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News
Release
For
Immediate Release
Contact:
Joe DiLaura 317/232-3396
State
awards 16 high schools $400,000 to launch Biomedical Sciences programs
INDIANAPOLIS
(February 12, 2007) -- Sixteen Indiana high schools have each received grants
of $25,000 to begin offering Biomedical Sciences programs to better prepare
students for careers in the Life Sciences field, the Indiana Department of
Workforce Development announced today.
“The
life sciences industry is fast-growing in Indiana, and we want our Hoosier
students well-prepared for these important jobs,” said Governor Daniels.
“The
principal goal of these grants is to help students become interested and
engaged in biomedicine in high school while fully preparing them for entry
into postsecondary education,”
said Andrew Penca, Commissioner of the Department of Workforce Development.
Penca
noted that Biomedical Sciences is a booming field and a critical part of the
United States economy, employing over 15 million people in a wide range of
occupations. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that more than 10 percent of
the national workforce is employed
in the health care industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that 3.6
million new healthcare jobs will be created by 2014. Eight of the twenty
occupations projected to have the greatest job growth over the next ten years
are in healthcare.
According
to a 2005 report by the Indiana Health Industry Forum, life sciences account
for the employment of more than 270,000 Hoosiers in more than 12,000
businesses. It creates $39.98 billion of economic output and $13 billion in
personal income. Further, each health industry job creates 88 jobs elsewhere
in the state.
“Yet
many high school graduates are ill-prepared for the rigorous college-level
science and mathematics courses it takes to enter these careers,” Penca
said.
Biomedical
Sciences is a broad field encompassing many different medical and healthcare
disciplines. These include biochemistry, biomedical engineering, dentistry,
forensics, microbiology, immunology, pharmacology, nursing, physiology,
radiological sciences, and more.
The
grants awarded by the state are part of a national program called Project
Lead the Way, which seeks to increase the number and quality of engineers and
engineering technologists in the United States through collaborations
among K-12 education, higher education
and industry. Program participants, who often are enrolled in college
preparatory math and science classes, are introduced to the rigors of the
engineering field through hands-on projects such as computer-aided design,
robotics, electronics and engineering design. Project Lead The Way has
recently added Biomedical Sciences to its successful Pre-Engineering Program.
The
Indiana High Schools that will receive the grants are:
Arsenal
Tech High School Indianapolis
Bloomington
North High School Bloomington
Bloomington
South High School Bloomington
Carroll
High School Fort Wayne
Greenfield-Central
High School Greenfield
Hamilton
Southeastern High School Fishers
Hobart
High School Hobart
McKenzie
Career Center/MSD Lawrence Indianapolis
New
Prairie High School New Carlisle
Owen
Valley High School Spencer
Pike
Central High School Petersburg
Pike
High School Indianapolis
Shelbyville
High School Shelbyville
Silver
Creek High School Sellersburg
Warren
Central High School/ Walker Career Center Indianapolis
Warsaw
High School Warsaw
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