Biotech is booming in creative classrooms and labs across North Carolina.
Thousands of students, from rural mountain schools to coastal institutions, are finding new ways to access North Carolina's expanding array of careers in the life sciences, thanks to Educational Enhancement Grants (EEGs) from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
The Center's latest round of 14 EEGs total nearly $423,000.
The grant program supports the design and implementation of biotechnology education programs at K-12 schools, school systems, community colleges, private colleges, universities and museums. It doesn't support building projects, but the grant funding is sometimes used for equipment.
"These grants highlight the creativity and diversity of educators across the state as they help students find new ways to engage in the life sciences," said Kathleen Kennedy, Ph.D., vice president of Education and Training Programs for the Biotechnology Center.
"With this latest round of 14 awards, we've provided a total of $6 million to educational institutions across the state - funding that goes directly into the classroom to help students learn about the opportunities in biotechnology and expand the knowledge base of our workforce. These development goals have been part of the Center's mission since it was established by North Carolina leaders nearly three decades ago."
The Biotechnology Center has distributed 191 of the awards since the program began in 1991. The EEGs from the most recent round of distribution, ranging from $2,000 to nearly $67,000, include:
Research Triangle area
- $66,926 to Scott Johnson at Wake Tech Community College for a biotechnology lab enhancement project.
- $55,200 to Paul Hamilton, Ph.D., to develop a new industry-style laboratory course in North Carolina State University's Professional Science Master's in Microbial Biotechnology program.
- $38,000 to Suzanne Wilkison at the North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research for developing a video on biotechnology careers targeting students in grades 6 through 12.
- $20,000 to Roger Narayan, Ph.D., to develop a nanobiotechnology graduate certificate program in the Department of Biomedical Engineering operated jointly by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and NC State.
Eastern North Carolina
- $40,480 to Rick Williams, Ph.D., at East Carolina University, to integrate hands-on short courses at NC State's Biomanufacturing Education and Training Center into ECU's bioprocess engineering curriculum.
- $7,000 to David Batts, Ph.D., also at East Carolina University, to enhance bioprocess manufacturing courses.
- $6,318 to enable teacher Dayna Martin to develop an introductory biotechnology unit for biology students at West Carteret High School.
Western North Carolina
- $10,300 to help April Spencer develop a program enabling teachers in 19 of North Carolina's westernmost counties to learn about biotechnology education.
- $2,000 to Polk County biology teacher Jennifer Allsbrook to support the unique Magnolia Detectives project, in which students explore the genetic characteristics of an unusual stand of sweet magnolia growing in the region.
Greater Charlotte
- $43,000 to Sophia Sarafova, Ph.D., to help integrate various technologies such as flow cytometry, gene transfer and multimode spectrophotometry into Davidson College's undergraduate research curricula.
- $8,141 to help educator Samantha Lawing develop her Future Biotech Investigators (FBI) curriculum for 9th graders at Mt. Mourne International Baccalaureate Candidate School in Mooresville.
Southeastern North Carolina
- $59,920 to Sybil Burgess, Ph.D., for training in analytical instrumentation at Brunswick Community College.
- $32,050 to Maria Santisteban, Ph.D., for developing a hands-on workshop for college faculty in DNA microarrays and gene expression at the University of North Carolina-Pembroke.
Piedmont Triad
- $33,500 to Marick Fletcher for developing analytical training lab curricula at the NC Community College System's BioPharma Center located at Forsyth Technical Community College.
The Biotechnology Center will issue its next round of EEGs, for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, on Feb. 1. They'll be drawn from the most compelling applications from educators who have been invited to apply, based on pre-proposals they've already submitted for review to the Biotech Center.