EDC to Continue Leadership of Amgen Biotech Experience Program Office

EDC has won an award from the Amgen Foundation to lead the Program Office for Amgen Biotech Experience (ABE), an innovative global science education initiative with a focus on equity and connecting schools to real-life biosciences. For over 10 years, EDC has collaborated with the Amgen Foundation to build, strengthen, and scale up ABE, reaching over 970,000 high school students to date. Studies show that students exposed to ABE have increased interest and confidence in science and biotechnology.

Currently, ABE is active in 27 sites in Africa, Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and the United States. EDC’s ABE Program Office team develops curricula, provides professional learning for local program sites to deliver to teachers, supports sites, and leads communication and engagement to promote the advancement of the ABE program.

“We are honored to continue our decade-long partnership with the Amgen Foundation on this important initiative and excited about the work that lies ahead,” says EDC managing project director Rebecca Lewis, who directs the ABE Program Office. “Through its investment in ABE, the Amgen Foundation is making great strides in achieving its mission to advance excellence in science education and inspire the next generation of innovators.”

Over the next three years, the ABE Program Office team will reach over 300,000 more students in multiple locations including new ABE program sites in the Global South. The team will also help ABE achieve its four key priorities:

• Advancing opportunities for populations of students who are underrepresented in the current biotech and STEM workforces to build scientific literacy, experience the excitement of scientific discovery, and access pathways to biotech and science careers.
• Providing high-quality teaching and learning resources for secondary schools, including lab- and classroom-based curriculum materials and Web-based resources through a partnership with LabXchange.
• Building the capacity of teachers around the world through high-quality professional learning experiences, access to a global community of practice, and ABE implementation resources and support.
• Connecting scientists to classrooms through the ABE Volunteer Program and biotech careers profile series.

EDC’s leadership of the ABE Program Office is part of a broader commitment to equity and innovation in STEM education, which includes leading CADRE (Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education), the STEM Learning and Research (STELAR) Center, Improving Equity in Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles Courses, the Oceans of Data Institute, Math For All, and Young Mathematicians.