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

Bio-Link是美国国家ATE生物技术中心。Bio-Link的使命是(1)增加劳动力中受过良好教育的技术人员的数量和多样性；(2)满足行业对受过适当培训的技术人员日益增长的需求；以及(3)使社区大学的教育实践制度化，向所有学生提供生物技术的概念、工具、技能、流程、监管结构和道德方面的高质量教育和培训。虽然总部设在旧金山湾区，但该中心的活动涵盖了全国范围内的生物技术教育。下一代国家ATE生物技术和生命科学中心旨在满足生物技术和相关生命科学行业以及未来技术劳动力的快速变化的需求。Bio-Link正在提供范围更广的服务和产品，这是快速变化的生物技术行业现在所必需的。Bio-Link的使命保持不变。在目前的支持下，Bio-Link正在扩大活动，以在当今新的生物技术环境中完成这一使命。新的国家卓越中心的目标是：(1)在全国范围内加强和扩大生物技术教育项目；(2)使生物技术教师、学生和技术人员能够更有效地工作；(3)支持学生更顺利地过渡到生物科学和相关行业的技术劳动力。为了实现其目标，新的中心强调三类活动和产品：向教师、教师、辅导员、学生、生物技术项目和教育机构提供直接服务(包括咨询服务、教育工作者的专业发展、设备仓库的维护和复制、生物技术技师教育教学材料信息中心的维护和扩建、开发“盒子中的课程”、创建在线课程的一站式商店，以及建立教师实习计划)；学生、教师、行业和教育机构之间的信息共享和合作(包括建立网络，开发基于网络的互动社区，创建在线技术人员协会，记录和传播科学教育管道模型，记录和传播社区大学与行业互动的模型和资源)；以及极大地扩大和改进为学生、生命科学和相关公司提供的信息(包括继续提供网站信息服务，全国生物技术计划调查，制定工作/职业/技能/计划矩阵，并制作用于招聘的视频职业场景)。主要合作伙伴包括奥斯汀社区学院、湾区生物技术教育联盟、BayBio研究所、数字世界生物学、威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的互联网童子军、麦迪逊地区技术学院、SRI国际以及其他19多个合作伙伴。这项提议的学术价值在于它把重点放在生物技术上，这是一个日益跨学科的行业，在当今的气候下值得高度关注，当今的气候对国土安全和健康的威胁日益突出，医学的发展速度也很快。此外，该行业为技术人员提供了迅速晋升到高薪职位的机会。作为一家ATE中心，Bio-Link拥有10年的经验，并与广泛的利益相关者进行了磋商，拥有关键的专业知识和能力，可以继续和扩大其工作。关于更广泛的影响，Bio-Link通过其网络内开发的材料和技术影响了整个科学教育。与其合作伙伴一起，它激起了行业对招聘社区大学毕业生的兴趣，并为代表不足的人群打开了大门。Bio-Link正在继续并扩大其对尖端资源的广泛传播，以改善教学实践、教育机会和就业机会。

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.