From Classroom to Campus: How Biotech Launch is Building the Next Generation of Scientists
A look at how NSF-funded experiential learning at HudsonAlpha is bridging the gap for 2-year college students.
By: Sarah Sharman, PhD
“Every day I wear my HudsonAlpha badge, I feel honored,” says Kiera “Panda” Willis. “A little girl from the projects walks through the doors into this beautiful glass building and belongs here.”
Her story is just one of many shaped by HudsonAlpha’s Biotech Launch program, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. This initiative helps community‑college and nontraditional students gain the skills and confidence to enter the state’s growing biotechnology workforce.
Kiera grew up in Mobile, Alabama, in underdeveloped neighborhoods and sometimes in shelters. Despite hardship, she was curious and drawn to science, fascinated by stars, oceans, bacteria, and the “unknown.” Though she didn’t know what form it would take, she always felt science was her calling. “It’s always been who I am,” she says. “I just didn’t know how someone like me was going to do anything with it.”
Initially planning to join the military, Kiera made it through her swearing-in ceremony, but a heart murmur ended that dream. The COVID‑19 pandemic redirected her to education and science. Balancing motherhood, limited resources, classes at Drake State Community College, and a job at McDonald’s, she joined the ranks of nontraditional students—roughly a quarter of U.S. undergraduates—who juggle families and work alongside their studies.
During one of her biology classes, Kiera spotted a flyer for HudsonAlpha’s Biotech Launch program, a 16‑week training designed for community‑college and nontraditional students who rarely get hands‑on lab opportunities.
“We cover in one semester what many programs need a full year to teach,” explains program director Dr. Nikki Mertz. “They learn a concept in the classroom, then immediately apply it in the lab.” The fast‑paced structure, paired with Mertz’s deliberate mentoring style, would soon give Kiera her first experience working like a real scientist, an experience that defines the program’s approach to closing the gap between education and industry.
Finding Belonging and Building Confidence
In Biotech Launch, Kiera encountered hands‑on lab work for the first time, learning to use pipettes, centrifuges, and real research tools that made science tangible. Initially feeling out of place among younger students, the mentorship of Dr. Mertz and Dr. Michele Morris helped her develop confidence, professionalism, and a sense of belonging.
At first, Kiera kept to the back of the classroom, convinced she didn’t belong among younger students fresh out of high school. “I sat in the back thinking, ‘I’m too old for this,’ ” she remembers. But Mertz saw something different. “She came in nervous, sure, but she asked for extra math problems, extra practice—she went all in,” Mertz recalls. “Once she saw that she could actually do this work, everything changed.”
The turning point came when the abstract concepts of her textbook became a physical reality. “A book and hands-on learning are so different,” Kiera says. “Having my own lab bench and being able to spend time working on my own experiments is when it really clicked for me.”
The program’s lessons extended far beyond pipettes and gels. Kiera still laughs about a gala she attended recently: “I knew how to hold my drink, shake someone’s hand, and talk confidently, and I learned that at Biotech Launch.” Those refinements are intentional, says Mertz. “Every Friday we run professional‑development workshops on everything from résumé writing, email etiquette, research ethics, even networking how‑tos,” she notes. “We want them to be comfortable in any professional setting.”
From Laboratory Skills to Community Impact
When it came time for internships, Biotech Launch did what it was designed to do: connect classroom learning to real workforce needs. Kiera expected to work at a lab bench but was instead placed with Acclinate, a company on the HudsonAlpha campus focused on increasing diversity in clinical studies. “I thought they had mixed me up with someone else,” she admits.
For the program leaders, that placement reflected a broader goal: linking emerging local talent with biotech employers whose work extends beyond the lab. “We knew she’d flourish there,” says Mertz. “She’s outspoken and passionate about connecting with people—that’s exactly what Acclinate needed.”
The match proved a success not only for Kiera, who earned a long‑term contract position, but also for the program itself, demonstrating how Biotech Launch graduates are already fueling Alabama’s growing life‑science ecosystem.
The Lasting Impact
Today, Kiera calls Biotech Launch “the semester that changed my life.” Her success is one example of a pattern Mertz has seen again and again. Since its start, the program has trained more than forty students with a seventy-eight percent pass rate on the national biotechnician certification exam (BACE), well above the typical fifty-eight to sixty-three percent national average. Many graduates stay in touch, volunteer, and return to mentor new cohorts. “Talk to the students,” Mertz says when asked to describe the program’s impact. “That’s where you see it. They keep coming back because they’ve found their place in science.”
Kiera says one semester of Biotech Launch changed her life more than three years of college. It not only gave her technical skills and professional polish, but also a badge that tells her and her son that she belongs in the world of science.
Seeing his mom in a lab coat, standing at her own lab bench, changed her 11-year-old son’s perspective on what was possible. He now sees science not as a remote concept, but as his mom’s profession, a reality that has inspired his own interest in art and science. He will continue the legacy this summer, attending one of HudsonAlpha’s middle school camps.
Kiera continues to mentor others and advocate for programs that bridge underrepresented students into biotech careers. She remains a vital part of the HudsonAlpha ecosystem, turning her personal journey into a legacy for future generations.
“These programs turn a dream into something real,” says Kiera. “I want other people—especially from communities like mine—to see that they can do this too.”
Kiera’s story is one of dozens shaped by Biotech Launch, a program now building a talent pipeline for Alabama’s growing life-science sector. Since its start, graduates have transitioned into internships and full-time positions across the HudsonAlpha campus and beyond, bringing fresh perspectives and local roots to an industry that depends on both.
At HudsonAlpha, science isn’t just happening in a lab; it’s happening for communities, families, and the future workforce. By bridging the gap between the classroom and career paths, Biotech Launch is ensuring that science and the opportunities it offers truly belong to everyone.
When Kiera walks through those glass doors today, she represents not one success story, but the promise of what happens when access meets opportunity.
These programs turn a dream into something real. I want other people—especially from communities like mine—to see that they can do this too.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 2322497. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
