 2016 New Century Scholar who was one of just 20 students across the nation named to the 2016 All-USA Community College Academic Team. The once-homeless psychology major is on the Dean’s List and has been inducted into two national honor societies, Psi Beta and Phi Theta Kappa. An estimated 1,058 associate degrees and 587 certificates of achievement will be awarded by the college.
San Diego Continuing Education will hold its graduation ceremony from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, May 27, at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. Taking part in the ceremony are students who have earned a high school diploma, a high school equivalency diploma, or a Continuing Education Certificate. One of California’s largest adult education divisions, more than 5,000 certificates alone will be awarded by Continuing Education this spring. The ceremonies are held in partnership with the San Diego Unified School District.
Researchers Discover How Zika
Virus Can Blunt Brain Development
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Zika virus infection in pregnant women can stunt neonatal brain development, leading to babies born with abnormally small heads, a condition known as microcephaly.
Now, for the first time, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have determined one way Zika infection can damage developing brain cells. The study, published May 6 in Cell Stem Cell, also shows that inhibiting this mechanism reduces brain cell damage, hinting at a new therapeutic approach to mitigating the effects of prenatal Zika virus infection.
Peter Silva Appointed to California
Fish and Game Commission
Peter Silva, 63, of Chula Vista, has been appointed to the California Fish and Game Commission by Gov. Jerry Brown. Silva has been president and chief executive officer at Silva-Silva International since 2011. He served as assistant administrator for water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2009 to 2011, senior policy adviser at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California from 2005 to 2009 and vice chair at the State Water Resources Control Board from 2000 to 2005.
Silva was deputy general manager at the Border Environment Cooperation Commission from 1997 to 2000 and served in several positions at the city of San Diego Public Utilities Department from 1987 to 1997, including deputy director for water utilities, assistant deputy director for the clean water program and civil engineer. He was a resident engineer at the International Boundary and Water Commission from 1983 to 1987. Silva was an engineer at the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board from 1982 to 1983, at the Otay Water District from 1980 to 1982 and at the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board from 1977 to 1980.
The position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Silva is a Democrat.
Cal State San Marcos to Bestow
Honorary Doctorate to Cartoonist
California State University San Marcos will award an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree to North County resident and cartoonist Greg Evans during a spring commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 21 at 1 p.m.
Evans, a nationally syndicated and award-winning cartoonist and creator of the strip “Luann,” is a strong advocate of arts education and a supporter of the university.
Since it began in 1985, “Luann” has earned a loyal following in more than 350 newspapers and has consistently ranked among the top five comic strips in reader surveys. In 2003, Evans received the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year, the highest award in cartooning.
Evan’s advocacy of and for adolescent girls and young women has been an ongoing theme of his work, and teenagers everywhere relate to his insightful humor and true-to-life characters. He has broached real issues that teens face from puberty, peer pressure, academic achievement, character building challenges, unrequited love, drugs and alcohol, all with kindness and a sense of humanity.
