In September 2020, Tech Camp received a five-year, $1.2 million grant provided by the National Institute of General Medical Science at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through its Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program to help build a skilled workforce for New Hampshire’s rapidly growing regenerative medicine and biotechnology industries.
This initiative, called NH CREATES the Future: the NH Collaborative for Regenerative Medicine Education and Training for Engineers and Scientists of the Future, will cultivate interest and expertise in regenerative medicine and biotechnology among middle and high school students and teachers with the goal to address current and future workforce needs.
By collaborating with the New Hampshire IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (NH-INBRE), the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), as well as teachers and students from Manchester, Nashua, Portsmouth, Dover, Barrington and Lawrence, Massachusetts, NH CREATES will also enhance STEM literacy among students from the region’s most ethnically diverse school districts.
Manchester CREATES
NH CREATES expanded its operations to the UNH Manchester campus in 2023 thanks to support from a Build Back Better Regional Challenge grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration that was awarded to a coalition led by the City of Manchester. The focus of the broader grant is to create a biofabrication cluster in the Manchester Millyards, already home to a growing number of biotech companies. Manchester CREATES will offer an array of educational programs for students and teachers in the region to help address workforce needs starting in the summer of 2024.
NH CREATES initiatives include the following:
- Building on UNH Tech Camp’s existing curriculum, introduce innovative new youth programs focused on regenerative medicine and biotechnology. An emphasis will be placed on admitting students who are traditionally underrepresented in STEM-related fields. These new grant-funded programs are offered at no cost to participants and all levels are welcome. Advanced proficiency in STEM-related subjects is not required.
- A paid two-week summer institute that provides training to middle and high school STEM teachers that helps them develop formal projects related to regenerative medicine and biotechnology. These projects will be made available to other teachers in the region.
- Creation of a regenerative medicine and biotechnology STEM ecosystem in which industry, higher education and K-12 partners work collaboratively to assist students as they progress from middle and high school to college. The goal is to create new career pathways focused on regenerative medicine and biotechnology.
For more information, please fill out our contact form. Thank you!
