Amgen Biotech Experience Reaches Over 20,000 Students Annually in the Greater Los Angeles area – Bringing Biotechnology to the Classroom
The Foundation for Pierce College has received a $247,320 grant over the next two years from the Amgen Foundation to implement the Amgen Biotech Experience, an innovative science education program, in over 100 schools in the Greater Los Angeles area. This program provides a real-world biotech lab experience to middle and high schools in Amgen’s U.S. and United Kingdom (U.K.) communities.
“The Foundation for Pierce College is excited to continue our collaboration with the Amgen Foundation by bringing the Amgen Biotech Experience to classrooms in our community,” said Kathy Zanghi, the Foundation’s account manager. “The students and teachers who participate in this program are given the tools and resources to bring science to life and inspire students to want to learn more about biotechnology.”
Since 1990, the Amgen Biotech Experience (formerly known as the Amgen-Bruce Wallace Biotechnology Lab Program) has introduced more than 184,000 students in secondary school classrooms in the Greater Los Angeles area to contemporary science techniques, including comprehensive teacher training. Teachers are given a robust, hands-on, inquiry-based biology curriculum, in addition to a full suite of transportable, research-grade equipment and supplies, at no cost to the participating schools. Utilizing Nobel Prize-winning discoveries to prepare a recombinant DNA molecule which carries a gene for red fluorescent protein, students follow many of the steps biotechnology researchers use to produce medicines.
The success of the Amgen Biotech Experience is due in large part to the grantees in our communities,” said Jean Lim Terra, president of the Amgen Foundation. “The collaboration with undergraduate institutions and nonprofit organizations helps give student’s real-world, hands-on lab experience to introduce them to the excitement of biotechnology and scientific discovery.
Since the Amgen Biotech Experience was established in 1990, more than 300,000 students throughout the U.S. and U.K. have engaged in the program’s molecular biology labs using relevant curricula, tools and techniques. In 2013, the Amgen Foundation will give more than $2.5 million in grants to community colleges, universities and nonprofit organizations that lead and support the Amgen Biotech Experience in different regions across the country where Amgen has a presence, bringing the total committed to nearly $8 million.
Beginning this year, Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) will apply its deep experience in designing and delivering high-quality science education programs to establishing a Program Office for the Amgen Biotech Experience. Working closely with existing sites, EDC will build on the assets of the program and implement strategies to enrich the program, including the introduction of a new strengthened curriculum for this school year. For more information, please visit www.amgenbiotechexperience.com.
The Foundation for Pierce College has worked diligently to advance the quality and structure of Pierce since 1968. The Foundation supports Pierce College’s academic excellence and educational opportunity for the whole community, assists students, faculty, staff, and administrators with financial and material support by developing grants, scholarships, in-kind contributions, sponsorships and partnerships.
The Foundation promotes quality higher education that enriches the academic, economic, and cultural life of our diverse community. To further this mission, the Foundation acquires financial resources and strengthens support to fund scholarships, professional development, and capital improvements for the students, faculty, and staff of Pierce College and the broader communities it serves. In so doing, the Foundation hopes to enhance quality of life, encourage success, and positively change the future of students and their families. The Foundation oversees many outreach and fund-raising programs and activities that support the college and help connect it to the community. Its goal is not only providing financial support to Pierce College students, faculty, and staff, but also creating public awareness, Pierce College identity by promoting a positive image of the college in all its endeavors.
For more information, please visit www.piercecollegefoundation.org
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