About the Program

The New Jersey Department of Higher Education approved the B.S. degree program in biotechnology at Cook College (now the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences) in September 1989, and it was adopted as a Douglass College major two years later. It was one of the first in the country and has received national recognition as a model curriculum.

Foundations

The Biotechnology Curriculum provides students with fundamental knowledge and laboratory skills in biotechnology, including molecular biology, underpinned by a firm foundation in biology and the physical sciences. The primary objectives of the program are to broadly educate students for positions in the biotechnology industry and to prepare students for graduate and professional study in the life sciences. The strong life and physical sciences foundation of the curriculum involves extensive laboratory and work and research experience, as well as a choice of specialization in one of the following fields: animal, microbial and plant biotechnology; bioinformatics and bioscience policy and management. Within each of these areas, students are exposed to current problems in the biological sciences and the role that biotechnology can play in solving them, and importantly to the diverse social issues relating to biotechnology.

The curriculum is interdisciplinary, drawing from faculty expertise in six departments and providing the students with the breadth of relevant course offerings. There are ten core faculty who teach the majority of the courses, advise students, and actively participate in curriculum development. They are enthused about the program and its excellent students and have worked selflessly in offering the program. Additional faculty serve as mentors for undergraduate research students and teach courses offered by other curricula.

Curriculum and More

The number of students majoring in biotechnology at Rutgers University is presently 200. In 1994, twenty-five first-year students at Cook College declared biotechnology as their major, and the average GPA was 3.6! The facilities are much improved since the program's inception. The ultramodern teaching laboratory and support space in Foran Hall is furnished with state-of-the-art equipment with funds provided by NSF, the University and the State. In 1999, a new teaching computer laboratory was added in Foran Hall. Moreover, an addition to Foran Hall in the fall of 2000 more than doubled the teaching laboratory space. With a $1.3 million grant awarded from the State in 2000, coupled with generous support from the corporate sector, Rutgers established an educational, research and training facility in high throughput screening and analytical microbiology to prepare our undergraduates for careers in the emerging high technology biotechnology field.

The curriculum itself is both innovative and intensive. The students are given ample opportunity for hands-on state-of-the-art laboratory experience, both in a formal classroom setting and in the research laboratory. All of our majors engage in research prior to graduation, most often at Rutgers University or UMDNJ, but also through placements in neighboring industrial corporations. Many students begin research projects in their sophomore year and are able to complete a significant body of work comparable to a M.S. thesis prior to undergraduate commencement. In 1998, a grant from the USDA provided funds for paid summer internships for ten biotechnology majors for the summers of 1999-2001. The University has recently provided additional funds to provide ten undergraduate research internships for a ten-week research and biotechnology enrichment program for the summers of 2004-2006. Funds are currently sought from corporate partners to continue this program. Opportunities are also available for biotechnology internships through the cooperative education program.

In addition to learning in the classroom and research laboratory, the students discuss the societal impact of biotechnology, beginning with a freshman seminar course and ending in their capstone senior seminar. The faculty realize that it is essential that the students recognize both the advantages and disadvantages of the technology and are able to effectively communicate these points to a wide community. The students have so much enjoyed this opportunity that they have carried their excitement beyond the classroom through activities spearheaded by the Designer Genes Club. Their programs have included panel discussions focused on various aspects of biotechnology's impact on society. Likewise, they have shared their enthusiasm for undergraduate research by sponsoring undergraduate research fairs to introduce potential faculty and industrial research advisors to aspiring undergraduate researchers. These fairs have been well attended, attracting students from several majors and all of the colleges in New Brunswick.

While the Biotechnology Curriculum is still relatively young, it has already established a strong track record. Among our graduates, six have won NSF predoctoral fellowships and another was awarded a Howard Hughes fellowship for graduate studies. Nearly all of the graduates have gone on either to prestigious graduate schools of their choice, medical school (several with early admission), vet school, or to research positions in biotechnology/molecular biology in industry or academia. As an example of the demand for our students, the three top applicants out of 55 for a research position at Johnson and Johnson in 1993 were from that year's graduating class of biotechnology majors. Several large pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, Hoffman LaRoche, Schering Plough, Sanofi-Aventis, Bristol Myers-Squibb and Novartis, have hired our graduates and make requests for more. Roughly one-half of the graduates pursue advanced degrees and the other half join the workforce.

Awards

The strengths of the biotechnology undergraduate program and its faculty have been recognized in several tangible ways. In the summer of 1990, Cook College hosted a very successful NSF-sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduate Program (REU) in plant biotechnology. Fifeteen years ago, we received a grant from NSF's Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement (ILI) program to support the central biotechnology laboratory courses. Several reviewers of this grant proposal acknowledged the strength of the entire curriculum and the national leadership role Rutgers has taken in developing this forward-thinking program.

More than half of the core faculty have received teaching and/or undergraduate advising awards, including Dr. Theodore Chase (Cook College Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Advising in 1991 and for Sustained Academic and Professional Excellence in 1997); Dr. Barry Jesse (Cook College Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1994 and Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor in 1996, and Cook College Award for Sustained Academic Excellence in 2002); Dr. Donald Kobayashi (Cook College Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1996); Dr. Barbara Zilinskas (Cook College Award for Sustained Academic and Professional Excellence in 1990, Warren Sussman Award for Teaching Excellence in 1995, the USDA Food and Agricultural Sciences Excellence in College and University Teaching Award in 1996, and Rutgers Scholar-Teacher Award in 2003); and Dr. Gerben Zylstra (NSF Young Investigator Award and Exxon Education Foundation Award in 1992, and Cook College Excellence Award for Academic Innovation and Creativity, 2002). Several of the core faculty have also received many competitive research awards, illustrating how good teaching and good research go hand in hand.

The Biotechnology Curriculum was reviewed by a panel of external scientists in October, 1996. The review team found that "the faculty involved in the program are characterized by the terms excellence and enthusiasm. The program was one of the pioneering undergraduate Biotechnology programs in the USA and has been the model at other institutions." Finally, the Biotechnology Curriculum was recognized with the coveted 1997 Rutgers Award for Programmatic Excellence in Undergraduate Education; in 1998 with a USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant to enable further curriculum development and to provide summer research stipends and a summer enrichment program for our students; and in 2000 with a $1.3 million grant from the State to support a project entitled "University-Industry Partnership to Enhance Biotechnology Education for a High Tech Workforce." In 2006, a grant entitles "Brazil-U.S. Biotechnology Education Partnership" was awarded to extend the experiential nature of our existing biotechnology training programs to include problems that transcend national borders.

Summer Research

This past summer will marked the third year of the Biotechnology Undergraduate Summer Research Program, sponsored by the Biotechnology Center in cooperation with the Biotechnology Curriculum. Participants will receive a stipend of $3,700 and conducted interdisciplinary research in the fields of genetics, biochemistry, microbiology, physiology, molecular biology, cellular biology and bioinformatics. Broad topics ranged from environmental microbiology to genetic manipulation of plants to animal functional genomics. The summer interns has full access to excellent research facilities, an enjoyable summer enrichment program, as well as other significant opportunities for social interaction. Funds are currently being sought from corporate partners to continue this program.

Program Requirements

If you would like additional information on the Biotechnology Curriculum or would like to arrange for an onsite visit, you may contact the Undergraduate Program Director, Dr. Barbara Zilinskas, Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901-8525 (732-932-9711, ext. 232 or zilinskas@sebs.rutgers.edu).