Breaking Down Barriers to Biotech Careers

About This Grant

A recent supply and demand analysis of the local labor market for biotechnology technicians in the greater Los Angeles region concluded that there is a supply gap between the number of available jobs and the number of qualified applicants. Compton College's biotechnology program proposes to help address this supply gap for biomanufacturing technicians. The region has over 3,000 Life Sciences/Biotechnology firms with over 60,000 employees collectively and middle skills occupations in this industry have been growing in terms of both employment and wages. Compton College serves a broad population of students, and this project will help to fill the supply gap, by offering students stackable credentials allowing them to gain the knowledge, skills, and abilities to obtain employment as biomanufacturing technicians and contribute to the development of a skilled technical workforce. This project will: 1) develop partnerships and dual enrollment programs with local high schools using approved biotechnology curriculum to train and educate students such that they receive dual high school and college credit, 2) create pathways to biotech careers with multiple on- and off-ramps for students that will support high school students, college students, and incumbent workers seeking re-training or additional training with different end points at which they can enter the workforce or continue their education, and 3) build industry-relevant cell therapy training into the biotechnology curriculum as the recent analysis of job offerings found these skills listed in a preponderance of job announcements in the region. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy. 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.