Texas A&M University is joining its expertise with different academic, community, and industry partners to help transition veterans into the biotechnology workforce. The first edition of the new training program will being in mid-April and is expected to help veterans move into the biotechnology labor market as skilled acquisitions.
The program will be conducted at the Texas A&M Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM), the most significant accelerator of the Texas A&M Biocorridor – a sector of land anchored by the Texas A&M Health Science Center Bryan campus- and one of only three such national biosecurity centers in the United States, and the only one led by an academic institution.
The first edition of the program is going to end next May, as the NCTM will graduate its first cohort of a dozen military veterans from the Military Veterans Manufacturing Vaccines (MVMV) training program, which was supported by a Wagner-Peyser grant from the Office of the Governor.
“This region presents a unique opportunity borne from an area rich with leading scientific innovators in combination with an outstanding workforce pool comprised of Texas A&M graduates and veterans drawn to the area’s reputation as a military friendly community with an outstanding quality of life,” stated the CEO of Texas A&M Health Science Center, Brett Giroir, MD.
Veterans graduating in May will receive a Biomanufacturing Technical Certification (BTC) from NCTM, which includes an online curriculum as well as four weeks of intensive hands-on technical training, addressing upstream and downstream manufacturing processes, sterile environment protocol, bioprocess equipment operations, quality unit operations, documentation practices and standard pharmaceutical operations.
“Through the new military workforce training program, NCTM is building upon veterans’ strong sense of responsibility, professionalism and dedication to accomplishing a mission, as well as their ability to work in challenging and demanding environments — all characteristics that will make them ideal additions to the biotech industry,” continued Giroir.
The veteran program is in line with CIADM’s mission to improve the response of the country against emerging infectious diseases, and plans to have a $42 billion impact in Texas, while helping create about 6,000 new jobs over a span of 25 years. The NCTM offers the most modern and flexible facilities for biopharmaceutical manufacturing, as well as a series of workforce training programs, both online and in-person.
“We’d obviously like to have many of the graduates of NCTM’s workforce training programs working at Texas facilities, but we know that this training is so specialized and in demand at pharmaceutical companies around the world that they will be marketable across the nation,” added Giroir. “This workforce program is essential to continuing the growth of new biotechnology companies and relocation of existing companies to the area, which make the job and economic outlook of the Texas A&M Biocorridor and Bryan-College Station extremely bright for employers and employees, alike.”