UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen said creating a talent pool for life science companies coming to Lowell was part of a “bigger vision for the LINC.”
“We know that the draw for companies to decide where they want to locate ultimately the No. 1 factor is talent,” Chen said during the Thursday afternoon ceremony at UMass Lowell’s Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center on Canal Street. “Can they find that talent pool that they’re looking for?”
The Lowell Innovation Network Corridor project is an $800 million development plan that leverages the prestige and innovation of the university and the resources and history of the city of Lowell with the job creation capabilities of industry to envision a vibrant urban village/main street model and economic engine for the city.
Draper Laboratory, the company that operated the computer guidance system that helped land Apollo 11 on the moon, is an anchor tenant at UMass Lowell’s Wannalacit location off Father Morissette Boulevard.
In July, Mass General Brigham announced a collaboration to advance human performance research at the university, expanding the project’s academic research opportunities.
Bioversity finds, trains and connects the local talent workforce to the life sciences business community. It does that through a free, eight-week, in-person certificate training program, said Executive Director Zach Stanley.
“Jobs in the life sciences aren’t only for scientists,” he said. “But employees need relevant skills and experiences.”
In February, Bioversity will launch its first Lowell training cohort of 10 students at the M2D2 center, which has allocated both bench and classroom space to the program.
Students accepted into the program will receive 160 hours of hands-on learning time, a $375 per week stipend, graduate with a certificate from UML and Bioversity along with resume building, career counseling and job placement opportunities.
The workforce development company, which spun out of MassBio, a global life sciences and health care hub, opened its first training center in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston in January. Since then, it has trained five cohorts and will graduate 65 students this year, making it the largest life sciences certificate training program in Massachusetts.
Many of the students identify as low income and persons of color.
“Our training programs and employer networks are going to connect overlooked, underrepresented and low-income populations from Lowell, and the areas surrounding us, to jobs,” Stanley said. “We’ve placed 65 percent of our graduates so far into fulltime positions.”
Building and growing out workforce talent was the animating issue at a roundtable conversation hosted by U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan at Middlesex Community College in May 2023.
The event was attended by Massachusetts Secretary of Economic Development Yvonne Hao and Ayodele Okeowo, who is the director of intergovernmental affairs in the CHIPS Program Office under the U.S. Department of Commerce.
At least 40 people representing 3rd Congressional District companies and higher education institutions like UMass Lowell brainstormed ways to access, train and retain the next generation of employees to fill the jobs expected to be created by the CHIPS and Science Act signed into law by the Biden administration in August 2022. CHIPS stands for the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors.
Over the next 10 years, the Act will offer $280 billion in federal funding to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States. Part of the federal application process requires companies demonstrate how their organization will help build the workforce of tomorrow.
All of the companies represented at the roundtable were concerned about the talent piece of the economic development. Chen, O’Connell and Stanley all see Bioversity as helping to address that space.
“We’ve got to ensure that we’re creating opportunities and helping to meet the demand for recruiting talent that our companies need,” MassBio President and CEO Kendalle O’Connell said, “while helping to create a pathway for a more diverse life science industry.”
Lowell leadership attended the ceremony, including City Manager Tom Golden, state Rep. Vanna Howard and representatives for state Sen. Ed Kennedy, state Rep. Rodney Elliott and Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Danielle McFadden.
Stanley said applications for the February and September 2025 training classes are open, and residents who are 18 and older, have a high school degree, are English language fluent, pass a background check and have a commitment to pursuing a job and career in the life sciences are encouraged to apply.
“It’s about true lifelong careers that are going to change families and outcomes and help families build wealth,” Stanley said. “And we’re diversifying the industry’s talent pipeline, which has been a mission for MassBio and now Bioversity.”
For more information about Bioversity’s program, visit bioversityMA.org.
©2024 The Sun, Lowell, Mass. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
