City College of San Francisco’s nationally renowned biotechnology program has received several recent grants to the tune of more than $1 million, which leaders say will be used to help continue enticing students into the field.

On the heels of an expiring grant from the National Science Foundation that brought high school students into college labs to explore stem cell research, a $6 million career pathways grant from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office will allow CCSF and the San Francisco Unified School District to continue the partnership and expand upon the career pathways.

About half the money, awarded in June, goes to CCSF and the other to the SFUSD. The college’s global computer science program, which includes coding, cybersecurity, digital media and web design is also receiving a portion of the money for the career pathways.

“The whole idea of this grant is taking [students] from high schools, into City College and out into a job,” said Edie Kaeuper, coordinator for the bridge to biosciences and
manufacturing program and former head of the biotechnology program.

Separately, CCSF’s Bio-Link center, housed in UC San
Francisco office space at 15th and Folsom streets, received around $600,000 on Sept. 1 to help break down biotechnology curriculum for high schools. That grant was awarded dually to Madison College’s biotechnology program for its stem cell curriculum.

“This is the birthplace of biotech,” Kaeuper said of San Francisco. “We have been really working at City College to be one of the colleges at the forefront of biotech.”