Workforce Updates

October 2023
The North Carolina Biotechnology Center website features NCBW’s BETA Skills Summer Fellowship and its participants in BETA Fellowships Help Community College Instructors Prepare Tomorrow’s Biotech Workforce.


Brenda Grubb, Central Carolina Community College (rt.), with Pfizer’s Paola Adame

July 2023
On July 28, 2023, five community college faculty members from across the U.S. wrapped up NCBW’s BETA Skills Summer Fellowship by presenting their findings. This immersive eight-week professional development fellowship allowed faculty to step out of their academic and scientific roles to see firsthand what skills students need to succeed in the rapidly evolving bioscience workforce.
Read More Here about the Fellows and host companies, or to access their presentations


SciTech Lecture Series

SciTech Interview with Dr. Sam Yenne

October 2023
Dr. Sam Yenne, Chief Commercial Officer of Metalytics joins Russ Read and Trevor Tufano to discuss how critical information about cellular metabolic rates in living cells, in vitro and in vivo, accelerates research, development, and manufacturing timelines.
https://youtu.be/-cFfRToekqY

SciTech Interview with Dr. Nathan Ahlgrim

October 2023
Russ Read and Trevor Tufano chat with Dr. Nathan Ahlgrim, Academic Community Manager for Good Food Institute, a nonprofit think tank working to make the global food system better for the planet, people, and animals.
https://youtu.be/hdQqPll78UI


SciTech Interview with Jordan Link, ProKidney

June 2023
Russ Read catches up with Forsyth Tech Grad Jordan Link after the 2023 World Stem Cell Summit to talk about her role as manufacturing supervisor for biotechnology company, ProKidney, her academic and career path, and how lab skills impact patients’ lives.
https://youtu.be/XI25llzeW44

SciTech Interview with Jennifer Coulombe

March 2023
As V.P. of Industry Partnerships and Continuous Innovation at Forsyth Tech, Jennifer discusses how Forsyth Tech’s culture of continuous improvement benefits students and industry.
https://youtu.be/mpzZKLK_IdQ


National Center for the Biotechnology Workforce

The National Center for the Biotechnology Workforce (NCBW) provides leadership and a collaborative platform that directly connects industry, educators, and workforce developers to meet the nation’s ever-evolving bioscience workforce needs.

With its focus on capacity building, best practices, professional development, and skills standard generation, NCBW has led several federally funded bioscience workforce initiatives that both promote and build dynamic, on-the-ground, regional and national communities of practice that engage bioscience employers, colleges, trade and workforce organizations, and advanced manufacturing institutes.

Currently, NCBW leads the NSF ATE Skills for Biomedical Emerging Technology Applications (BETA Skills) project which explores advanced technological education for technician-specialists working in convergent technology and is a partner in InnovATEBIO, the NSF ATE National Center for Biotechnology Education, focusing on its Leadership Institute and on assessing emerging technology skill training needs.

Since 2009, NCBW’s public SciTech Lecture Series has attracted a large and diverse monthly audience. Students, faculty, entrepreneurs, scientists, and other interested participants from throughout the community have participated in more than eighty sessions.

NCBW is also home to a state-of-the-art Analytical and Molecular Skills Development Laboratory which provides advanced training and internships for students, as well as equipment and bench space rental to small companies and researchers. AMSDL is a key component of NCBW’s professional development programs which attract bioscience instructors and selected high-school science teachers from across the United States and beyond.