Utah
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox launches $7M initiative to build bigger, better life sciences workforce
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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s life sciences industry growth from 2012 to 2022 was the fastest in the nation, with over 1,600 life sciences-related companies calling the Beehive State home.
As the industry continues to grow, the workforce supply is struggling to keep pace with the demand.
Current projections from the Utah Department of Workforce Services show life science occupations are expected to grow at a 33% rate and have a total of approximately 15,000 openings over the next 10 years.
“Currently, (higher education) institutions are utilizing base budget funding to operate life science programs. These funds are not enough to allow for the expansion or creation of new programs that industry desperately needs to keep up with the workforce demands,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox.
To do so, Cox on Monday announced a proposal asking the Legislature to support a $7 million investment initiative to strategically build a bigger life sciences workforce. Cox said if the funding request is met, Utah will be able to reduce the anticipated workforce gap by 40% through program expansion, creating the capacity to educate over 1,000 new life science students year over year.
One Utah-based company that could benefit from a workforce insurgence is bioMérieux, a biotechnology company whose North American headquarters is in Salt Lake City. According to BioUtah, bioMérieux is the second-largest life sciences employer in the state, with 3,500 team members spread across six sites with approximately 300 jobs available today.
The funding will be administered through the Utah System of Higher Education and Talent Ready Utah to expand and develop targeted programs at higher education institutions. Funding will also be used to hire faculty and staff, purchase equipment for programs and provide outreach for student recruitment.
Cox said institutions will be able to apply for funding through a competitive grant process and institutions must show “regional demand, strong employer support and integrated, high-quality work-based learning experiences.”
Utah Senate Majority Whip Ann Milner, R-Ogden, said she hopes initiatives like this will lead to a Silicon Slopes-like emergence for the life sciences industry in Utah.
“We’re the state that’s perfectly positioned for this. If we can grow the talent in this state … we can create an incredible life science ecosystem in Utah that will be second to none in the nation,” Milner said, adding that Talent Ready Utah has been at work on several initiatives to help support K-12 life science programs so students are ready to move into the life science field when they reach higher education.
University of Utah President Taylor Randall said the initiative will be “catalytic” to what the state and universities can do to invigorate Utah’s economy and workforce.
“This will require all of us,” he said. “This is what a system working well can do together to increase the workforce in an industry that is absolutely blowing up.” Randall said he’s had discussions with various deans on how academic programs can be retooled to increase the number of students going into the life science industry.
Elizabeth Cantwell, president of Utah State University, said she sees the most important aspect of the initiative as helping to position Utah to act as a national leader in life sciences.
“We have to graduate students who not only move into the workforce but become leaders. We have to bring those new ideas that come out of every sector of Utah … bring those life sciences ideas to fruition, give them an innovation ecosystem that works for us and really drive capacity from Utah for the whole nation as opposed to attracting and bringing it here,” Cantwell said.
It also looks like this initiative may just be a first step in a larger goal to build out Utah’s life sciences sector.
“This is just the beginning. We hope to do even more over the years to come to close that gap and to make sure that we have the best jobs available for our students here in this state and that Utah continues to lead the nation when it comes to innovation and life sciences all across the country,” Cox said.
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Welcome to the NHL On Tap, a daily look at the games on the NHL schedule. There is one game on the schedule for Sunday, which will be televised nationally in the United States and Canada.
Game of the day
Utah Hockey Club at Toronto Maple Leafs (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, TSN4, NHLN, Utah16)
Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares have all stepped up for the Maple Leafs (12-6-2) in the absence of captain Auston Matthews and look to continue the trend against Utah (8-9-3) at Scotiabank Arena. Marner has 12 points (four goals, eight assists), Nylander nine points (four goals, five assists) and Tavares eight points (four goals, four assists) in the seven games without Matthews, who is out with an upper-body injury. Toronto has won three in a row and is 6-1-0 without Matthews, who skated prior to practice Saturday and said he could return from an upper-body injury this upcoming week. Marner leads Toronto with 26 points (six goals, 20 assists) in 20 games and has points in six of the seven games Matthews has missed. Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Wall made 31 saves in a 3-0 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday for his first shutout of the season and second in the NHL. Utah is playing the second game of a back-to-back for the first time in team history and will look to build on a 6-1 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. Dylan Guenther had two goals and an assist, and Clayton Keller had three assists, helping Utah end a three-game losing streak. Goalie Jaxson Stauber could make his Utah debut after being recalled from Tucson of the American Hockey League on Wednesday; the 25-year-old has not played an NHL game since Feb. 22, 2023, with the Chicago Blackhawks. No. 1 goalie Connor Ingram has missed the past two games with an upper-body injury.
It takes a complete football team to win a championship. Iowa State is finding that out with each passing week.
Seemingly left for dead in the heated Big 12 Conference race, the Cyclones now find themselves one win away from competing for the league title following a thrilling 31-28 victory over Utah Saturday night.
