Programs Prepare Scientists For Business World

Although newly degreed life scientists may be ready for employment in an academic setting, they often come to the business world unprepared for the fast-paced, team-based, results-oriented environment of today's life science industry, a variety of observers from industry and academia assert. Some university and business leaders are helping to rectify such problems by teaming up to create educational programs focused on the business side of science. OFFERING AN ALTERNATIVE: Henry Riggs, preside

Written byPeter Gwynne

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OFFERING AN ALTERNATIVE: Henry Riggs, president of the Keck Graduate Institute, will "let problems drive the nature of the education."

"There's obviously a tremendous amount of graduate education in the life sciences," says Henry Riggs, a former president of California's Harvey Mudd College. "But our sense is that it's not geared to the needs of industry or the needs of students who want to go into industry rather than go to medical school or be cloned into academic faculty."

Riggs, now president of the Keck Graduate Institute (KGI), has embarked on an ambitious course to offer new opportunities. Chartered a year ago with the objective of preparing highly qualified students for professional careers in life science-based organizations, KGI will open its doors to students next year in Claremont, Calif., as the seventh member of the Claremont Consortium of Colleges. Other academic institutions have started to address this issue as well. ...

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