First Lady Jill Biden visits Forsyth Tech to highlight investments in biotechnology

First Lady Jill Biden paid a visit to Forsyth Technical Community College Friday morning.

The visit comes alongside an announcement from the National Science Foundation of a $30 million investment in North Carolina.

Biden spoke with students and educators in the biotechnology program at Forsyth Tech about what kind of impact this investment will have. 

“This is gonna mean so much to so many people. And these are great, interesting careers of the future," she said. "And so I thank you all because really, you are the ones, you're going to be the ones changing lives.”

Half of the funds will go to what’s called the “Piedmont Triad Regenerative Medicine Engine.” 

The regional team includes Forsyth Tech, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the RegenMed Development Organization, and Winston-Salem State University. It will be led by the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine. 

Executive Director of the National Center for the Biotechnology Workforce at Forsyth Tech Russ Read explained how he’d like to spend the NSF funds. 

“So from a workforce perspective, we want to have people doing all kinds of internships, fellowships. We want to make the region very vibrant with respect to career development," Read said. "We want to make sure that people understand the language of business. This is what innovation is really about.”

First Lady Jill Biden was joined by Gov. Roy Cooper and Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines on her visit to the college.  

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.