Baltimore Business Journal Spotlights BTI
The Baltimore Business Journal spoke with Interim Executive Director Kathleen Weiss and Scientific Director Timothy Fawcett for its weekly “Coping” Q & A column on April 23, 2021. They explored how the Institute coped with training during the lockdown of COVID-19; how funders have stepped up, and the job outlook for graduates in the coming years.
Excerpts:
How did the Covid-19 pandemic disrupt your operations?
Fawcett: Because of their circumstances, many of our students don’t have computers or good internet access, so we went out with a grant and purchased iPads, some that had cellular connections. And then once we were able to come back in with teaching, we changed the whole format of our instruction so that we could do all of the lectures and protocols online, so students didn’t have to come in as much. And then, students would come in three days a week for three hours a day for the hands-on training.
How have funders and companies reacted to help the institute over the last year?
Weiss: They have been more flexible, very supportive. I just had a meeting with one of our funders who offered not once, but several times to do whatever might be possible if we found that we needed to change some of the terms of the grant that we had, including by extending the timeframe. I think the employers that we work with, they have been very impressed that BTI has maintained, if not improved the quality of our graduates.
What do you foresee for the job market in life sciences, particularly in this region, moving forward?
Fawcett: Increasing. Maryland is now no. 4 in the country in biosciences, and Baltimore in particular, I think, is growing as a manufacturing and research center in the state. The Covid response has made a lot of people realize how important science is and how important research manufacturing is, and we see a lot of growth in our area
