HINJ recognized the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program – Pro Action Education Network (NJMEP) with its HINJ Excellence in STEM Education Award at the NJMEP’s South Jersey “State of the State of Manufacturing” conference on July 30.
HINJ honored the NJMEP – Pro Action Education Network for its outstanding work and leadership in preparing students and upgrading the skills of the current workforce in the latest manufacturing practices and technologies and reinforcing New Jersey’s standing as a world-class manufacturing center.
HINJ President and Chief Executive Officer Dean J. Paranicas noted the importance of STEM education to HINJ members, which include many of the world’s leading research-based biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies. “HINJ members work every day to discover and bring to market cutting-edge science to treat and cure diseases like COVID-19,” he said. “This is not possible without having a talented workforce, which includes our manufacturing sector on whom we rely to produce the complex medicines, devices and diagnostics patients need.”
In presenting the award, HINJ Board of Trustees Chair Jack Cox, senior director of market access strategy at Novo Nordisk Inc., said, “New Jersey is one of the top two states in the nation for having the most facilities manufacturing FDA-approved products, and the number one state for life sciences manufacturing employees.”
“Through training programs, apprenticeships and other innovative programs, the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program – Pro Action Education Network is preparing the next generation of workers who will keep New Jersey on the cutting edge of manufacturing and ensure that the state has the kind of workforce needed to support all of its innovator industries.”
In accepting the award, NJMEP Chief Executive Officer John Kennedy, PhD. said, “NJMEP is humbled and appreciative to be the recipient of the HINJ Excellence in STEM Education Award. It’s a well-earned recognition for our Pro-Action Education Network (PEN) team led by Torsten Schimanski and Christian Mdeway who worked tirelessly over the past year and a half to ensure that our work on pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships was not lost in the furor created by the pandemic. However, NJMEP would not have been able to push forward without the help and support of partners like HINJ, the NJ Department of Labor and State Employment Training Commission, our career and technical schools and county colleges. We succeed together.”