ATE Biotechnology Projects

There is a renewed sense of urgency to develop a more diverse workforce in STEM-related fields. This project focuses on community college students from groups that are not yet equitably represented in STEM. These communities have also been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most workforce interventions to prepare students for technical positions have been based on the premise that the students simply need targeted skill training and tips on behavioral norms to be successful in these workplace cultures. This “student deficit” model puts the burden on the newcomer to navigate ... Read more

This project meets a growing industry demand for skilled bioscience technicians, specifically at the College's industry partner, Charles River Laboratories. The primary goal of the grant will be to create an evening cohort of students drawn from Charles River Laboratories that work day shift and take evening courses to advance into higher level positions. A secondary benefit of this grant will be the generation and promotion of a pathway for students from a career center (Ashland County West Holmes Career Center) to a two-year institution (North Central State College), or to one of two four- ... Read more

In response to changing agriculture priorities, the plant/agricultural biotechnology industry is growing in the California Central Coast region. Individuals from Hispanic communities continue to be underrepresented in biotechnology. This project is led by Alan Hancock College, a rural, federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution in central California. The project is designed to increase the participation of individuals from Hispanic communities in plant/agricultural biotechnology. To do so, the project team will develop stackable credentials that prepare students to enter the region’s ... Read more

This project aims to serve the national need for a well-prepared biotechnology workforce. It will do so by developing new lab modules based on industry-recognized skills for each course in the biology major sequence. Students will be able to earn badges that certify their mastery of each workforce-relevant skill. Accumulation of badges will lead to Certificates of Completion, which will provide concise information about a student's proficiencies. This approach incorporates technician education into a traditional biology program that has a current focus on preparation of its graduates for ... Read more

The number of Southeastern Pennsylvania companies that develop and manufacture gene therapies and cell therapies has increased. As a result, a regional need exists for highly skilled technicians in these fields, especially in the commercial manufacturing area. This project aims to address this need by increasing the number of graduates from local community colleges who enter this advanced therapy field. Montgomery County Community College (MCCC) is the lead institution in the Northeast Biomanufacturing Center and Collaborative. It has an extensive track record in developing and disseminating ... Read more

Although technical training at community colleges can prepare students for work in the biotechnology industry, industry and academic employers are sometimes hesitant to hire students with less than bachelor-level degrees. Successful internship programs that integrate work-based learning and undergraduate research experiences can increase the competitiveness of community college-trained students for these positions. The City College of San Francisco (CCSF) is collaborating with the Office of Career Planning and Development at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to address this ... Read more

This project aims to coordinate a network of stakeholders that will promote economic growth through workforce development in Advanced Manufacturing of Cell and Tissue-based Products (CAMCTP). CAMCTP requires a new kind of manufacturing that uses robotics, microfluidics, 3-D printing, computational modeling, and novel types of engineering to construct biologically relevant products composed of living cells in combination with natural or synthetic materials. The field is built upon advances in stem cell biology, genome editing, synthetic biology, computational modeling, micro- and nano- ... Read more

The growth of Texas companies that manufacture biological products on a contract basis has created a local and regional workforce need. This project proposes to serve this growing biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry by developing an advanced biomanufacturing certificate and educating a skilled and diverse biomanufacturing technical workforce. The new certificate will be designed to incorporate interactive and inquiry-based laboratory learning and to provide students with real world experience with biotechnical/biomanufacturing equipment. The project will also implement new strategies for ... Read more

The United States Biotechnology Industry has increasing demand for jobs based on DNA sequencing technology. The U.S. DNA sequencing market is estimated at $2.8 billion dollars for 2020 and on-track to grow to $5 billion by 2027, a compound annual growth rate of 16.6%. Biotechnicians with specialized training to run DNA sequencing instrumentation are needed to fill the jobs in this growing sector. Texas currently has 63 DNA sequencing facilities, 60 of which are located within 250 miles of this workforce education project. To fulfill industry needs for trained technicians in this field, Austin ... Read more

The nation’s capital region, including Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., is an expanding hub of biotechnology innovation and industry. Consequently, the number of biotechnology jobs is projected to increase in the region, as well as nationally. Despite the growing workforce demand, the public has a limited understanding of the biotechnology field or its promising career options. In addition, high school students, including students from economically challenged, underrepresented, and/or rural backgrounds, have limited exposure to the range of possible college and career choices. This ... Read more

The California bioscience sector employs more 300,000 skilled technicians, as well as at least an additional 600,000 related workers. Though the pandemic has negatively impacted many businesses across the state, the bioscience sector continues to expand, including efforts to develop, test, treat, and prevent COVID-19 infection. This project at Los Angeles Mission College focuses on two pressing needs: the acute industry demand for biotechnology lab assistants and technicians due to the pandemic, and the need of many individuals who lost their jobs to find new, sustainable employment. The ... Read more

This project aims to serve the national need for a highly skilled technical workforce by improving biotechnology student education. The biotechnology industry in Florida is expanding, with growth that is more than twice the national average. The College intends to expand its biotechnology program to meet this growing need. Specifically, the project plans to improve biotechnology education by updating and revitalizing the current biotechnology internship experience. Internships offer students critical learning and workforce experiences, helping them to develop essential employability skills. ... Read more

The number of biomanufacturing companies in the United States is upwards of 350 and growing. The demand for advanced technology technicians educated in the skills, knowledge and attributes of biomanufacturing remains high and is currently not being met by 4-year college graduates entering the job market. "The Report and Survey of Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity and Production" recognized the importance of community college biomanufacturing programs in educating this workforce, and this Center will continue to create local infrastructures and a national network to support the ... Read more

Advances at the intersection of biomedical devices and tissue engineering are creating new workforce demands for advanced technological education. With the development of combination devices, sensors, photonics, and implantable systems, employers need technician-specialists who understand more than classical biological and chemical sciences and traditional engineering. The emerging technician-specialist will also need to understand fundamental principles of electronics engineering, mechanical engineering, nanotechnology, optics, photonics, and process-control/quality assurance. Through its ... Read more

The rapid expansion of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing into every subdiscipline of biomedical research requires concomitant training of qualified technicians. The Technician Training in Gene Editing (TTiGE) project addresses this need through a collaboration between instructors at Delaware Technical Community College (DTCC) and scientists at the Gene Editing Institute (GEI). Through this partnership, the latest techniques and applications of gene editing being used in the research settings of GEI will be integrated into student-centered curriculum in several courses in the DTCC Biotechnology program ... Read more