Working at a laboratory bench with her petri dishes, Betty Reilly shows you don’t need a doctorate to succeed in biotechnology.Aches, strains and surgery for on-the-job injuries forced Reilly off the Columbus, Wis., factory assembly line where she worked for years making metal cabinets.Preparing for a new career in the biotech lab technician program at Madison Area Technical College wasn’t easy. The 1974 graduate of Ripon Senior High School hadn’t been in a science classroom in more than 20 years.She persevered. Since graduating with an associate’s degree in 2001, Reilly has been in a lab analyzing DNA and running other tests at the Agracetus campus of crop-biotechnology giant Monsanto Co. in Middleton."You are not standing there sweating in a hot factory, getting dirty,” Reilly said. “You get to use your mind. It has been a really good change."Reilly’s example may offer a glimpse at the future of employment in Wisconsin. Having seen the disappearance of tens of thousands of factory jobs over the past few years, state economic development leaders are hoping the drug and agricultural biotechnology industry can stem the losses.The average hourly wage for factory workers in Wisconsin in 2002 was $11.21, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Graduates of the Madison program were able to top that, with starting wages averaging $12.62, according to a salary survey that college administrators conducted a few years ago.Some of the technicians in the survey did better, earning almost $20 an hour.That’s why the manufacturing aspect of biotech is a focus for Wisconsin, said Cory L. Nettles, secretary of the state’s Department of Commerce.
