Thanks to the presence of orthopedic giants Biomet, DePuy and Zimmer, Warsaw offers a high percentage of jobs requiring a high degree of creativity, adjustment to a corporate environment and a future in biomedical technology.

With the receipt of a $750,000 Initiative to Promote Opportunity through an Educational Collaborations grant from the Lilly Endowment of Indianapolis, Grace College hopes to put a plug in the "brain drain" and train graduates for the local orthopedic industry.

"We plan to develop students who are a better fit for orthopedic industries in Warsaw," said Michael Harstine, a Grace business professor and program coordinator of the Orthopedic Scholar Initiative. "They will still be accountants, still graphic artists, but we'll teach them about corporate culture, group problem-solving skills, about innovation. So when they enter the job arena, they're integrated more quickly."

This initiative, provided as an honors program, will be outside the normal major or minor a Grace student receives.

"We're not training engineers or biochemists," he said. "We're going to train accountants, marketing representatives, product managers. sales representatives, support staff. We'll provide them with the intangibles that make them better support team members for the scientists and inventors."

According to the Indiana Department of Commerce, the life sciences sector is the fastest growing in Indiana, employing more than 320,000 people statewide, and is one of the four sectors targeted for growth in the state's Energize Indiana program.

Biomedical companies need highly skilled employees to succeed and are extremely technology-driven.

DePuy recently opened a 49,000-square-foot Research and Innovation Center. Zimmer is completing the building of a 15,000-square-foot Minimally Invasive Solution Institute, a surgeon-training center. Biomet recently added 60,000 square feet to its existing operations.

A student's plan to enter the orthopedic industry doesn't mean they'll be accepted into the program.

There are certain psychological and character tests a student will be required to take as a sophomore.

"We don't want to give them a 20-year-old with a 12-year-old's maturity level or someone lacking in dependability, diligence or creativity," Harstine said.

As seniors, candidates have the opportunity to experience what they've learned in the classroom through internships in the orthopedic industry.

The program will be developed over the next few months and will be instituted in fall 2004.

The Grace College program will be geared so the student is ready to contribute to the organization with an internship during their senior year.

"It's a controlled environment where they get to test what they know. We provide support and feedback with the hope that when they graduate from Grace College, they'll be prepared to contribute immediately to the orthopedic industry in Kosciusko County," Harstine said.

"We want to get them so integrated into tthe orthopedic industry that they want to keep them. If their first job can be in the orthopedic industry, they can be lifelong citizens, lifelong taxpayers in the state of Indiana."

At the end of the five-year grant, Grace hopes to have placed at least 27 graduates in a permanent position with the local companies and 16 in employment with other companies in the region.

Grace is highly regarded throughout the state for its preparation of biology students to enter the medical profession. However, much of the vocational preparation has been focused on entrance to medical school.

The orthopedic companies have indicated a need for Grace College graduates to consider science occupations beyond medicine.

Biomet hasn't employed Grace graduates in the biomaterials division yet, according to Craig Blaschke, biomaterials vice president. Currently their biomedical internship program agreements are with Purdue University and the University of Cincinnati.

Blaschke isn't discounting the local college students for his division. "Grace has a couple of programs that may fit nicely within the biomaterials world," he said. "They have a reasonably strong pre-med program."

"We do a lot of work with interns. It helps them apply skills in a real- world environment. Biomet gets to watch the student in action and see how that student would fit in our environment.

"The initiative may offer a specific advantage with respect to locale, where they work at Biomet during the school year. With Purdue and the University of Cincinnati, it's an all or nothing thing."

Grace College surveys indicate the percentage of Grace College graduates who find employment in Indiana has slipped during the past three years from 60 percent for the class of 2000 to 54 percent for 2002 graduates.

The $750,000 Lilly grant will be spent on personnel - Harstine will spend half of his teaching load coordinating the program; capital needs such as the biology labs; and for recruitment "to get really good students in Indiana who might otherwise go to another college," Harstine said.

A letter of support from Heidi Mitchell, Zimmer's director of human resources, indicates Zimmer would value the opportunity to collaborate with Grace College.

She lists opportunities available in the fields of operations, human resources, strategic sourcing, marketing and marketing communications.

And a letter from DePuy's Jorge Ochoa, PhD., P.E., vice president, research and development, reads: "The opportunity to leverage the high caliber students from Grace College with DePuy, as well as the rest of the orthopedic companies in the area, in order to provide economic opportunities in Indiana for Grace College graduates is highly synergistic." [[In-content Ad]]