Transcript Funding Opportunities - Bio-Link

Conference Report:
Educating Biotechnicians for
Future Industry Needs
BIO Community College Day 2008
June 16, 2008
V. Celeste Carter
Program Director
[email protected]
DUE Mission Statement
To promote excellence in undergraduate
science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) education for all
students.
DUE:
agent of change, leads NSF efforts to achieve excellent
STEM undergraduate education for all students
creates, develops, and manages programs that enable
institutions to expand the professional STEM workforce
and strengthen scientific literacy for citizens
ATE
 promotes improvement in the education of science
and engineering technicians at the undergraduate
and secondary school level and the educators who
prepare them, focusing on technicians for hightechnology fields that drive the nation’s economy.
 ATE is in its 16th year of funding community
colleges, having started with the Science and
Advanced Technology Act of 1992 (SATA).
 Biotechnology
 Bio-Link Resource Center
 Northeast Biomanufacturing Center and
Collaborative
 Projects
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5464&org=DUE&from=home
Educating Technicians for Future Industry Needs
Scottsdale, AZ
April 28-30
Industry needs for the next five years - health, medical,
agriculture, industrial and environmental biotechnology,
and emerging areas.
Employers’ needs span degree offerings from high school,
community college, and 4-yr institutions.
Focus on expectations for entry-level technicians, and
community colleges role for traditional students as well as
post-baccalaureate students, who may have advanced
degrees in science but lack the laboratory skills they need
to gain employment in the biotechnology industry.
Recommendations
 Many directed at community colleges, but
the recommendations also impact other
colleges, universities, secondary schools,
government agencies and the biotechnology
industry.
 Grounded in the understanding that
biotechnology educational programs should
develop exemplary technical skills in
students and give students a thorough
working knowledge of biotechnology
applications. To these priorities, the
conference participants recommended that:
Curriculum Recommendations
 Instruction in written and verbal communication, and
“soft skills” such as teamwork and time management
 Core curriculum courses transfer and articulate: high
school to 2-year and 4-year degree programs
 Strong theoretical understanding of entire
manufacturing process encompassing upstream and
downstream processes
 Introduction of emerging technologies in basic
biotechnology courses
 Redesign of microbiology and biology curriculum to
include applications in industrial and environmental
biotechnology.
Program Recommendations
 Industry externships - faculty, secondary school
teachers and guidance counselors
 Faculty teams - bring resources and professional
expertise to colleges starting biotechnology
programs
 Multi-disciplinary programs for cross-training of
college faculty and students (e.g., microelectronics as
it relates to emerging diagnostic technologies, and material
sciences as it relates to emerging biofuels)
 Parallel analysis of skills from different sub-fields
to support and inform retooling and retraining
programs to enable biotechnicians to shift fields
within the rapidly emerging industry.
Educational Institution Recommendations
 Clear articulated career pathways from middle
school and high school to community college and
four-year biotechnology programs
 A process to reach agreement on standards for
accreditation of biotechnology programs and
certification of academic credentials for
biotechnicians
 Community college food and agriculture programs
that incorporate biotechnology in
multidisciplinary approaches to technician
education as articulated by community college
leaders in a future meeting to be convened by
NSF
Relationship and Partnership
Recommendations
 Between educational institutions,
industry, and state and federal
agencies
 Regional biotechnology efforts that
prepare individuals with cross-over
skills that are utilized by particular
industries located in multiple states.
Marketing and communication
Recommendations
 Raise industry awareness of existing biotechnology
programs including biotechnology graduate employee successes
 Create innovative marketing strategies to recruit students
into biotechnology programs.
 Improve understanding of biotechnology by
engage students in cross-disciplinary approaches that
bring biotech professionals to campus for career seminars
and classroom lessons in an array of STEM courses
identify national models of educational partnerships with
industry and create case studies to publicize these
successful models
Next Steps

Conference participants initiated small
working groups to plan next steps.

Participants identified additional individuals in
the community who might aid in accomplishing
the recommendations.

AACC publish a report (Aug 1) with summaries
of the panel presentations and more details on
the recommendations.

Note: some recommendations may require
relatively minor revisions to existing
biotechnology education programs. Others will
involve additional resources, and some may
require initial external funding.
NSF Awards Search:
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/
Division of Undergraduate Education
http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=DUE
Project Information Resource System
Additional Information
2-page Meeting Notes available on Bio-Link
web site and here at conference
Conference paper available on AACC website
(Aug 2008) and hard copies will also be
available