Hollidaysburg grad creates first responder software
Foster part of team that developed program to aid crisis response
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When first responders and other emergency personnel can talk to each other more quickly in the field, they can respond better to the crisis they're confronting at the time.
That's why they've welcomed a software system Hollidaysburg native Stephanie Foster helped create that improves communication in crisis situations.
In 2011, Foster joined MIT Lincoln Laboratory to work on a project called the Next Generation Incident Command System. The project team worked with firefighters in California to understand how the software could help improve information sharing while battling wildland fires.
During the next decade, she and others continued to develop the software system at MIT LL, working with emergency response agencies domestically and internationally.
"NICS was developed to help responders more efficiently communicate and collaborate during all types of planned and unplanned events," Foster said.
For her efforts to adapt and deploy the NICS system in the Western Balkans, Foster received the Bringing Out the Best Award from MIT.
One nominator praised Foster's ability to get things done with a gracious attitude.
"Having a leader who is capable of big-picture thinking, but who sees herself as a team-member, and is willing to do what needs to be done, is incredibly inspiring to those of us who get to work with Steph," the nominator said.
"The opportunity to work with the civil protection agencies in the Western Balkans was truly inspiring for us,'' Foster said. "It motivated us to focus our attention on how we could use our technical skills to provide enhanced capabilities to the crisis management community."
In 2023, Foster left MIT and established her own company, Generation NYX, with co-founder Joaquin Avellan, who worked with her at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. They are committed to making their work accessible to crisis management agencies both domestically and internationally so that as many first responders as possible will be able to use their software system.
Their hope is that as people work with the system and find how it makes their job easier, they will want to tell others about it and spread the word across their emergency response network, Foster said.
"It's been incredible to witness how this one software system has the ability to unite people from around the world who work with it,'' she said.
Foster graduated from Hollidaysburg Area High School, where she was active in the arts and also an honors student.
Russell Stiles, who's now retired but for 30 years served as the Fine Arts chairperson for the Hollidaysburg Area School District, said Foster was "an amazing student'' who was "very conscientious, intelligent.''
She had roles in all of his plays while she was a student at the high school, he said.
"I think one of her qualities, too, was that she cared about everybody, she cared about her fellow students,'' Stiles said. "I can't say enough good things about her.''
Stiles also said Foster was an "amazing dancer'' when she was in high school. Foster continues to dance where she lives now in Rockford, Ill., although she said she doesn't perform as much anymore. She said she is active in the dance community in Rockford and teaches dances at the Rockford Dance Company.
Another former teacher, Jim Hancuff, also praised Foster as "an outstanding student'' who was "very reliable and always prepared for class.''
Hancuff taught math classes at Hollidaysburg high school for 35 years and also taught engineering and math students at the Penn State Altoona campus for many years.
"I was fortunate to have taught many talented students in my career and she was certainly one of them,'' he said.
Foster said she has fond memories of growing up in the area and gets home several times a year to visit her family and many relatives who live here, including her parents, Gail and Bob Allen, and her twin brother, Lance, and his family. Her younger sister, Lindsay, lives in Boston.
"I go home for a couple of weeks in the summer and for New Year's,'' she said. "I love Penn State football and I come home specifically for a game every year.''
Her parents said Foster has always been very goal-oriented and persistent in pursuing her dreams, but above all, she's also always been very kind to others along the way, even to people she didn't know.
"She's very compassionate, always thinking about others,'' her father said.
Her parents think it's this desire to help others that has led her to help develop the software system for first responders.
They said she still loves the arts, as shown by her continued participation in a dance company, but her main emphasis is finding ways to make life better for others by developing the software system.
"Truly this is what she's all about," her mom said. "She's doing what she wants to do, and it comes so easy to her."
The Foster file
Name: Stephanie Foster
Age: 43
Family: Husband, Brian; daughter, Lyla; parents, Gail and Bob Allen; twin brother, Lance; sister, Lindsay.
Education: Hollidaysburg Area High School graduate; B.S. from the University of Richmond
Career highlights: Software engineer at Northrop Grumman; member of the technical staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory; co-rounder and CEO of Generation NYX
Quote: "Only when our clever brain and our human heart work together in harmony can we achieve our true potential." -- Jane Goodall