WIP: Student Training in Data Analytics Approaches for Bioprocessing Through Co-Curricular Activities

This work-in-progress paper highlights the development of co-curricular programs (delivered in the form of bootcamps) that provide training in data engineering and analytics approaches for bioprocessing and manufacturing. The effort is a part of a larger project funded by the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals, and addresses a gap in education and workforce training solutions to support the digital transformation in bioprocessing and manufacturing. The primary outputs of the proposed project are to develop and provide content for upskilling and cross-training incumbent engineers and enhance their ability to employ data-informed decision-making in their workflows. We also believe the pilot bootcamp content developed for incumbent worker training may be leveraged for collegiate pipeline development and encourage them to enroll in relevant upper-division electives and/or graduate programs. To determine the relevance of the subject matter at various educational and professional levels, we performed evaluations which indicated that there is not a compelling need to adopt separate content development and dissemination strategies for incumbent workforce and collegiate pipeline development. Our next steps are to develop cases and companion data sets to support development of advanced training modules, as well as to deliberate upon ways to adapt content from the bootcamps into curricular activities. We hope to sustain and scale these efforts through the development of a consortium of corporations, industry associations, and universities that collaborate to support training and education needs related to data analytics.