Please encourage your students to come to talks and events that are held on campus. Take this coming Tuesday, September 24.  We have men and women’s soccer, the ribbon cutting of the new Environmental Science Building , a Lunch and Learn featuring a student who is doing an internship at Skyline College and a Science in Action talk with a UCSD student giving an example of a Doctoral Research Thesis in Physics.

In a past Science in Action talk, two of our recent graduates, Robert Tristan Sillona III and Valentia Carreno, talked about the internships they had at MIT this past summer. Their attendance at this internship was facilitated by Dr. Regina Stanback Stroud before she retired. Robert and Valentia lived and worked in Boston at one of the most prestigious schools in the country. While it was a lot of work, they reported that they were able to keep up with everyone and that people from all over the country and institutions like MIT had their strengths and weaknesses.

On the other end of the age spectrum, Elaine Johnson, who recently retired from  Biolink, an NSF funded center of excellence, from the American Association of  University Women, gave an informative talk on the importance of community of like minded individuals. The AAUW was founded by women university graduates when there was not a lot of women university graduates around. Our local chapter is very active and gives many scholarships to students who go to Skyline College. They also talked about the importance of negotiating for proper pay and rises for everyone. If our community shows interest, the AAUW is willing to come back and give us a workshop on these issues.

Article and Photos by Nick Kapp

Internship Opportunities

Expand your network in ways that will lead to your dream job. The Career Readiness & Job Placement team is excited to share the following paid internship opportunities with you. Check them out:

• Business, Entrepreneurship & Management Internships
• Science, Technology & Health Internships

Job Opportunities

How may we assist you in landing your dream job? The Career Readiness & Job Placement team is excited to share the following job opportunities with you. Check them out:

• Business, Entrepreneurship & Management Jobs
• Science, Technology & Health Jobs
• Society & Education Jobs

Article by Laura DeKelaita

 

On September 15, 2019, the Biotechnology students from Skyline College’s BTEC 400 and BTEC 210 classes took a field trip to the Embarcadero center in San Francisco to attend a talk at GABA (German American Business Association).  GABA invited four local biotechnology companies to talk about how they started and how new food biotechnology companies operate.

Babak Kusha talked about intellectual property and how his company can support startup biotechnology companies in obtaining their first patents and protecting their intellectual property. He described the process of getting a patent and why is important for beginning companies.

Dr. Nick Legendre from New Age Meats then talked about the startup he works with and how they are developing sustainably to replace meat in our diets. New Age Meats’ notable product is $20,000 worth of breakfast sausages from cultured cells.

Chris Davis Ph.D. is with Impossible Foods, one of the most successful biotechnology food companies in the world. Their “Impossible” burgers are in many fast food restaurants and in our local grocery stores. At least four of Skyline College alumni are currently working for Impossible Foods.

Th Good Food Institute was represented by Blake Byrne. The Good Food Institute is interested in developing more sustainable foods using biotechnology, by funding cultured meat and vegan food development. Fund startups will caveat that their intellectual property be available to the public at large. They encouraged our students to apply for a grant if they want to start their own companies.

Skyline College students were very excited about the talks and stayed for about an hour afterward, networking and asking questions.  Jason said, “I learned something about how companies must protect their intellectual property, if someone copies your patent and started making a product and selling it, then you need to send your lawyers over to stop them.”  Catherine asked Impossible foods if they are going to go into schools. The company replied that while they are looking into providing this healthy alternative, that the price point is not there right now.  They hope future editions of their burgers will be more affordable.

We would like to thank GABA for giving the Biotechnology Manufacturing classes a break on registration.   We also would like to acknowledge Genentech’s support that allowed us to fully fund one class and have all Biotechnology classes attend this event.

Article by Arlyne Bautista | Photo By Nick Kapp

On September 6, 2019, Skyline College’s Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) presented to the CCC’s Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Degree Summit results of a grant-funded project to make the A.S. in Respiratory Care a fully Zero Textbook Cost degree program. Ame Maloney, Faculty Services Librarian, and Bianca Rowden-Quince, Instructional Designer, provided quantitative and qualitative measures to illustrate the impact the 22 ZTC courses associated with the A.S. in Respiratory Care have had on Skyline College students.

The courses developed under this grant include seven prerequisite courses and 15 core courses in the Respiratory Care Program. Having launched the ZTC-enabled program in 2018, three-year projections estimate that 223 sections will be offered because of this project, impacting nearly 5,500 students and saving these students more than $1.35M dollars.

ZTC has been successful at Skyline College, according to Maloney and Rowden-Quince, because of the synergy of our community working together to support resource development, resource adoption, and amplification of the pedagogical benefits of teaching and learning through open education resources. This strength was echoed by a student who, upon completing some of the Respiratory Care coursework, stated, “ZTC is an amazing system just based upon accessibility and reduced cost. College is already so expensive and the cost of some textbooks, especially ones used in science, is outrageous. I really like ZTC and feel it’s just a matter of getting used to the format.”

There are ample opportunities for Skyline College faculty to get engaged with ZTC and create, edit and apply open education resources in their courses. The ZTC Task Force is accepting 2019-2020 academic year applications for support in transitioning courses to a zero textbook cost model. The first-round of applications are due September 27, 2019.

For more information, email skylineztc@smccd.edu or visit the ZTC website at skylinecollege.edu/ztc.

Article and Photo by Rolin Moe