The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) has awarded over $200k in funding to launch the 2023 NIIMBL eXperience program in three distinct locations across the United States. Funding recipients include Albany College (ACPHS) in New York, BioKansas in the Kansas/Missouri Region, and Raritan Valley Community College in New Jersey.
In August 2022, NIIMBL issued a Request for Applications seeking proposals to scale the NIIMBL eXperience program to multiple areas of the country. From the submitted proposals, three organizations were selected to host the 2023 NIIMBL eXperience program in their respective states/regions. The NIIMBL eXperience program is an all-expenses paid biopharmaceutical manufacturing immersion program for university and community college students who have completed their first or second year of study. The program is specifically for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students as it strives to diversify the school-to-industry pipeline for the biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry.
“Over the past few years, there has been growing interest in the NIIMBL eXperience program. To address the increased demand, NIIMBL set out to expand the program both in geography and in scale,” said John Balchunas, NIIMBL workforce development director. “In piloting this new model, we will triple the yearly number of participants who gain an understanding of biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry careers through the eXperience program. This will benefit the students and will help address hiring concerns facing the biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry,” adds Balchunas.