CIB 2023 Session 6: Building the Bioeconomy Workforce

Advances in biotechnology and biomanufacturing have the potential to transform economies and societies, helping to tackle global challenges from climate change to food security to pandemics. To realize this potential, we will need to prepare our current and future workforce for the analysis, design, development, scale-up, commercialization, and operations of these new bio-based processes and products. In this interactive session we hear from educators, students, and graduates of a few of the leading programs in biotechnology, biomanufacturing, and bioprocess engineering education and training.

Read more about this session's speakers below and join us for this session on the third day of CIB 2023:

Building the Bioeconomy Workforce

1:00-1:20 PM: "Building a National Biomanufacturing Workforce"

Jim "James" DeKloe, Professor of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology & Director and founder of the Industrial Biotechnology program, Solano College

• The construction of a giant national bioeconomy will require a major effort to build the workforce required to manufacture new therapies and to bring new products to market.  This talk will outline local and national coordinated efforts to develop training programs to education this workforce.  It will use the biotechnology programs at Solano College (Vacaville, CA) and MiraCosta College (Oceanside, CA) as a model.  These colleges have produced a complete educational pathway.   The pathway starts with articulated high school programs and continues through several stacked and latticed certificates.  With General Education courses students complete an Associates degree that seamlessly transitions into a Biomanufacturing Bachelors degree with a guaranteed admission upon graduation into one of several graduate schools.   Students or incumbent workers can enter at many points in the pathway and can exit at multiple places with a near 100% placement rate into a high technology, high paying, and high potential-for-upward mobility career. 

1:20-1:40 PM:

Laura Fernandez, Sr. Fermentation Process Engineer, Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (ABPDU) at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs

• Check back soon for this abstract!

1:40-2:00 PM: "Hands-On Workforce Training in IBRL's Pilot Scale Facilities"

Beth Conerty,  Associate Director for Business Development, Univeristy of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

• Check back soon for this abstract!

2:00-2:20 PM: "How to train today's startup workforce to excel at mid- and late-stage bioproduct development"

Tom Treynor,  Co-founder and CEO, R2DIO

• Check back soon for this abstract!

2:20-3:00 PM: Student and Alumni Panel

Student Panelists include:

• Nouf Alhazmi, MBPE 2024 
• Junior Correa, B.S. Biomanufacturing from Solano College (2021) & UC Berkeley MBPE 2024 
• Wynne Velzy, MBPE 2024 

Alumni Panelists will be announced soon!