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news.The US Department of Labor has granted $4.95m to San Diego State University, BIOCOM, San Diego Workforce Partnership, and the Southern California Biotechnology Center at Miramar College to help economic growth of the San Diego region's life sciences industry.
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The grant is provided for Biotechnology Readiness, Immersion, Certification and Degrees for Gainful Employment (BRIDGE) project, which will provide education, training and placement services to veterans, incumbent workers and dislocated and unemployed workers within the San Diego region.
The project mainly focuses on specialty needs of the clinical laboratory scientists, medical laboratory technicians, medical physicists, and professional scientists.
SDSU and Miramar College will provide certificate, degree, and professional science master’s (PSM) programs. The BIOCOM Institute’s Life Science Immersion Program will provide training biotechnology, and the BioCollaborative, created in cooperation with the Alfred Sloan Foundation, will provide an online resource to facilitate seamless transition from higher education to careers in the life sciences industry.
Joe Panetta, president and CEO of Biocom, said: “SDSU and BIOCOM have a long history of partnership, beginning with the establishment of a master’s degree in regulatory affairs more than 10 years ago. This grant provides an opportunity to continue to build the homegrown workforce that we need in Southern California, while helping veterans and displaced workers move into skilled, high paying jobs that help this region continue as a hub of innovation that saves lives.”
Pete Leddy, SVP of human resources at Life Technologies in Carlsbad, said: “A partnership between industry and academia is essential for the proper training of the current workforce, and building the future workforce, in order for Southern California to maintain its global prominence as a life sciences hub.
“Leddy, who is an industry advisor to the CSU Professional Masters Program, said: “The initiatives in the BRIDGE Program will enable industry partners to provide opportunities for some of the best and brightest minds interested in such cutting-edge life science fields such as bioinformatics.”