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The SFCC Innovation Center: a center for bioscience innovation and sustainable technology, serving as both a business incubator and a dynamic learning environment for SFCC students. Through strategic public-private partnerships, students gain hands-on experience with real-world applications, while entrepreneurs and technology-driven companies benefit from a supportive, collaborative space to grow and scale.
Established under the New Mexico University Research Park Act, the Innovation Center plays a vital role in advancing regional workforce development. It continues to expand community connections to the SFCC campus, building on its foundation in biological research and development—including biofuels, controlled environment agriculture, and algae cultivation. As the Center broadens its focus to include energy and engineering initiatives, such as solar power, microgrid technologies, and smart facilities management, it engages in micro credentialing and grant initiatives that support rapid training for SFCC students in targeted regional growth industries.
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Ondine Frauenglass, Director
Ondine Frauenglass leads the SFCC Innovation Center, overseeing business partnership development, project management, and facilities coordination. Since stepping into the role in 2020, she has drawn on over a decade of experience in bioenergy and algae cultivation at both state and national levels. Her background also includes developing curriculum for two-year technical college programs, with a focus on emerging technologies and workforce readiness. Frauenglass holds a B.A. from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. ondine.frauenglass@sfcc.edu
Innovation Center Partners and Projects:
Partner websites, SFCC Programs, and Student Opportunities
- Apogee Spirulina Microfarming: small batch artisan method of cultivation
- Bioscience Core Skills Institute (BCSI) : Biotech microcredentials for students. Professional development for instructors.
- New Mexico Venture Studios …support entrepreneurs and create jobs to establish central New Mexico as a vibrant core for clean and biotech innovation.
- Pebble Labs Delivering the power of RNA for food production
- Phos Hilaron innovative antenna engineering
- Richard P. Feynman Center for Innovation – Los Alamos National Labs: experiments in plant bacterial health
- The Algae Foundation and ATEC: Algae Technology Educational Consortium: Online classes, onsite labs, Microcredentials at SFCC
- Pending: New Mexico Innovation Hub (NMIH) : Exploring collaborations for expansion of SFCC programing.
GerminATE: Growing the Future of Indoor Farming: a National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF/ATE) project focused on expanding opportunities in
Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)—also known as indoor farming.
The initiative supports rural, minority, and Indigenous communities by creating inclusive pathways from high school to careers in CEA. Through expanded technical training and hands-on internships, GerminATE is helping to build a skilled, diverse workforce prepared to meet the growing demand in sustainable food production.
EPSCoR TRI-CEA: Community Resilience Through Indoor Agriculture: advances the science and real-world application of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) as a strategy for long-term community resilience. From community gardens to high-tech greenhouses, the project explores scalable solutions that support rural communities in strengthening food security, adapting to change, and driving economic growth.
NSF Engines, RALI WEST- Resilience and Innovation for the Southwest: partnering with underserved communities to co-create solutions that integrate Indigenous knowledge and holistic design. The goal: to develop and commercialize technologies that deliver clean water, decarbonized energy, and inclusive economic growth across the Southwestern U.S.
SFCC Students can participate in internships and are eligible for paid positions through the SFCC/ LANL Foundation PILAS paid internship program.
There are openings for the right student with current Innovation Center business partners and organizations:
Biotech: Mercury Bio, Trait, Pebble Labs
Controlled Environment Agriculture: SFCC CEA and Garden, LANL
The Innovation Center has Current internships with
- EPSCoR
- Los Alamos National Labs- Richard P. Feynman Center for Innovation
- US Department of Entergy’s Algae Prize competition
and Previous Internships with Apogee Spirulina, BHP, Lithified Technologies, Lucendi, The new Mexico Consortium, NTx-Natures toolbox, and WSP Global
Avisa Diagnostics: rapid respiratory infection detection
BHP Groundwater remediation of legacy mine sites
Desert Verde Farm Indoor, vertical, aquaponics
Integrated Solar Technologies Manufacturing ISTM Off grid combined cVP, solar thermal and broadband
Lithified Technologies US Los Alamos National Lab – Earthliner Project: Environmentally friendly algae pond liners
Love, Tito’s: Farm to table- Culinary Arts Garden project
Lucendi AI-enabled smart measurement systems Mercury Bio
NTx, Nature’s Toolbox: Faster, purer production of biologic material.
The New Mexico Consortium Research collaborations: Universities, Industry, and LANL
Trait Pioneers in water soluble cannabinoids
UbiQD Quantum Dot Innovations in Agriculture, Clean Energy, and Security
WSP …plan, design, create and deliver innovative projects that shape the world
Luke Spangenburg Memorial Presidential Endowed Scholarship
The SFCC Innovation Center honors the memory and the work of Founding Director, Luke Spangenburg, through a scholarship for Algae and Sustainability Studies. Click here for more information.
