Business

The University of Maryland is teaming up with the University of Michigan to develop virtual reality technology that could “fundamentally change medicine.” The federal government is spending $4.75 million through the National Science Foundation to establish the Center for Medical Innovations in Extended Reality, or MIXR, the University of Maryland School of Medicine announced Monday.

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport has reopened its Express Parking lot just in time for the summer travel season. The lot provides 1,400 additional parking spaces for travelers as air travel rebounds. The lot was closed in March 2020 due to low traffic in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Preakness may be a gathering centered around horse racing, but for Baltimore native Lacey Johansson, who has been attending festivities for decades, the hats steal the show. “I just liked the hats, and it’s a special day for Baltimore, and it’s the best day to be in Baltimore,” said Johansson, 42, who attended the pre-Preakness Black-Eyed Susan event as a toddler and grew up going to the horse races nearly every year. “It’s just a lot of fun to get dressed up and take the time to think about what you’re going to wear.”

James F. Knott, CEO of the family-owned Knott Realty Group, started in real estate as a teenager, learning how to lay bricks for his brother’s home construction company in Northeast Batlimore. Today, the 75-year-old is among a class of well-respected commercial real estate veterans who have sculpted decades-long careers shaping the Baltimore landscape with industrial, retail and residential developments. Knott Realty has development, construction, property management and leasing divisions today and is based in Timonium off Interstate 83.

A Towson University startup that aims to be the “Waze” for bar hopping captured $12,500 in a national entrepreneurship competition. Let’s Tap In, the brainchild of Ryan Rutkowski and Conrad Brake, beat out 25 other companies to win the $10,000 top prize during the pitch slam portion of e-Fest at the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship in Minneapolis in late April. The duo won an additional $2,500 during another competition at the festival. The two said they will use the money to help increase the number of features in the Let’s Tap In app and expand its event business.

In its newest initiative to support entrepreneurship in Baltimore, T. Rowe Price is supplying small business and nonprofit leaders with a resource only it can provide — access to T. Rowe employees and alumni. T. Rowe Price’s Moonshot program, delivered in partnership with Baltimore Corps, provided training and mentorship from T. Rowe employees and partners, as well as funding, to four nonprofits and four for-profit startups in the area, all of which are led by Black founders. The organizations were given the opportunity to receive advice and training on any topic they needed assistance with, be it pitching, finance or technology.

Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates resumed their ascent this week, as the key 30-year loan reached its highest point since 2009. The increases came in the week preceding the widely anticipated action by the Federal Reserve, announced Wednesday, to intensify its fight against the worst inflation in 40 years by raising its benchmark interest rate by a half-percentage point and signaling further large rate hikes to come. The Fed’s move, its most aggressive since 2000, will bring higher costs for mortgages as well as credit cards, auto loans and other borrowing for individuals and businesses.