C-BEF

Matching funds for bioscience internships
Learning how to apply bioscience research to the commercial world is a critical area of need. There are not enough internship opportunities or funds available to reach a critical mass of students. To help address this challenge, C-BEF is funding internships at biotechnology companies each summer with matching grants to encourage biotechnology companies to provide workforce education internships to university students and/or teachers each summer.

“Biotechnology Bonanza” Middle School Career Awareness Initiative
C-BEF is re-launching a successful week-long summer program for nearly sixty middle school students designed to help kids explore careers and opportunities in the field of biotechnology. Each day the students heard from professionals working in various aspects of the Life Sciences, performed educational experiments, and took field trips to related businesses and laboratories. The program ran successfully for three years until the government funding was eliminated for the project.

State Science and Engineering Awards
C-BEF judges and sponsors monetary awards for the best projects in bioscience fields to high school students competing in the annual State Science and Engineering Fairs.

“Biotech-in-a-Box” Program
C-BEF is dedicated to funding an expansion of the Virginia “Biotech-in-a-Box” program operated by Virginia Tech. The program, in operation since 1994, loans out 30 biotech education kits to schools across the Commonwealth. During the 2004-2005 school year, the program served 16,000 students at 100 schools statewide. However, there are not enough resources to cover the demand for the program. C-BEF is providing resources to manufacture at least three to four additional kits for distribution.

Outreach Initiatives for Minority and Female Students
The number of young Americans undertaking math and science studies shrinks each year. To maintain our national competitiveness, innovative programs to help reach out to groups, such as minorities and women, are essential to fill the jobs of tomorrow. C-BEF initiatives to increase participation are targeted at students from middle school through post-secondary institutions.

Bioscience Educators Training Programs
Science teachers benefit from interaction with those on the cutting edge of bioscience research. C-BEF sponsored summits will help educators to keep pace with the latest developments in the biological sciences.

Biotech Skills Workforce Information
C-BEF will be the clearinghouse for the latest information on the skill sets needed for the bioscience workforce. This information is critical to ensure that community colleges and research institutions have the most up to date information for curriculum development.