Building an evidence base to inform BioBuilder’s strategic expansion

BioBuilder sought to build on the success of its programs in Massachusetts and Tennessee by expanding its reach to other regions of the U.S. The organization had explored some regions opportunistically, but its leadership wanted to pursue a more systematic approach. BioBuilder needed a way to identify the most promising opportunities and prioritize where to focus its expansion efforts.

The project combined an initial screen of all 50 U.S. states with stakeholder interviews to gather on-the-ground insights and refine expansion recommendations.

Using public and private data sources, I built a quantitative model to quickly identify a subset of states for further exploration. I identified proxies to capture key information about each state’s education, biotechnology, and funding environments, as well as the strength of BioBuilder’s existing relationships. These indicators ranged from readily available government-reported data to custom analyses of large public datasets. By applying a weighted scoring model to the resulting database, I generated a ranked list of states based on their fit with BioBuilder’s programs.

Drawing on the rankings and in coordination with BioBuilder leadership, five states were selected for additional information gathering via stakeholder interviews. These interviews provided a clearer view of the landscape in each state, highlighted regional opportunities and needs, and built connections with stakeholders who could serve as collaborators for BioBuilder’s expansion efforts. Leveraging resources from past BioBuilder projects, I designed an interview guide, identified stakeholders to interview, and reached out to 49 individuals via cold emails and warm connections. Ultimately, I conducted 22 interviews with 24 individuals spanning education, biotechnology, philanthropy, and government.

The opportunities and challenges that surfaced during stakeholder interviews informed a set of recommendations for which states to prioritize and how to move forward in the most promising regions. For each state explored in depth, I produced a state entry memo outlining local conditions, opportunities, risks, recommended next steps, and key stakeholder connections. The project culminated with a presentation to BioBuilder’s board, which commended the thoughtfulness of the approach and the value of the findings. BioBuilder continues to use the evidence gathered through this project to guide its expansion planning, as it works to reach more students with project-based and hands-on learning opportunities in synthetic biology.