Amgen Biotech Experience awards $100K to R.I. for science education

HOUSE SPEAKER NICHOLAS A. Mattiello talks with Cranston West High School students involved in the Amgen Biotech Experience program. / COURTESY AMGEN BIOTECH EXPERIENCE
HOUSE SPEAKER NICHOLAS A. Mattiello talks with Cranston West High School students involved in the Amgen Biotech Experience program. / COURTESY AMGEN BIOTECH EXPERIENCE

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The Amgen Biotech Experience has awarded $100,000 to the University of Rhode Island so that local teachers can give high school students access to hands-on science education.
Through the program, high school teachers in 40 Rhode Island schools will be provided with training, curricula and research-grade equipment to run biotechnology labs in their classrooms.
The funding is provided by the Amgen Foundation, established in 1991 to advance excellence in science education. With the latest funding, an additional 7,000 local students are expected to participate over the next two years.
The foundation said that since 2007, nearly 14,000 students and hundreds of science educators across the state have participated in the Amgen program.

The $100,000 in funding is part of $4 million that also will support students in California, Massachusetts, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Angeline Marcks, a junior at URI, is now pursuing a career in science after participating in the Amgen Biotech Experience in high school. She wanted to be a physical education teacher until she participated in the science program. Today, she is majoring medical laboratory science.

“The hands-on components of ABE were much better than what was offered in other science courses I had taken. They are really what turned me on to science as a potential career,” she said.
Eduardo Cetlin, president, Amgen Foundation, said the Amgen Biotech Experience is the “result of a collaboration between Amgen scientists and science teachers.”
“Over the past 25 years, that vision has evolved into a cutting-edge scientific experience that will not only open students’ eyes to biotechnology, but also help them discover what it takes to be a real scientist,” Cetlin said.
The University of Rhode Island oversees the operation of the Amgen Biotech Experience in Rhode Island. University officials said the program has ignited a passion for science in many students. “This program gives students that ‘aha’ experience, showing them that science can be cool and exciting,” Gregory Paquette, director, ABE-Rhode Island, said in a statement.
R.I. House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello visited Cranston West High School on Oct. 22 to see the program in action.
“We must ensure all students in Rhode Island have access to the quality education they need to succeed in the 21st century,” Mattiello said in a statement. “Innovative programs like ABE are key to creating a pipeline of well-trained, well-educated workers that will ultimately attract companies and jobs to the area.”

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