Meet the Team

Matt is the Founder/Executive Director of the UMass Lowell Research Institute and Northstar Campus and Board Member of the UMass Lowell Applied Research Corporation.

The UMass Lowell Research Institute (UMLRI), located in Lincoln MA, is the Commonwealth’s newest Department of Defense emerging technology hub providing cradle to grave innovative solutions for our aerospace and defense industry partners and the DoD acquisition life cycle.  The Northstar Campus, a division of UMLRI, was created to accelerate early-stage technologies in support of local military installations and other similar initiatives nation-wide and across the Department of Defense.  Northstar serves to advance dual-use innovative and disruptive technologies by providing a platform to incubate, accelerate and decrease time to market. The newest addition of the 9,000 square foot NEXUS Center at Northstar Campus brings together a broad range of innovation and acquisition representatives from across the defense services and represents the first location in the country that these innovation entities from all services reside under one roof. Their presence in the facility enables businesses, non-profits, universities, and other Massachusetts entities to better understand and define DoD needs, requirements, and programs. The Nexus Center at Northstar Campus represents a new way of thinking of Defense and showcases regional technology and talent the DoD can leverage.

Matt spent 22 years in the Air Force and possesses over 30 years leading, performing and overseeing the daily operations and strategic planning of multiple departments at the Federal, State, DoD, and Higher Ed levels.  Since retirement from Active-Duty Matt spent several years with MassDevelopment in Boston running state-wide programs in support of the Governor’s financial and economic development policies within the aerospace and defense sector of Massachusetts for small business innovation research and manufacturing.  Matt came to UMass Lowell in 2016 to begin laying the groundwork for the UMass Lowell Research Institute.  The UMass Lowell Applied Research Corporation was officially established as a 501(c)3 Corporation in June 2020 and has recently expanded into their new 19,000 square feet facility in Lincoln, MA outside the back gate of Hanscom AFB, MA.   

 Alex Brickner

Alex is the Director of the UMass Lowell Research Institute SBIR Center of Excellence (COE), where he coaches small high-tech companies through the SBIR process to optimize the strategy, proposal writing, work plan, and cost plan.  Alex also leads several initiatives to promote digital and cyber workforce development and entrepreneurship within New England.  

During his entrepreneurial career Alex graduated from the MassChallenge Safety and Security program where he won multiple SBIRs totaling $1.85M.  The technology was successfully commercialized in one year through an additional $15M in Air Force mission support data integration contracts. 

Prior to his life as an entrepreneur, Alex earned a CPA and served for six years as a financial auditor and subject matter expert on enterprise resource management system implementation projects for a variety of manufacturing companies located around the Midwest. Alex holds a Bachelor of Science in Business with a specialization in Accounting from the Ohio State University.