3 Houston innovators to know this week

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This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Sarah Groen of Bell & Bly Travel, Alex Reed of Fluence Analytics, and Bettina Beech of UH. Courtesy photos

Editor's note: In this week's roundup of Houston innovators to know, I'm introducing you to three local innovators across industries — from travel to analytics— recently making headlines in Houston innovation.

Sarah Groen, founder of Bell and Bly Travel

Sarah Groen, travel entrepreneur and longtime Houston tech ecosystem member, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast. Photo courtesy of Bell and Bly Travel

It's been a scary time for travel-related businesses, and Sarah Groen has had to get innovative to maintain her business as a travel adviser. Lucky for Groen, who has a long career in tech and innovation, she had all the right pivots, including offering digital travel packages, launching a new podcast, and more.

"During COVID, a lot of businesses either shutdown or took a pause, but we accelerated," Groen says.

Groen her career on the Houston Innovators Podcast. She also gives some strategic advice for founders — like trusting your gut and reading the signs when it comes to product-market fit — on the podcast. Click here to read more and stream the episode.

Alex Reed, co-founder and CEO of Fluence Analytics

Alex Reed joined InnovationMap for a Q&A on the company's move to Houston and its growth plans. Photo courtesy of Fluence Analytics

Alex Reed watched his father work in the labs on his research as he grew up, but he realized his future wasn't in the lab. Instead, he launched a career in taking that research and turning it into a company.

Founded in 2012 in New Orleans, Fluence Analytics has entered its next phase of growth by moving its headquarters to Houston following a $7.5 million venture capital raise.

We're working with the Houston of today, but also the Houston of tomorrow," Reed tells InnovationMap in a Q&A. Click here to read more.

Bettina Beech, chief population health officer at the University of Houston

Bettina Beech is a newly named AIM-AHEAD coordinating center team member. Photo via UH.edu

The University of Houston has joined in on a national initiative to increase the diversity of artificial intelligence researchers, according to a news release from the school. Unfortunately, AI — designed by humans — mimics human decision making through its choice of algorithms. This means that the same biases humans deal with have made it into the AI decision making too. These gaps can lead to continued disparities and inequities for underrepresented communities especially in regards to health care, job hiring, and more.

"Beyond health care, AI has been used in areas from facial recognition to self-driving cars and beyond, but there is an extreme lack of diversity among the developers of AI/ML tools. Many studies have shown that flawed AI systems and algorithms perpetuate gender and racial biases and have resulted in untoward outcomes," says Bettina Beech, chief population health officer at the University of Houston and newly named AIM-AHEAD coordinating center team member.

The initiative will bring together collaborators and experts across AI and machine learning, health equity research, data science training, data infrastructure and more. The other universities involved include: University of Colorado-Anschutz Medical Center in Aurora; University of California, Los Angeles; Meharry Medical College in Nashville; Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta; Johns Hopkins University, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Click here to read more.

Sarah Groen, travel entrepreneur and longtime Houston tech ecosystem member, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast. Photo courtesy of Bell and Bly Travel

Innovative travel adviser talks Houston tech and advice for female founders

houston innovators podcast episode 104

When the pandemic hit, it's safe to say that everyone in the travel industry panicked. Sarah Groen, who founded her company Bell and Bly Travel in 2017, caters her expertise to planning luxury travel experiences, and she didn't want her clients to forget about her expertise as the uncertainty of the pandemic continued. So, she got creative.

"Every single client who had a trip canceled, we sent them a digital package to help them feel like they were traveling," Groen says on this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast. For example, if a client's trip to Italy canceled, Groen and her staff provided links to recipes of Italian dishes, virtual museum tours, and more.

"We didn't make money on that," Groen says. "We spent money to be able to have the bandwidth to be able to do that for our clients."

It's during this time thar Groen also launched her podcast, Luxury Travel Insider, where she gathers experts to discuss destinations.

It's these innovative endeavors that put Groen and Bell and Bly Travel on the map for Virtuoso's award — which Groen describes as the Oscars of the travel industry. She took home the title of "most innovative travel advisor" at the 2021 awards.

"During COVID, a lot of businesses either shutdown or took a pause, but we accelerated," Groen says.

The award is incredibly special to Groen she says especially to her background in tech. A native Houstonian, Groen went to the West Coast for her education. Despite loving her hometown, she says she returned kicking and screaming because she wanted to do something entrepreneurial, and Houston didn't yet have much to speak of in terms of a startup ecosystem.

So, like any good entrepreneur who sees a need in the market, she did it herself and co-founded Surge, an energy-focused accelerator. But it was a struggle to get momentum.

"But at that time, we couldn't even get the mayor to pay attention to us. We had people applying to our program and moving their companies from other cities and countries in some cases," Groen says. "But I think Surge starting was a big turning point."

Surge — which was co-founded by Kirk Coburn, who now is the investment director for Shell Ventures — officially shut down in 2016.

But things have changed within the Houston innovation ecosystem, and Groen discusses the transformation as she's observed it on the show. She also gives some strategic advice for founders — like trusting your gut and reading the signs when it comes to product-market fit — on the podcast. Listen to the full interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.


