This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Located in an international center of bio-innovation, San Francisco State University has more than two decades of success at training a diverse student population for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This award is supporting an innovative two-year interdisciplinary science master's program (SMP) that is preparing students to advance into professional careers in the applied life sciences. The program's focus is on biotechnology, including the emerging area of stem cell research. This industry has the potential to fuel economic growth for the bay area, California, and the nation. This new program is responsive to calls from biotechnology industry leaders for a new generation of scientists with interdisciplinary knowledge who have familiarity with emerging technologies and some business acumen. The proposed program incorporates close partnerships with research institutes, industry, and public/non-profit service agents. The program curriculum includes professionally-oriented, innovative graduate coursework in molecular and developmental biology, biosciences, business and management, communication, ethics, teamwork skills, and a rigorous internship and related research component. These SMP courses are also available to graduate students in other STEM disciplines.
Broader Impacts: The project is increasing the number of masters' graduates, particularly minorities and individuals from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, who are working in rapidly-advancing STEM fields. By drawing together faculty and researchers across the campus and community, the program is providing comprehensive mentorship and career development opportunities, fostering new avenues for collaborations. It is promoting the implementation of innovative interdisciplinary graduate level curricula, increasing research and workforce productivity, and serving as a foundation for expansion into other STEM areas on SFSU campus and beyond.
at San Francisco State University (SFSU), a large comprehensive urban public university serving a highly diverse student population in a region known internationally as a center of bioinnovation. This award trained a total of 42 students and funded fellowship stipends for 24 of these students during the period 06/01/10 to 09/30/13. The project has successfully achieved its goals of preparing science graduates to meet the needs of Northern California’s diverse life science workforce, increasing the number of SFSU science master’s graduates working with emerging and rapidly-changing technologies in the life sciences, providing scholarships for economically disadvantaged students, and enhancing equal access to new science master’s programs. By integrating rigorous scientific coursework with business training and industry research experiences, the program has equipped graduates with the broad-based skills needed to advance rapidly in careers in the applied biosciences. In collaboration with local Bay Area biotechnology affiliates (e.g., Genentech, BioMarin, Qiagen, Life Technologies/ Applied Biosystems, SanBio, Betastem, Cellerant, IncellDX, MedImmune, CellSight Technologies, Baxter, Nodality) and research institutes (e.g., UCSF, J. David Gladstone Institutes, Stanford University, Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Buck Center for Age Research), as well as with the California Department of Public Health, SFSU’s interdisciplinary science master’s programs have provided effective academic and applied research training experiences for a diverse student population. Of the 42 students enrolled since Fall 2010, 26 are female and 16 are male. In addition, 11 of the 42 students are underrepresented minorities (7 female, 4 male). Of the 24 students who received NSF stipend support, 2/3 (n=16) are female and 1/3 (n=8) are male. The success of the program is evident in the 100% graduation and nearly 100% employment rates in the life sciences workforce for graduates (12 female; 3 male) from the first two cohorts, and in the 100% internship placement rate and 100% advancement to master’s candidacy for the 3rd cohort, currently in progress. In addition to providing internship placements in industry and research laboratories, the innovative, interdisciplinary two-year curriculum developed with NSF SMP funding brings together training in molecular, cellular, biochemical, developmental and stem cell biology with practical business experience grounded in the principles of ethical scientific and professional conduct. It incorporates highly successful, comprehensive advising and mentorship which prepares students for successful entry into the biotech and stem cell workforce. Further, it has contributed to the diversification of the biotechnology workforce by increasing the participation and retention of URM and female students and by preparing all participants for success in an increasingly diverse workplace. It has enhanced collaboration across SFSU’s Department of Biology, College of Business and industry partners to produce graduates with the capacity to adapt nimbly to ongoing technological changes in the scientific workplace. The institutionalization of these innovations will sustain the impact of the program and prepare a new generation of students for success in the rapidly-changing STEM workforce long into the future.
