Bioscience Education-to-Employment

The burgeoning bioscience industry in the San Francisco Bay Area requires a highly trained technical workforce to meet the employment demands in the production sector. Laney College, Berkeley Biotechnology Education, Inc., (BBEI), and 35 local health and bioscience companies have formed a dynamic partnership with two local high schools and CSU-Hayward to educate and train urban youth for entry-level positions in the biotechnology field. The project has received major contributions of time, money, and equipment from industry partners to ensure the success of students in school and in the workplace. BBEI has piloted a program in two urban high schools that targets students from backgrounds underrepresented in the laboratory sciences. These students complete two years of biotechnology education in high school and graduate with a Certificate in Biotechnology. Laney College, through its Bioscience Career Institute, enrolls these graduates in a one-year intensive science program designed to meet the bioscience industry's requirements for skilled entry-level technical positions. Students at Laney College are concurrently employed in co-op jobs at local bioscience/biotechnology companies. Linking the college curriculum to industry employment increases students' understanding of the scientific career opportunities available in the local area. The NSF ATE project builds on the existing model to increase student enrollment and modifies the curriculum making it more relevant and responsive to industry needs. The three-year project: (1) establishes a working Bioscience Process Laboratory that integrates industry personnel in training underrepresented students in relevant laboratory skills; (2) expands student enrollment in the biotechnology program to all interested students in addition to students in the current high school programs; (3) increases industry involvement by creating additional co-op jobs and new industry co-teaching roles; (4) provides additional support in recruitment and retention to increase the numbers of qualified program graduates by 50%; (5) evaluates obstacles students encounter during recruitment, education, training, retention, and after program graduation; (6) disseminates this model by means of manuals that detail the establishment of school-industry partnerships to support technical education. The NSF ATE project engages, recruits, trains, retains, and inspires students for life-long learning.