Iowa State (9-2, 7-2) reached the nine-win mark before a bowl game for the first time in program history, and could end one of the longest droughts in NCAA history by reaching 10 wins. The Cyclones and Vanderbilt are the only remaining Power 5 programs to never reach 10 wins, as Indiana did earlier this year.
After taking a 24-13 lead on Utah midway through the third quarter, the Cyclones needed a rally, scoring the game-winning touchdown with 91 seconds to go. The defense forced a missed field goal to seal the win.
Here are three stars from Iowa State’s win over Utah:
Known for his power running, Carson Hansen showed off his arm on a key third-down trick play that led to his second rushing touchdown. Hansen, a sophomore, took a halfback pass and found Gabe Burkle for a 26-yard completion.
That put the ball at the Utah 3 and Hansen would plow his way into the end zone on the next play for the game-winning points. He finished the night with a team-high 57 yards on 14 carries to go along with the 26-yard pass while also catching two balls for another 28 yards.
At 6-2 and over 220 pounds, Hansen is the thunder to Abu Sama’s lightning. He now has 11 rushing touchdowns on the year to go along with 560 yards after rushing for just 67 last season as a freshman.
Anytime Rocco Becht needed to make a big play in the passing game, he looked in the direction of Jayden Higgins. And Higgins stepped up for his quarterback, who was not quite as sharp as he typically has been.
Higgins finished with nine receptions for 155 yards and a touchdown, surpassing 1,000 yards for the season. The 6-foot-4 senior out of South Miami became just the seventh different Cyclone to reach the number after missing out last year with 983 yards.
With at least two, and maybe more, games to go, Higgins sits sixth on the school’s single-season list for yards with 1,015. Hakeem Butler is first with 1,318. Higgins and teammate Jaylin Noel, who has 976 yards, are set to become the first Cyclone teammates to eclipse 1,000 yards in the same season in school history.
Higgins is also just two yards away from becoming just the 10th Iowa State receiver to reach 2,000 career yards, joining the likes of Allen Lazard, Xavier Hutchinson and Charlie Kolar, along with Noel.
It’s been a difficult season in regards to injuries on both sides of the ball for Iowa State. But the defense has really been hurt with Malik Verdon out.
Verdon, a junior, recorded a team-leading 12 tackles including a sack, as the Cyclones held Utah to just 99 yards of total offense through three quarters.
And while the Utes were able to finally put together sustained drives in the fourth, when they needed to make a play, Iowa State did. Verdon went out for a short time after appearing to reinjure his arm that has a cast due to a hairline fracture, but would return to the field later in the fourth.
The Iowa State football team has two weeks to solidify themselves and possibly land a spot in the Big 12 championship game in December.
Part one of the two-piece series starts Saturday night, as the Cyclones (8-2, 5-2) make a visit to Salt Lake City to play Utah (4-6, 1-6).
Sitting a game behind co-conference leaders BYU and Colorado, Iowa State is in position but on the outside looking in for the time being. They also have red-hot Arizona State to contend with, as the Sun Devils have quickly climbed the standings and sit tied with ISU.
Utah has dropped six straight since starting the season off 4-0 as preseason favorites to win the Big 12. Of those six losses, four have been decided by eight points or less. Last Saturday, though, they suffered a 25-point setback to Colorado.
Along with several tough losses, the Utes have been without star quarterback Cam Rising since the losing skid began. Rising is out for the season following multiple injuries, as Isaac Wilson – the brother of NFL QB Zack Wilson – has replaced him.
Iowa State and Utah have a bit of a history, playing each other five times between 1970-2010. The Cyclones won the first four meetings between the two while the Utes won the most recent, claiming a 68-27 victory. Utah was undefeated and ranked 10th in the country during that encounter.
The oddsmakers have the Cyclones set as a 6.5-point favorite. ESPN’s FPI puts them at just over 63 percent to win the game.
Here are the details on how to watch, stream and follow Iowa State’s game at Utah on Saturday night:
Iowa State at Utah TV Channel, Live Stream, Odds
Who: Iowa State at Utah in a Big 12 football game
When: 6:30 p.m. CT | Saturday, November 23
Where: Rice-Eccles Stadium | Salt Lake City, Utah
Live Stream: Stream Iowa State-Cincinnati live on fuboTV (Start your free trial)
TV Channel: FOX
Betting Odds: Iowa State is favored by 6.5 points. Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportbook
Our Prediction: Iowa State 24, Utah 10
Live Updates, Highlights: Follow the game on Iowa State on SI for live updates, in-game analysis and big-play highlights throughout Saturday’s matchup.
* Latest betting odds for Iowa State
* Matt Campbell talks up the Utah defense
* Cyclones right back into contention in wild, wild Big 12
*Three stars in Iowa State’s win over Cincinnati including Stevo Klotz
*Complete game recap of Iowa State’s win over Cincinnati
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