When Martha Greer Walker started her internship in July of last year at the HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnology (HudsonAlpha), she was still exploring future career options and was looking to answer some major questions about what the biotechnology field could do for young professionals.

Like many other high school students, she was looking at the current job market and weighing her options for what she wanted to pursue in college.

Little did she know that this experience would eventually lead to her first book.

Born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, Martha Greer was never a stranger to the demands of the ever-changing job market of the U.S. economy. Huntsville is home to various manufacturing hubs, an ever-growing top tier medical system, and the second largest research park in the nation.

With these industries comes thousands of specialized jobs, all that offer very distinct and singular experiences. In this way, Huntsville’s job market paints a very detailed and colorful picture.

But, for many high-school students, this picture can sometimes be overwhelming.

“The focus for my book came from this idea. New jobs are created every year, jobs that sometimes have never been seen or needed beforehand. I wanted to look into one of these new growing fields that I think will have a major impact on our economy, and help answer some of the tougher questions that my peers might have about them. One of these major fields that really surprised me was biotechnology,” said Walker.

A high school senior at St. Paul’s Boarding School in Concord, New Hampshire, Martha Greer became interested in the field of biotechnology and was really surprised about the lack of knowledge and exposure that many high school students have regarding the growing field.

In her book What The Heck Is BioTech?, Martha dives into the biotechnology industry, defining what it means for the current job-market, and highlighting key jobs that are growing within the field.

Biotechnology is a field of science that combines biology and technology to create new products, processes, and applications. It involves the use of living organisms or their parts to develop new products or improve existing ones. The field encompasses a wide range of techniques and technology, including engineering, fermentation, and tissue culture.

Biotechnology as an industry has applications in many areas, including medicine, agriculture, food science, and environmental science, all of which Martha Greer discusses in What The Heck Is BioTech?

“Biotech really is a rapidly growing field with huge potential for many young professionals to not only produce a career, but to improve health and well-being. I believe that it will have a huge impact on the United States, if not already, and should be talked about much more as a career option for many prospective students,” said Walker.

Research from her book came from interviews with HudsonAlpha employees and scientists, as well as with the more than 50 start-up companies hosted on HudsonAlpha’s campus.

HudsonAlpha touts a 152 acre campus on Cummings Research Park, and has quickly become a cornerstone for business start-ups and entrepreneurs in the Huntsville area. Celebrating 15 years of successful growth this year, HudsonAlpha reported a $3.2 billion economic impact in the state of Alabama.

“The book leans heavily on the expertise that Huntsville already has from HudsonAlpha. I was inspired during my internship to take advantage of the resources that were right in front of me, and I felt like HudsonAlpha, with their non-profit and educational focus, was a perfect fit to answer some of my larger questions as a student and young professional,” said Walker.

In an interview with the Huntsville Business Journal, Martha Greer was asked to discuss her inspiration for the book, citing her internship with HudsonAlpha as a fundamental aspect of her work.

“During my internship, I noticed that there was not really a ton of information on internships within the biotech field, and even less on the professions that can come afterward. In my opinion, when younger students hear about biotechnology, it is just this opaque term that really never gets defined, but that is a huge field… I wanted younger people like myself to be aware of the growing opportunities within the field,” said Walker.

In the same interview, Martha Greer also stressed that the book was not only for high school and college students, but also was a must read for parents as well.

“I came into the book focusing on younger students, but it is the parents of these students that really know their kids more than anyone. Parents can help guide and influence their kids as they prepare to think about future careers. In a way, this book is as important to parents as it is for their kids,” she said.

“But, at the end of the day, regardless of the audience, this book is a resource that anyone can pull from,” Martha Greer concluded.

What The Heck Is BioTech? is available via Kindle or paperback at www.amazon.com. The Kindle version can be purchased for $2.99 and the paperback version for $13.95.