Newark, Del., April 5, 2021 – The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) has selected seven students for their 2022 NIIMBL eXperience Program. This year, the NIIMBL eXperience Program returns in person and offers real-world insight into career options in the biopharmaceutical industry for African American/Black, Latinx, and Native American college freshman and sophomore students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and NIIMBL member institutions.
“This year is especially exciting because we are able to bring students together in person once again which was not possible due to the pandemic during the last two years. Students will connect directly with companies and network with peers and leaders firsthand and on site,” shares NIIMBL’s workforce director, John Balchunas. “Part of NIIMBL’s workforce development strategy is to increase industry access to diverse talent, and the NIIMBL eXperience facilitates this connection on both the employer and candidate sides,” adds Balchunas.
From June 5-10, 2022, students from a variety of academic institutions will engage with leading companies and organizations key to the biopharmaceutical industry across the Mid-Atlantic region. Students will tour GMP facilities, participate in a hands-on introduction to state-of-the-art equipment, and become familiar with the role and resources of federal stakeholders critical to bringing life-saving treatments to patients.
“The NIIMBL eXperience puts underclassmen in places that most students don’t see until their fourth year or even until they graduate. Ultimately, these opportunities to explore the biopharmaceutical industry at such an early stage in their career journeys allow students [to] discover and begin working towards where they want to see themselves in the future,” shared Zion Brannon, University of Georgia, 2022 NIIMBL eXperience Program participant.
Meet the 2022 NIIMBL eXperience Cohort
Zion Brannon, University of Georgia
Dedra Dadzie, University of Virginia
Jeff Garcia, Alamance Community College
Dwight Jones, Frederick Community College
John Josiah, Johnson C. Smith University
Williams Ochoa, Montgomery College
Victory Yinka-Banjo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The NIIMBL eXperience Program launched in the summer of 2019 and has offered a unique glimpse into the biopharmaceutical industry to approximately 40 students. To learn more about the NIIMBL eXperience, visit NIIMBL.org.
About NIIMBL
The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) is a public-private partnership whose mission is to accelerate biopharmaceutical innovation, support the development of standards that enable more efficient and rapid manufacturing capabilities, and educate and train a world-leading biopharmaceutical manufacturing workforce, fundamentally advancing U.S. competitiveness in this industry. NIIMBL is part of Manufacturing USA®, a diverse network of federally-sponsored manufacturing innovation institutes, and is funded through a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S. Department of Commerce with significant additional support from its members.
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