Roche’s Genentech has expanded its successful Futurelab partnership with the South San Francisco school system and added a $10 million investment (and a “+”), taking the whole STEM education project nationwide.
With just 35% of U.S. high schools offering biotech classes, and most of those being in higher-income districts that can afford expensive lab equipment, the project is the latest piece of Genentech’s commitment to D&I. Futurelab+ aims to tackle the issue of inequities in science education.
The new initiative includes a career and technical education standards-aligned, free, downloadable biotech curriculum that can be taught even in the absence of lab equipment. There are abundant resources and support for teachers plus access to a volunteer network that connects classrooms with industry professionals including Genentech employees. The plan is to level the field so everyone has a chance to learn the skills needed for careers in STEM.
“The ultimate goal here is really to diversify biotechnology,” Ragnar von Schiber, head of K-12 STEM education initiatives at Genentech, said. “Genentech has really made Futurelab and now, Futurelab+, part of our enterprise-wide Kindergarten to Careers initiative. The goal for that is to dismantle the systemic barriers to science education and STEM education for historically excluded groups and to build the pathways into our company into biotechnology and into health for the next generation of diverse talent.”
All of the Futurelab+ program is available for free on the website and is meant to be mixed and matched, or used in its entirety. How it’s used is up to the educator.
Genentech worked with outside education partners such as Discovery Education, which has a huge network of teachers and school districts.
An educator network will be launching in spring. Genentech plans to invite all the teachers who are using the Futurelab+ curriculum to join the online webinar and events, where educators around the nation can interact and swap stories and ideas.
“This is a long-term commitment, a long-term investment,” von Schiber said. “We're going to continue to learn and grow and figure out what the new opportunities are and can't wait to set up this infrastructure so that others can join us in really creating the next generation of diverse scientific and medical workforce of the future.”