White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director and Science Adviser to the President Arati Prabhakar visited Pierce College’s science and automotive departments on Tuesday, May 2.
LACCD Chancellor Francisco C. Rodriguez and Interim President Ara Aguiar led the group.
Prabhakar visited the Biotech Lab in the Center for Sciences, the Advanced Automotive Building and the Plant Science Lab in Earth Sciences. During each stop of the tour, she chatted with many students.
“It’s just so much fun to get to meet the students, to see them stepping into careers, working on electric vehicles and working on the biotechnology revolution,” Prabhakar said.
In April, Congressman Brad Sherman announced a new four-year program in biomanufacturing and biotechnology for Pierce students.
“This is what makes it work,” Prabhakar said. “It’s the students that can step into these jobs. It’s about changing people’s lives because of the opportunities that a place like Pierce College opens up for them.”
In September, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14081 “to coordinate a whole-of-government approach to advance biotechnology and biomanufacturing towards innovative solutions in health, climate change, energy, food security, agriculture, supply chain resilience, and national and economic security,” according to the White House.
In March, the White House OSTP released an outline showing how biotech and biomanufacturing can achieve the goals listed in the Executive Order.
“President Biden is working every single day to get this country back doing big things,” Prabhakar said. “That means revitalizing manufacturing. It means dealing with the climate crisis.”
Rodriguez said the district invited Prabhakar to visit one of the LACCD campuses during a visit to Washington, D.C., in February.
“She graciously accepted our invitation so she could see the excellence at Pierce College and our facilities, our faculty, our people, our purpose, but mostly our students,” Rodriguez said.
Auto-Tech student Rey David Chimecatl was one of the students that Prabhakar approached and sparked a conversation.
Chimecatl said he was worried about shaking her hand because his hands were dirty from working on cars, but he felt a lot of energy from meeting a White House representative.
“It was actually pretty scary,” Chimecatl said. “I didn’t want to even go up to her. She recognized who I was. That was pretty cool.”
Aguiar said she thought the visit was important for Prabhakar and the students to engage and to have someone from the White House see how federal support helps Pierce.
“It’s a perfect way to demonstrate the kind of work that the college is doing, engage with the students and see their successes,” Aguiar said. “The students can share their career goals with the director.”
Rodriguez said he believes the tour was successful.
“We wanted to demonstrate the excellence that is Pierce College and I think she’s very impressed,” Rodriguez said. “I’m pretty happy today.”
Prabhakar said the highlight of the walk-through was speaking to students and asking each of them, “Where are you from?”
“Many of them said Woodland Hills,” Prabhakar said. “But I almost feel like Pierce College opens the door for them to go do anything, right? I think that’s the magic of the kind of education that they’re getting here.”