Corporate Gift Establishes
[Press Release (opens in new window)]
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, of Ridgefield, has committed $180,000 over the next three years to support a pilot master’s degree program in synthetic organic chemistry with the University of Connecticut.
“The ultimate goal of this pilot program is to demonstrate the benefit of having an industry/academic collaboration in education and eventually further expand this concept to train more highly skilled scientists,” says Chris Senanayake, Ph.D., vice president, Chemical Development Department at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals.“We believe that UConn is well-equipped to pilot such an exciting program.”
The funding will support six research assistantships for master’s degree candidates enrolled in the Department of Chemistry within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and other companies also will work with UConn faculty to develop and teach a new course in pharmaceutical research. The pilot program will require students to complete an intensive six-month internship in the pharmaceutical industry; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and others will host interns.
The program is designed to build on Connecticut’s pharmaceutical research and development sector—a major growth industry in the state. More than 18,000 workers in the state are employed by pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and bioscience corporations, according to Connecticut United for Research Excellence’s web site (www.curenet.org).
One critical shortage area, however, is master’s degree-level synthetic organic chemists to drive bench work in drug discovery and development, says Amy Howell, Ph.D., professor of chemistry. This partnership represents a concerted effort to fill the gap.
“What makes this program exceptional is that Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals has stepped in at this stage to demonstrate that members of Connecticut’s pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry can be an active part of the solution,” says Howell.
“Pharmaceutical companies need chemists at both Ph.D. and master’s levels for their efforts to develop innovative therapeutic agents. However, most universities in the U.S. do not have formal graduate programs to train master’s chemists in organic synthesis with special emphasis on process chemistry or discovery chemistry,” says Senanayake. “As a consequence, it is hard to find highly qualified master’s candidates with a desire to work in the pharmaceutical chemistry arena.”
The employment rate within Connecticut for graduates of the program is expected to be extremely high.
“This is a tailored master’s program that will provide advanced course work, intensive research in organic synthesis and on-the-job training. Students completing this course will be highly sought after because of their exceptional background,” says Howell.
For information about supporting the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, please contact Frank Gifford, director of development, at 860.486.6798.
