InnovaBio-MD
Hagerstown, Maryland

What is InnovaBio?
InnovaBio-MD is our first partner community college to replicate Salt Lake Community College's InnovaBio Program.  Their program is based out of Hagerstown, Maryland.  For more information on their program please visit the InnovaBio-MD webpage..

The Biotechnology department at Hagerstown Community College was recently featured in the local Herald-Mail, a copy of this article is found Here.


Is InnovaBio for me?

Our mission is to enhance student education through legitimate corporate internships using peer-based learning.

OUR GOALS
1. Provide a challenging and exciting training environment for high school and college interns
2. Provide optimal access to all interns to increase success in their career path
3. Provide quality research services to contract company partners in a directed and timely fashion
4. Contribute to economic and workforce development for the State of Maryland

What are the facilities and equipment like?

The InnovaBio-MD Program is a unique career and technical education program aimed at training high school and college students for entry-level positions in the biotechnology industry.  It prepares students for immediate hands-on work in critical, high-impact industries in a way no other training program does.  InnovaBio-MD was modeled off of the Salt Lake Community College InnovaBio program. 

     The InnovaBio-MD program is housed in the Technical Innovation Center.  This building is used as a business incubator for small start-up companies.  There was a wet lab addition completed in 2008 specifically for biotechnology start-up companies.  There are 11 labs and 1 common lab providing shared equipment.  InnovaBio-MD occupies 2 of the labs and provides students with standard equipment for research. 

Because of the location of the facility, the students are also able to gain professional interactions with the four companies that are housed in the TIC wet-lab facility.  That will expand the scope of knowledge to different research projects as well as everyday operations of a functioning company.  What makes the InnovaBio-MD program special is its innovative partnership with research institutions and companies.  Projects for the interns in InnovaBio-MD are contracted from the outside agencies and further, the collaborative partners will contribute to the students learning by providing services such as instruction and guest lectures.

Where will class be held?

Our laboratories are located on the Hagerstown Community College campus, in the Technical Innovation Center.  The labs are room 119 and 120. 

The address is 11400 Robinwood Drive, Hagerstown, MD 21742


What are the credentials of the faculty and staff?

     Our laboratory is managed by:

Rick Ulrich
Director, InnovaBio-MD
Office: TIC 119
Phone: 301-790-2800 x616
Email: ulrichr@hagerstowncc.edu

Rick received a Bachelor’s degree from Clemson University in Microbiology in 1997 graduating Summa Cum Laude.  He went directly into a Ph.D program after completing his B.S. at Clemson University working to identify, clone, sequence and characterize a proposed lactacin B enhancer protein as well as partially characterize the Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. lactis ATCC 4797 genome by shotgun cloning.  He graduated in 1999 and worked as a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering and Science at Clemson University identifying the bacterial genes involved in the metabolism of vinyl chloride within various species of Pseudomonads.  In 2001, Rick moved to Maryland where he worked at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases using reverse genetics to develop live attenuated strains of Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei.  Rick joined the HCC team as the Director of InnovaBio-MD in August 2009.  Rick also holds a 100 TON USCG boat Captain’s license and works on a dinner cruise ship in Washington, DC when not in the lab.  In his spare time Rick likes to fish on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay on his center console fishing boat or in the islands of the Bahamas.


Contact information

Questions, comments, concerns, or more?  Tell us about it.

Rick Ulrich
Director, InnovaBio-MD

Office: TIC, Room 119
Phone: 301-790-2800 x616

Fax: 301-393-3694
Email: ulrichr@hagerstowncc.edu
InnovaBio Application Salt Lake Community College Application