Conference Report: Educating Biotechnicians for Future Industry Needs

1. Conference Report:Educating Biotechnicians for Future Industry Needs BIO Community College Day 2008 June 16, 2008 V. Celeste Carter Program Director vccarter@nsf.gov

2. 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

3. 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 high-technology 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

4. Educating Technicians for Future Industry NeedsScottsdale, AZApril 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.

5. 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:

6. CurriculumRecommendations • 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.

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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.

12. NSF Awards Search:http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/

13. Division of Undergraduate Educationhttp://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=DUE Project Information Resource System

14. 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