Two Indiana University-related finalists were recognized at the 2018 TechPoint Mira Awards ceremony in Indianapolis on April 28. The awards celebrate the state’s success stories in the technology sector.

Informatics Diversity-Enhanced Workforce, or iDEW, won in the Tech Educator of the Year category. Ellie Symes, CEO of The Bee Corp., was named the Rising Star Award winner.

iDEW is a collaborative initiative between three Indianapolis high schools, Arsenal Technical High School, Pike High School and Providence Cristo Rey High School; community partners; and the IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI. iDEW seeks to increase the diversity and number of high school students who pursue degrees in computing and information technology, especially students from low-income families, racial minorities and females.

A five-minute video about iDEW is available on the School of Informatics and Computing’s YouTube channel. An article about iDEW winning the award, including judges’ thoughts, is also available online.

Ellie Symes co-founded The Bee Corp. with fellow IU Bloomington alumni Simon Kuntz and Wyatt Wells. The agriculture technology startup addresses food security issues across the nation by commercializing sensors that monitor honeybee hive health. The company won $100,000 in the Building Entrepreneurs in Software and Technology, or BEST, Competition in 2016. The company received a round of Series A funding in 2017 and received an SBIR grant from the National Science Foundation shortly afterward. It has launched two products: Queen’s Guard, which alerts the beekeeper when it detects a non-laying queen, and QGPS, which alerts beekeepers and local authorities about stolen hives.

An article about Symes winning the award, including judges’ thoughts, is available online.

Congratulations to iDEW and Ellie Symes on this recognition!