Nonprofit looks to bring tomorrow’s science into today’s classrooms

Talent issues are plaguing the biopharma industry and are continually referred to as a top concern across the space. The need for increasingly complex and specific skill sets, the dwindling talent pool, and the difficulties of retaining staff are affecting biopharma resilience. However, organizations like BioBuilder are aiming to solve this challenge by equipping the next generation through various learning opportunities for high school students.

BX: Can you explain what BioBuilder is?

NK: The BioBuilder Educational Foundation is a nonprofit helping educate a future-ready workforce that will solve some of the world’s greatest challenges by bringing tomorrow’s science into today’s classrooms. By inspiring students and educators to learn and love science, we equip the next generation through experiential learning opportunities tailored to high school students. 

BX: What challenges are BioBuilder trying to ease?

NK: In addition to addressing the skilled labor shortage impacting the biotech industry today by ensuring that students get the education they need to pursue careers in STEM, programs like BioTechBuilder offer high school students the option of lucrative careers in the industry, without going to college. The cost of pursuing an advanced degree has increased exponentially in recent years. In fact, a recent Pew Research study found that only 25% of adults think that a college education is necessary to get a well-paying job. As students rethink their paths to industry, BioBuilder ensures that they have the tools they need to succeed.

BX: How many people has BioBuilder worked with?

NK: BioBuilder has worked with schools in over 55 countries and 49 states, impacting over 63,000 students, and through in-classroom, after school, and dedicated cohort programs, BioBuilder is providing exposure to real-world STEM applications for students in urban, rural and underserved communities. We work with students, teachers and industry leaders.

BX: What does BioBuilder offer students, teachers, and industry leaders?

NK: Students get the chance to integrate biology and engineering through practical, hands-on lessons and BioBuilder Club activities. For educators, there are opportunities for professional development that can help foster new methods of teaching science that are designed to engage and inspire the next generation of life sciences leaders. BioBuilder also works closely with leaders across the life sciences industry to support industry needs, such as upskilling workshops for current employees looking to gain insight into modern life science techniques and approaches. To ensure that the industry has skilled talent in the pipeline, BioBuilder works to make sure that high school students have the tools they need to enter directly into the workforce after graduation, should they choose that path.

BX: Why is an organization like this needed?

NK: As the biotech industry continues to grow across the country, the STEM workforce needs more support. Without this skilled workforce, we’d have no scientific innovation, new therapies or vaccines, and biological advancement would stall. At BioBuilder, we enable students to explore what a real-world career in STEM looks like beyond the classroom through skills-based training programs, so that they have a first chance at a lucrative career in life science.

BX: How does BioBuilder make sure its training programs meet the needs of the industry?

NK: BioBuilder matches its curricula with the needs of the biotech industry and aims to bring STEM programming to every school in America to train the workforce of tomorrow. For example, BioBuilder recently launched BioTechBuilder, an off-the-shelf curriculum that prepares students for micro-credentialling assessments that support their immediate entry into the biotech workforce after high school graduation.

BX: What other challenges does BioBuilder address?

NK: To address the lack of diversity across the biotech industry, BioBuilder works to create pathways for underserved communities, which often includes women, students of color, immigrants and those from low-income families or school districts, through STEM education. BioBuilder's High School Apprenticeship Challenge closes the gap.

BX: How is BioBuilder funded?

NK: The BioBuilder Educational Foundation is a nonprofit committed to access and equity. We do our best to make sure money is not a barrier to access to the curriculum or participation in our programs.

Most of our BioBuilder curriculum is freely accessible online, with chapters from our textbook as well as teaching materials to support classroom and laboratory learning available as free downloads from our website. When our curriculum is integrated into public education, it is selected as a cost-effective part of a school's science budget, their teacher professional development dollars, or funds set aside for out-of-school enrichment programming.

Title I schools (or those with 40% or more free and reduced cost lunch) participate in our flagship programs like the BioBuilderClub for free. And in the past, we have secured grant funding and philanthropic support to cover the participation costs for individuals who are recent immigrants, who are from marginalized communities or under-resourced schools.

BX: What importance does an organization like this have in the life sciences space?

NK: High school students deserve a chance to understand what it means to be a scientist. Scientists are creative, collaborative and resolutely focused on solving real world problems, and I believe that sometimes students just need the initial spark of interest that opens a whole new world of possibilities.

At BioBuilder, we’ve seen firsthand how offering more exposure to science and STEM career skills can change the trajectory of students' lives. In tandem, our work supports the biotech industry. We are proud to support the next generation of life sciences leaders by offering them a first chance at becoming a scientist.