The Partnership for Plant Genomics Education (PPGE) is developing plant genomics and biotechnology educational materials in the form of interactive software and associated curricula for national dissemination. In order to increase the pool of qualified community college and high school students interested in pursuing careers in the biotechnology industry, summer internship programs provide students with technical experiences. Training workshops assist teachers in making the best use of the software and associated activities, thereby fueling the growing network of educators tackling these concepts in the classroom. In addition, a weeklong summer genomics teacher institute, a biotechnology institute for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and an agriculture biotechnology workshop expand the pool of teachers qualified to teach these topics effectively in the secondary classroom. The software project impacts students on a national scale by providing interesting, virtual-hands-on experience, information about the essentials of plant genomics and modern crop biotechnology and ethical issues related to the technology. Training workshops and the summer teacher institute target educators serving underrepresented minorities. In addition, the project continues to host a summer biotechnology workshop given in collaboration with eleven 1890 institutions. In order to increase the pool of qualified students interested in pursuing careers in the biotechnology industry, summer internship programs place students in laboratory settings with a designated mentor at UC Davis. During this eight week program, students develop marketable lab skills and prospective technicians gain insight into real-world work environments. Students receive a stipend to facilitate the effective recruitment of under-represented groups to the student internship program. The project helps to cultivate an informed citizenry that understands the concepts, technical terms, and issues involved in agricultural biotechnology and the burgeoning field of genomics. The project also generates a trained pool of qualified students and teachers, thereby expanding the pipeline of secondary students entering into biotechnology training programs in community colleges, universities, and private industry. The PPGE builds from the structure of a previous successful program in introducing DNA based concepts and technologies to local high school biology programs.
