Building New Pathways to Biotechnology Technician Careers

威斯康辛州麦迪逊地区的生物科学行业工作岗位高度集中。例如，它的制药工业集中度在全国排名第四。麦迪逊地区技术学院现有的生物技术项目有90%的就业率，但没有培养足够的毕业生来满足地区工业需求。该项目将为麦迪逊地区技术学院的文科和未申报的学生建立一个九学分的生物技术项目。通过将生物技术实验室技能和职业发展经验整合到普通生物学课程中，可以吸引更多的学生从事生物科学技术职业。该项目将发展本科生的研究经历、实习和数字徽章，以评估和记录学生对关键生物技术技能的掌握程度。九学分的证书课程，包括基本的实验室技术和概念课程，将为学生提供在生物技术行业就业所需的知识和技能。向文科/未申报的学生提供这个证书课程，他们没有在生物技术职业管道中，有可能增加合格的生物技术员工的数量。该项目涉及麦迪逊地区技术学院生物系和生物技术副学士课程以及威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的威斯康星作物创新中心之间的合作。这些合作伙伴将制定和实施以粮食安全为统一主题的生物科学课程。本课程将结合本科生物学教育的核心能力和生物科学技术人员的核心技能标准。该项目活动将为麦迪逊地区技术学院的文科/未申报学生提供一个机会，让他们完成生物技术证书，并参与旨在将这些技能传达给行业的数字徽章系统。与威斯康星作物创新中心的合作将为学生提供实习经验，以磨练技能和建立行业联系。这些活动有可能增加拥有生物技术工作所需技能的学生人数，改善和增加学术和行业机会，并增加所有学生进入STEM职业的机会。学生和主要学术顾问（高中教师、指导顾问和管理人员）将能够通过新开发的“生物科学职业路线图”了解更多关于生物科学学生和相关生物科学职业的学术规划。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Madison, Wisconsin, region has a high concentration of jobs in bioscience industries. For example, it ranks fourth in the nation for concentration of pharmaceutical industries. The existing Biotechnology Program at Madison Area Technical College has a 90% job placement rate, but does not produce sufficient graduates to meet regional industry demands. This project will establish a nine-credit Biotechnology Program for liberal arts and undeclared students at Madison Area Technical College. By integrating biotechnology laboratory skills and career development experiences into the general biology curriculum, more students may be attracted to bioscience technician careers. The project will develop undergraduate research experiences, internships, and digital badges to assess and document student mastery of key biotechnology skills. The nine-credit certificate program, which includes coursework in basic laboratory techniques and concepts, will provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to gain employment in the biotechnology industry. Offering this certificate program to liberal arts/undeclared students who are not in the biotechnology career pipeline has the potential to increase the pool of qualified biotech employees. This project involves a collaboration between the Biology department and Biotechnology associate degree program at the Madison Area Technical College, and the Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These partners will develop and implement a bioscience curriculum with the unifying theme of food security. This curriculum will be designed to incorporate the core competencies of undergraduate biology education and core skill standards for bioscience technicians. The project activities will provide liberal arts/undeclared students an opportunity at Madison Area Technical College to complete a biotechnology certificate and participate in digital badging system designed to communicate these skills to industry. Partnership with the Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center will provide students with internship experiences to hone skills and make industry connections. These activities have the potential to increase the number of students who have skills in demand for biotechnology jobs, improve and grow academic and industry opportunities, and increase access to STEM careers for all students. Students and key academic advisors (high school teachers, guidance counselors and administration) will be able to learn more about the academic programming available for bioscience students and associated bioscience careers through newly developed "Bioscience Career Roadmaps."This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.