This award provides funding to Alamance Community College (ACC) to enhance its biotechnology programs to help meet a growing regional demand for skilled medical and bioscience technicians. As a component of the college’s new Biotechnology Center of Excellence, ACC will add updated bioprocessing equipment like pieces found in the labs of large local employers. In addition to improving student learning, the project will increase the number of program completers in credit and non-credit programs, the number of program participants earning third-party credentials, and the number of program completers entering the local biomanufacturing, biopharma, health, agriculture, and laboratory workforce. These industries have a demand for over 200 positions within the next two to three years. It is expected that 94 incumbent and displaced workers and students will receive training on this equipment over a two-year period. Golden LEAF funds will be used for three bioprocessing machines.
