Graduate School Network > NIH Protein Biotechnology Training Program > Program Outcomes > Diverse Participation

Diverse Participation

The Protein Biotechnology Training Program at Washington State University is committed to expanding access to participation in biotechnology research and bringing diverse perspectives to our trainees. These objectives are easier to reach in a participant group that is enriched with personal, scientific, and geographic diversity.

Enhancing demographic diversity in our cohort. Currently, 32% of our trainees are students from an underrepresented racial and ethnic group, with disabilities and/or from a disadvantaged background. Our current underrepresented demographic diversity is nearly double that in our partner graduate programs (18%) and has been increasing (a fifteen-year average of 22% from 2007–2022).

Scientific diversity fuels collaborative, transdisciplinary science. Our program involves five graduate programs, four WSU colleges, and 20 WSU departments. Training opportunities, including group projects and presentations in a multidisciplinary environment, provide trainees with distinct perspectives and leadership skillsets that are required for tackling contemporary problems in protein biotechnology.

  • 20% of the IP from BTP trainers in the WSU technology library results from multi-department collaborations.

Disseminating opportunity throughout the WSU community. In 2022, participants from outside of our program made up 17% of students in our flagship Protein Biotechnology course and 27% of the faculty in our Faculty Forum mentorship program. The Biotech Symposium is advertised throughout the WSU community, expanding career perspectives to undergraduate and graduate students alike.

Individual Training Impact

[/textblock][/column][/row][row layout=”side-left” ][column][textblock]Dr. Trisha Brock[/textblock][/column][column][textblock]Dr. Trisha Brock (Ph.D. in Molecular Biosciences in December 2005) was a trainee in our Program from 2000 to 2005.

A Choctaw Native American from Washington state, Dr. Brock performed her first post-doctoral fellowship at Huntsman Cancer Institute from 2006 to 2009, then a second post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University from 2009 to 2011.

In 2011, she co-founded Knudra Transgenics with Dr. Chris Hopkins, and she served as Chief Executive Officer of the company in Salt Lake City, UT until 2017. Now she is the Director of Research and Technical Delivery at InVivo Biosystems in Eugene, Oregon.