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Biofabrication Career Guidance for CTE & Community College Students

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Screenshot of Biofab Explorer on a tablet with a purple wave in the background

Project Name
Biofab Explorer: Designing a Dual Enrollment Pathway to Careers in Biofabrication

Project Description

This project aims to broaden the participation of underrepresented populations in biofabrication and biomanufacturing by embedding career guidance into Career and Technical Education (CTE) classrooms that provide options for dual enrollment (i.e., taking college-level courses for credit while enrolled in high school).

The project brings together CAST, Manchester Community College, Great Bay Community College, Johnston Community College, and secondary CTE stakeholders—which include guidance counselors, administrators, educators, and the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI)/BioFab USA to accomplish the following goals:

  • In collaboration with secondary and postsecondary educators, ARMI experts, and a Business Industry Leadership Team, we will identify and validate knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) for STEM technician roles in biofabrication.
  • We will create a career guidance curriculum, including work-based learning simulations and activities that teachers can use to help students explore careers and develop and demonstrate industry skills. The curriculum will be modeled on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and methods.
  • Biofab Explorer and the eportfolio—technologies developed by CAST and enhanced by our current work—will be piloted in two dual-enrollment models: one in high school CTE settings taught by high school CTE teachers, and one in a CTE secondary program taught by college faculty.
  • We will offer professional development workshops for educators to introduce the career guidance curriculum, Biofab Explorer, and the eportfolio. These workshops will help identify how these digital environments can increase students’ knowledge of and preparation for STEM technician careers. They will also model how UDL strategies can help educators recruit and support students who are underrepresented in STEM education and careers.
Biofab Explorer: Invent your future

Invent your future.

Explore our free career guidance resource created to attract and inspire students to the emerging field of biofabrication.

Try out Biofab Explorer

Timeline

May 2022 – May 2025

Funder

National Science Foundation, Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE)

Partners

Project Leadership

Sam Johnston, Principal Investigator (PI)
Amanda Bastoni, Co-PI
Dan Larochelle, Co-PI, Manchester Community College

Contact

For more information about this project, please contact Alison Driscoll.

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