Keisha Varma (UMN)
Engineering Workforce Development Lead
Regenerative medicine, aquaculture, and other industries related to ATP-Bio are between $300B–600B (US–World) and are predicted to grow substantially by 2025, making workforce development a critically important part of the Center. NSF and others have demonstrated that building a sustainable STEM workforce pipeline demands including women, African-Americans, Hispanic/Latinx-Americans, Native Americans, and other under-represented groups in STEM at universities and in industry. Thus, we aim to promote a STEM workforce that is a demographic reflection of our current and future nation while also recognizing that diversity of perspective will only strengthen STEM fields. We will also conduct longitudinal research on developing STEM identity and career interest in students.
Below, we briefly summarize our goals and plans for each of our target educational groups:
Seth Thompson, Ph.D. (UMN)
EWD Program Manager
Grades 6–10: Research shows that strong “STEM Identity,” formed through classroom experiences that ask students to think as scientists and engineers as well as exposure to authentic STEM career activities, motivates this age group pursue STEM education, especially those from under-represented populations. We will work with our partner middle schools and high schools to design in-school engagement that fits their curricular goals and emphasizes STEM integration for real-world problem-solving.
We will also host a Research Experience for Teachers program which will place one or more teachers from our partner schools in ATP-Bio labs for 6 weeks, where they will work side-by-side with lab members. They will use another two weeks to develop ways to integrate this experience into their STEM curricula in order to bolster STEM identity among their students.
Grades 11–12: Students from our partner schools entering their junior and senior years will have the opportunity to complete a summer research experience in an ATP-Bio lab. This program will be modelled after the successful partnership between Washington Technology High School in St. Paul and UMN, the similar Project Engages run by CMAT, Georgia Tech’s ERC, and the NASA-funded Launchpad program at UCR.
Undergraduates: We will sponsor at least six Research Experience for Undergraduates (REUs) each year in ATP-Bio labs, with hopes for sponsoring many more. We will encourage STEM students transferring from state and community colleges to apply for REUs as part of a “summer bridge” program before entering an ATP-Bio university.
Graduate Students and Postdocs: We aim for each graduate student and postdoc sponsored by ATP-Bio to gain industry experience by 1) completing a research internship at a company, 2) working on an industry-sponsored project, and/or 3) participating in the creation of a start-up aimed at commercializing ATP-Bio technology. We will also arrange student exchange programs between Center labs at different ATP-Bio core institutions as well as partner universities around the world.
