Bio-Link Next Generation National ATE Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences

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Bio-Link is the national ATE Center for Biotechnology. Bio-Link's mission has been to (1) increase the number and diversity of well-educated technicians in the workforce; (2) meet the growing needs of industry for appropriately trained technicians; and (3) institutionalize community college educational practices that make high-quality education and training in the concepts, tools, skills, processes, regulatory structure, and ethics of biotechnology available to all students. Although based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Center's activities embrace biotechnology education nationwide. The Next Generation National ATE Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences is designed to meet the rapidly changing needs of the biotechnology and related life science industries and prospective technical workforce. Bio-Link is providing the much wider range of services and products now necessitated by the swiftly changing biotech industry. Bio-Link's mission remains the same. With the current support Bio-Link is expanding the activities to fulfill this mission in today's new biotechnology environment. The goals of the new National Center of Excellence are to: (1) strengthen and expand biotechnology education programs across the nation; (2) enable biotechnology faculty, students, and technicians to work more efficiently; and (3) support a smoother transition of students to the technical workforce in the biosciences and related industries. In order to achieve its goals, the new Center is emphasizing three categories of activities and products: direct services to faculty, teachers, counselors, students, biotechnology programs, and educational institutions (includes consulting services, professional development for educators, maintenance and replication of an Equipment Depot, maintenance and expansion of the Clearinghouse of Instructional Materials for Biotechnology Technician Education, the development of "courses in a box," creating a one-stop shop for online courses, and establishing a faculty internship program); information sharing and collaboration among students, faculty, industry and educational institutions (includes networking, developing a Web-based interactive community, creating an online Technician's Association, documenting and disseminating science education pipeline models, and documenting and disseminating models and resources for community college-industry engagement); and greatly expanded and improved information for students and for life-sciences and related companies (includes continuing to offer Website information services, a national biotechnology program survey, developing a matrix of jobs/careers/skills/programs, and producing video career scenarios for recruitment). Key partners include Austin Community College, the Bay Area Biotechnology Education Consortium, the BayBio Institute, Digital World Biology, Internet Scout at UW-Madison, Madison Area Technical College, SRI International, and more than 19 other partners. The intellectual merit of this proposal resides in its focus on biotechnology, an increasingly interdisciplinary industry that warrants significant attention in today's climate, one in which threats against homeland security and health loom large and in which medicine evolves with great speed. Moreover, the industry provides technicians with opportunities to advance rapidly into high-wage positions. Through its 10 years of experience as an ATE Center and consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, Bio-Link possesses the critical expertise and capacity to continue and expand its work. With respect to broader impacts, Bio-Link has influenced science education in general through materials and techniques developed within its network. With its partners, it has piqued industry's interest in hiring community college graduates, and has opened doors for underrepresented populations. Bio-Link is continuing and expanding its broad dissemination of cutting-edge resources to improve teaching practice, educational access, and career opportunities.