By Christopher Quirk
Gilroy
– While it may not make all Gilroy residents think of viruses as
opportunities, Gavilan College is doing its part to convince a
few.
Gilroy – While it may not make all Gilroy residents think of viruses as opportunities, Gavilan College is doing its part to convince a few.
The college took the next step in establishing its biotechnology certificate program this semester by offering a seminar that hosts speakers from a number of local, regional and national biotech companies.
Biotechnology – the use of technology on biological systems, especially in the fields of agriculture, food science and medicine – is a growing field nationwide and in the greater Bay Area.
The seminar, which explores trends and ethics in the discipline, is one of five courses required to earn the certificate. Students also must take “Principles of Biology,” basic and organic chemistry classes and a biotechnology laboratory course, which was instituted last semester as a regular fall course.
“The college very quickly saw that this was a new industry and enhanced the science program,” said Karen Ackland, professor of biology at Gavilan.
Students have agreed, as evidenced by increasing enrollment. Already 40 students are taking the seminar this semester, which takes a look at the moral issues and industry trends at play in the field of biotechnology. By way of comparison, last fall just 10 students took the lab class, which focused on bench skills such as measuring out and diluting solutions.
These courses and the certificate program are aimed at preparing students for further studies and ushering them into the working world, said Rey Morales, who teaches the seminar.
“Some people who weren’t considering college are considering it now because of the biotech program,” he said.
Morales culled a variety of speakers for the seminar, including a detective from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department, a clinical lab manager from Hazel Hawkins Hospital and founder of a Gilroy biotech startup, TekNova.
“These presenters are going to be future employees and they’re going to be mentors,” Morales said.
For Garrett Chavez, in his second semester at Gavilan, one of the presenters, Judit Monis, plant health services manager at STA Laboratories, is already both an employer and mentor.
Thanks to Morales’ networking, Chavez started work in November at STA Labs, an international company with an office in Gilroy. The company, which specializes in testing agricultural products for quality and health, provides him with a start in the industry and training to supplement his classroom education.
“If they don’t have any work for me, they teach me something new, so it’s a good deal,” Chavez said.
STA Labs also benefits from the potential labor pool the biotech program produces.
“It’s nice to have people that have (laboratory) skills because we spend a lot of time just training people” who don’t, Monis said.
Morales believes Chavez and Monis are among the first of the many who will benefit from this flow of students from Gavilan to biotech companies.
Before Gavilan established a biotechnology certificate program, Morales and colleagues probed local professionals on its usefulness.
“They said they would definitely hire them on just with the skills we’ve taught them,” he said.
Christopher Quirk covers education for the Dispatch. Contact him at 427-7240 or [email protected].
