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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Latasha Wright, Chief Scientific Officer of BioBus
7:23:54
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152 sec
Latasha Wright, Chief Scientific Officer of BioBus, testified about the organization's mission to provide science education to underserved K-12 students in New York City. She highlighted BioBus's programs, impact, and the need for continued support from the city to meet growing demand and address the loss of federal funding.
- BioBus offers a range of programs including mobile labs, after-school explorer programs, and paid internships for high school and college students.
- 95% of BioBus interns are majoring/minoring in science or have science jobs, with many alumni working in prestigious institutions or pursuing advanced degrees.
- The organization is seeking support to leverage a $500,000 City Council investment in an all-electric bus, aiming to reach 51,000 students next year.
Latasha Wright
7:23:54
Hi I'm Latasha Wright and the Chief Scientific Officer of BioBus.
7:23:58
So BioBus was started in New York City in 02/2008 to help K to 12 students discover, explore, and pursue science.
7:24:07
We focus on students excluded from the scientific community due to factors such as race, gender, economic status, and physical access.
7:24:16
We offer these students a full scientific pathway through our programs which include a single day of introductory programs on our mobile labs that comes right to their school and then in-depth programs at explorer programs that are after school programs that they can have at their CBOs or also at our sites.
7:24:36
And we also have paid junior scientists research interns for high school and college students.
7:24:42
And 90 five percent of the BioBus interns, are either majoring or minoring in science or have science jobs.
7:24:51
Our interns often focus their research projects on problems they see affecting their communities here in New York City.
7:24:58
They analyze contaminants in the Hudson River and testing the safety of the drinking waters in the DOSE schools.
7:25:06
After Biobus students are ready to join and diversify the rapidly growing STEM workforce in New York.
7:25:13
Biobus alumni are currently working at Pfizer and research labs at Columbia at Mount Sinai and training to be science teachers and pursuing PhDs at top universities.
7:25:25
We are consist we have consistently met with more demand than we can feel with our current funding.
7:25:32
This challenge has recently been exacerbated by the loss of federal support for science education programs.
7:25:40
We need New York City's help to ensure young people have the skills to address pressing local and global challenges, innovate, and to think clear and critically about the world around them.
7:25:53
We're taking steps to be able to meet this demand and with the support of this New York City Council members, we have purchased an all electric bus and we're currently converting to a new mobile lab with an investment of $500,000 from the City Council.
7:26:10
This will empower us to reach 51,000 students next year.
7:26:17
So that would definitely leverage the city council capital investments that you already made.
7:26:23
So thank you so much for allowing us to testify.