With our new branding as the Center for Infectious Disease Research( our scientists are now able to use system’s biology approaches to make transformative scientific advancements that lead to the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. Education has been an integral part of our mission since we commenced operations nearly 40 years ago. Starting at the high school level, we foster a continuum of training and engagement with students to inspire tomorrow’s biomedicalpioneers. The BioQuest Academy( program fosters global health interest and builds capacity through teacher trainings withcurricular resources aligned to the latest standards and an array of connected student programs (Site Explorations, BioQuest Academyandteacher training). Read ahead to learn how we inspired and educated our community during the 2014-15 school year.

Education

The Site visit begins the entry into a STEM career. This year the BioQuest program served thousands of learners in its 11th year of operations through broad programming (e.g., web-based curriculum, community speaking/outreach and social-mediated mentoring), half-day Site Explorations, (a half day of mentored touring and learning with hands-on curriculum), teacher trainings, and immersive summer programming through the BioQuest Academy and connected internships. 2014-15 BioQuest programming’s noteworthy education outcomes include:

  • 522 students experienced Site Explorations 2014-15 school year, with 70% of visitors indicating that immersive experiences like Site Explorations were very important in increasing their comprehension of classroom science content. 62% of visitors were female and52% reported to be from ethnicities and races underrepresented in STEM fields. In exit surveys, 79% stated that the visit increased their interest in a future career in science.
  • Attending BioQuest Academy is a fun way to get an education in infectious disease content, biotech skills and biomedical theory, and can also be a game-changing experience for rising high school seniors. Thirty six of2014BioQuest summer Academy students are off to schools such as Yale University, Brown University, Cornell University, Stanford University, University of Washington (UW), Scripps College, and UC San Diego. 91% of our 276 older alumni have already graduated from college (79% in STEM fields) —23 are pursuing post-baccalaureate studies, seven are practicing nurses and 53 of them have returned to work in CIDResearch programs as interns and technicians!
  • In a well attended Teacher training workshop, 36 teachers from local area school experienced new curriculum on Innovative vaccines for infectious disease, where they used a system’s biology based modeling approach to develop vaccines for HIV, Malaria and Ebola.

Encouraging diversity

As we move forward, we are focusing our efforts to increase diversity in our Academy classrooms and Site visits. Through a directed approach, we were able to encourage the largest pool of under-served students groups to apply for this year’s Academy and the students with exceptional potential were selected from this pool to participate and train this summer. We are proud to say that our 2015 Academy classroom comprised of 64% of students from under-served groups. These classrooms were wonderfully blended where our preliminary results show significant knowledge gains in under-served students who interact with well-served students. We are pairing these target student populations with like minded scientist-mentors from our Center to begin a long-term support network for underserved students to stay in STEM careers.

Inventing curriculum

The integration of infectious disease research, immunology and systems biology is accelerating the rate of vaccine development at CIDResearch.Our teacher training, and Bioquest Academy curriculum are going through a redesign process to to keep pace with the newly developed technologies and strategies used in our research facilties.

We are grateful for the tremendous support from our individual, community, philanthropic and corporate partners. Together, we are generating a critical thinking science and technology minded workforce for the 21st century. Thank you to all for your steadfast support.

Individuals

Anonymous

Ariel Abromov

Peter Myler & Alexa Allen

Paul Anderson

Peter Askovich

Marion Avril

Laura Austin

Ellen Sisk & Tim Blair

Anna Bran

Alexander & Wendy Brzezny

Francisco & Carmen Brito

Robert & Theresa Britschgi

David & Virginia Broudy

Jeanne Brovold

Victoria Buker

Sara Carbonetti

Lindsay Carpp

Igor Cestari

John Chambers III

Wonjong Moon & HeeJin Chang

Kimberly Choi

Kristin Cohen

Elizabeth Cromwell

Lisabeth Cron

Sam Danziger

Audrey Davis

Tim Dawe

Amy DeRocher

Matt Donelan

Chris Englin

Katy Horan & Dan Filonowich

JoAnn & Barry Forman

Emily Glenn

Jolene Glenn

Matthew Gray

Roberto Guirnaloa

Anke Harupa

Toni & Michael Hatzakis, Jr

Ann Herbig

Eric Houghland

Terry Meersman & Carmen de la Hoz

Kent & Louise Irwin

Bryan Jensen

Peter & June Jiang

Pam & Kim Kaiser

Garrett Klinich

Karen Kuter

Christopher R. Larson

Sally Lyons-Abbott

Nicki Ann Markle

Christina McCormick

Kyle Minch

Susan & Isaac Morgensztern

Bethany Northquist

Susan & Stephen Papineau

Marilyn Parsons

Monica Petersen

Isabelle Phan

Garrett Poshusta

Sally Quy

SrikumarRangarajan

Chris Read

Lynett Robertson

Mary Jean Ryan

Brandon Sack

Sowmya Sampath

Tracy Saveria

Suzanne Scheele

Drs. Jane Biddle & Ken Seamon

Leslie Sebastian

Aarthi Sekar

Smitha Shankar

Genie Sheth

Ericka Sjogren

Don Sodora

Anna Sokolov

Robin Stacy

Team Trio

Tetyana Stolyar

Sandhya Subramanian

Rosa Suen

Vasudha Sundaravaradan

Patty Taagen

Ethan Thompson

Elton Vasconcelos

Marissa Vignali & Fernando Vila

Brian Waugh

Katherine Weybright

Jessica Winkler

Grantors

Amgen Foundation

Byron & Alice Lockwood Foundation
Foster Foundation

KeyBank Foundation

Robertson FamilyFoundation

Community Partners
Career and Technical Education,

OSPI

Central Washington University

Community Center for Education

Results (CCER)

Yakima Farm Workers Clinic

DO-IT, UW

Excellent Schools Now

Fred Hutch

GEAR UP

Genome Sciences, UW

Infectious Disease Research Institute.Initiative to Maximize Student

Diversity, UW

Institute for Systems Biology

Making Connections, UW

Northshore School District

Northwest Association for

Biomedical Research Northwest Science Writers

Association

Office of Superintendent of

Public InstructionPacific Science CenterRainier Scholars

Seattle Public SchoolsScience Education Partnership

South King Co. STEM Network

Technology Access Foundation

University of Washington

Washington Global Health

Alliance

Washington MESAWashington State

Tuberculosis Advisory Council

Washington State University

Washington STEM

Wenatchee School District

YMCA Black Achievers

Schools Served (2015)

Bainbridge High School

Ballard High School

Bethel High School

CB Tech Skill center

Cleveland High School

Columbia River High School

Decatur High School

Ephrata High School

Gig Harbor High School

Glacier Peak High School

Glide High School (OR)

Highline High School

Ingraham High School

International Community School

Kentridge High School

Moses Lake High School

Mount Tahoma High School

New Start High School

North Kitsap High School

Orting High School

Seattle Preparatory School

Toppenish High School

TESLA stem High School

Washington High School