Community College of Rhode IslandBiotech grad finds industry success
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Alexa Harvey graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor’s degree in management from Rhode Island College, and she hoped to find a supervisory niche in the pharmaceutical industry. She felt that supplementing her science background and getting some hands-on experience would eventually make her a better manager, so in December 2004 she enrolled in CCRI’s biotechnology certificate program.
The Warwick native says that she found the biotechnology program prepared her thoroughly with practical, applicable skills by simulating workplace requirements, such as absolute precision in sampling and log-keeping.
“The skills that I gained from this program were real skills for the workforce,” says Harvey. “The instruction was industry-specific and useful in any biotech lab environment.”
This summer, Alexa finished her requirements for the biotechnology certificate, and she recently started work as a lab technician at a local environmental testing company, RI Analytical. The company tests for pollutants such as petroleum, pesticides and herbicides in water, soil and air. Harvey’s job is the preparation of soil and water samples in the organic prep lab; the samples are then processed by various testing instruments. Harvey says that though her work at the company is not precisely in the pharmaceutical area she had originally planned on, she finds the skill sets to be very similar. She is enthusiastic about her work, and is confident that she made the right choice in attending the biotechnology program.
“The biotech program was an all-encompassing way for me to specialize,” she says. “I’m nearly finished with a second bachelor’s degree in science, but in so many science classes I find that the information is so broad, it’s not pertinent to most job situations.” She continues, “In my CCRI classes, I got a condensed, yet thorough, curriculum that I could carry directly into my job at RI Analytical.”
For more information about the biotechnology certificate program, contact Josephine Pino, program coordinator, at 825-2136 or email jpino@ccri.edu.