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Houston-based HPE wins $931M contract to upgrade military data centers

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Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), based in Spring, Texas, which provides AI, cloud, and networking products and services, has received a $931 million contract to modernize data centers run by the federal Defense Information Systems Agency.

HPE says it will supply distributed hybrid multicloud technology to the federal agency, which provides combat support for U.S. troops. The project will feature HPE’s Private Cloud Enterprise and GreenLake offerings. It will allow DISA to scale and accelerate communications, improve AI and data analytics, boost IT efficiencies, reduce costs and more, according to a news release from HPE.

The contract comes after the completion of HPE’s test of distributed hybrid multicloud technology at Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) data centers in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and Ogden, Utah. This technology is aimed at managing DISA’s IT infrastructure and resources across public and private clouds through one hybrid multicloud platform, according to Data Center Dynamics.

Fidelma Russo, executive vice president and general manager of hybrid cloud at HPE, said in a news release that the project will enable DISA to “deliver innovative, future-ready managed services to the agencies it supports that are operating across the globe.”

The platform being developed for DISA “is designed to mirror the look and feel of a public cloud, replicating many of the key features” offered by cloud computing businesses such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, according to The Register.

In the 1990s, DISA consolidated 194 data centers into 16. According to The Register, these are the U.S. military’s most sensitive data centers.

More recently, in 2024, the Fort Meade, Maryland-based agency laid out a five-year strategy to “simplify the network globally with large-scale adoption of command IT environments,” according to Data Center Dynamics.

Astros and Rockets launch new streaming service for Houston sports fans

Sports Talk

Houston sports fans now have a way to watch their favorite teams without a cable or satellite subscription. Launched December 3, the Space City Home Network’s SCHN+ service allows consumers to watch the Houston Astros and Houston Rockets via iOS, Apple TV, Android, Amazon Fire TV, or web browser.

A subscription to SCHN+ allows sports fans to watch all Astros and Rockets games, as well as behind-the-scenes features and other on-demand content. It’s priced at $19.99 per month or $199.99 annually (plus tax). People who watch Space City Network Network via their existing cable or satellite service will be able to access SCHN+ at no additional charge.

As the Houston Chronicle notes, the Astros and Rockets were the only MLB and NBA teams not to offer a direct-to-consumer streaming option.

“We’re thrilled to offer another great option to ensure fans have access to watch games, and the SCHN+ streaming app makes it easier than ever to cheer on the Rockets,” Rockets alternate governor Patrick Fertitta said in a statement.

“Providing fans with a convenient way to watch their favorite teams, along with our network’s award-winning programming, was an essential addition. This season feels special, and we’re committed to exploring new ways to elevate our broadcasts for Rockets fans to enjoy.”

Astros owner Jim Crane echoed Feritta’s comments, adding, “Providing fans options on how they view our games is important as we continue to grow the game – we want to make it accessible to as large an audience as possible. We are looking forward to the 2026 season and more Astros fans watching our players compete for another championship.”

SCHN+ is available to customers in Texas; Louisiana; Arkansas; Oklahoma; and the following counties in New Mexico: Dona Ana, Eddy, Lea, Chaves, Roosevelt, Curry, Quay, Union, and Debaca. Fans outside these areas will need to subscribe to the NBA and MLB out-of-market services.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Rice University researchers unveil new model that could sharpen MRI scans

MRI innovation

Researchers at Rice University, in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have developed a new model that could lead to sharper imaging and safer diagnostics using magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.

In a study recently published in The Journal of Chemical Physics, the team of researchers showed how they used the Fokker-Planck equation to better understand how water molecules respond to contrast agents in a process known as “relaxation.” Previous models only approximated how water molecules relaxed around contrasting agents. However, through this new model, known as the NMR eigenmodes framework, the research team has uncovered the “full physical equations” to explain the process.

“The concept is similar to how a musical chord consists of many notes,” Thiago Pinheiro, the study’s first author, a Rice doctoral graduate in chemical and biomolecular engineering and postdoctoral researcher in the chemical sciences division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said in a news release. “Previous models only captured one or two notes, while ours picks up the full harmony.”

According to Rice, the findings could lead to the development and application of new contrast agents for clearer MRIs in medicine and materials science. Beyond MRIs, the NMR relaxation method could also be applied to other areas like battery design and subsurface fluid flow.

“In the present paper, we developed a comprehensive theory to interpret those previous molecular dynamics simulations and experimental findings,” Dilipkumar Asthagiri, a senior computational biomedical scientist in the National Center for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said in the release. ”The theory, however, is general and can be used to understand NMR relaxation in liquids broadly.”

The team has also made its code available as open source to encourage its adoption and further development by the broader scientific community.

“By better modeling the physics of nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation in liquids, we gain a tool that doesn’t just predict but also explains the phenomenon,” Walter Chapman, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice, added in the release. “That is crucial when lives and technologies depend on accurate scientific understanding.”

The study was backed by The Ken Kennedy Institute, Rice Creative Ventures Fund, Robert A. Welch Foundation and Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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