April 26, 2022 – Earlier this month, we announced that Jonathan Fischer, ARM Institute IT Director, had been recognized as a finalist for the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Rising Star IT Award. At an award ceremony on April 26, Jonathan was announced as the winner of this award! This prestigious award recognizes the top up-and-coming IT talent in the Pittsburgh region.
Jonathan Fischer has rapidly risen at the ARM Institute. Jonathan joined the Institute shortly after our inception in 2017 as the IT Manager and was quickly promoted to Director, Information Technology. With more than 15 years of experience, Jonathan is key to the ARM Institute’s success. Jonathan holds a Master of Science in Information System from the University of Pittsburgh.
In his role, Jonathan led the creation of the ARM Institute’s digital Member Community – a robust online platform that connects stakeholders from across the Institute’s 300+ member organization consortium and government stakeholders (Department of Defense, Department of Labor, and others). This platform gives ARM Institute Members and government contacts access to consortium developed intellectual property (CDIP) from ARM Institute-funded projects, enables Members to submit project proposals for funding, and provides virtual networking and collaboration capabilities through a Member Directory, closed Group collaboration functionality, and more. Jonathan’s specific contributions this digital Community allows Members to leverage and build upon project outputs – directly enabling wide industry impact. Jonathan annually leads a large-scale effort to add additional functionality to the Member Community.
Additionally, Jonathan ensures that the ARM Institute is in compliance with changing government standards to provide the highest level of cybersecurity for Institute outputs and information. As a Department of Defense funded Institute, these activities are absolutely critical.
When COVID-19 shut down in-person operations in March 2020, Jonathan had the unique task of not only ensuring that ARM Institute’s standard operations could continue, but that our 300+ member consortium also had the tools they needed to continue working on projects and collaborating. Rapidly, Jonathan made new collaboration tools available and led webinars and video series on how Members could continue seamlessly working virtually with the ARM Institute.
Jonathan is also responsible for the ARM Institute’s IT infrastructure at our Mill 19 Headquarters in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood, from ensuring that robotics demonstrations on the high bay floor can work to facilitating the IT efforts for national (and often virtual) workshops at Mill 19.
Beyond his direct job responsibilities, Jonathan has also made an effort to engage with the Hazelwood Community. He has met with community leaders, attended community events, and engaged deeply with the ARM Institute’s Hazelwood outreach efforts.
Outside of his work with the ARM Institute, Jonathan has previously volunteered as the Vice Chair for South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh for the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh and volunteered with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.
“Jonathan works tirelessly to ensure that the ARM Institute is following ever-changing government and industry standards and that the ARM Institute – and national membership as a whole – has the tools we need to succeed and develop robotics and workforce innovations to secure our nation’s resiliency. From our inception, his expertise has been critical to the ARM Institute’s success.” – Jay Douglass, ARM Institute Chief Operating Officer and Jonathan’s Manager