I am indebted to the Amgen Biotech Experience for enabling me, over all of these many years, to always prepare my students to be competitive, prepared and inspired in the field of science through their experiences with ABE. I could not provide this opportunity to my students without this program.—High school teacher who has participated in ABE for 25 years
Accomplished link
Over the last 25 years, ABE’s reach has been extraordinary. To date, ABE has engaged over 500,000 students in hands-on biotechnology learning using the same equipment used in research labs at world-class research institutions and in industry. ABE is sustained at sites, becomes rooted in schools, and has produced cadres of expert ABE teachers who continue to participate over time. Two pilot studies conducted by WestEd, the ABE program’s evaluator, indicate that exposure to ABE increases student knowledge and skills in biotechnology. A larger, program-wide student assessment study is currently underway to strengthen program-wide statements of student learning and interest.
Opportunities exist both in current ABE communities and in areas where the program is not supported currently. Corporate supporters can provide funding to existing ABE program sites to expand their reach to additional schools, purchase a suite of equipment that can be housed in or used to target particular school districts (approx. $15-20K), or provide connections to industry (by having employees speak to teachers and students about their work or inviting them to visit). Corporate supporters can also provide funding to bring ABE to new communities; the cost to maintain an ABE program site is approx. $100K per year.
Funders and PartnersMajor funder: Amgen Foundation
Program partners: Biotium, Embitec, miniPCR, New England BioLabs, San Diego Workforce Partnership, Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific
The programs in this database clear a high bar. STEMworks reviewed each program against the Design Principles for Effective STEM Philanthropy.
Identify and target a compelling and well-defined need.
Use rigorous evaluation to continuously measure and inform progress towards the compelling need identified.
Ensure work is sustainable.
Demonstrate replicability and scalability.
Create high impact partnerships
Ensure organizational capacity to achieve goals.
Offer challenging and relevant STEM content for the target audience
Incorporate and encourage STEM practices.
Inspire interest and engagement in STEM.
Identify and address the needs of under-represented groups.