High Tech in Laramie

January 8, 2020
large building
Cirrus Sky Technology Park

Silicon Valley might be synonymous with innovation and invention, but it’s not the only place where software engineers can make contributions to an increasingly technological world. University of Wyoming graduates might not even need to travel far from their alma mater to do so.

UL opened a new information technology center in Laramie in 2014. At the time, it was nestled in the Wyoming Technology Business Center and supported a team of just four people. By 2016, that team had grown to 12. Today, the UL Laramie center employs a growing team of 28 people and spans two buildings in the Cirrus Sky Technology Park.

Randal Six, IT director for the center and UW graduate, has been with the team since the beginning. He says the center is more than 80 percent UW alumni—and more than 90 percent of the team has connections to UW.

“You don’t often think of Laramie as a place to begin a high-tech career, so the opportunity that we can provide is quite exciting,” he says. “At the end of the day, we get to do all this from Laramie. But if it wasn’t for UW, I think you could argue that we wouldn’t have that talent pool.”

UL is a global corporation that has tested, inspected and certified about 22 billion products globally. The center in Laramie develops software to support the testing of those services.

“So, the work that we’re doing is critical to UL’s core business,” Six explains.

That critical work offers UW graduates a chance to stay in Laramie after graduation. Currently, the state exports about 60 percent of its young people. Some of that comes from high school graduates pursuing work in other places, but some of those who leave are highly trained and qualified UW graduates.

“UW has been fantastic at creating talent—and then they have to leave Wyoming,” Six says. “This is an opportunity to reverse that trend and, as we continue to grow, I only see that trend getting stronger and stronger.”

Six’s affinity for UW and Laramie began during his student days, as he worked toward a bachelor’s, then a master’s in mechanical engineering.

Six launched a startup in Laramie called Firehole Technologies, where he fell in love with software development. He moved from there to Integrated Design Engineering Systems, which was later acquired by UL in 2012 as part of an effort to start developing its software in-house, rather than through contracting. Six says he and his spouse were “kicking and screaming” to stay in Laramie when they started Firehole, and that commitment is now paying off.

“I had the opportunity to stay here in Laramie,” he says. “There might be others who started in Laramie, but had to move away and would love the opportunity to come back.”

Six hopes the IT center in Laramie, just now settling into its second building and continuing to grow, will bring some of those alumni back, while continuing to offer opportunities for recent and future graduates.

 

 

Contact Us

Institutional Communications
Bureau of Mines Building, Room 137
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-2929
Email: cbaldwin@uwyo.edu


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