The industry partners helped establish and 
prioritize elements of the Frederick High-
based curriculum and continue to help 
refine it. It’s a well-rounded program that 
includes technical courses such as intro­
duction to manufacturing, safety manufac­
turing engineering, and lean manufacturing 
processes—but also public speaking, cul­
tural anthropology, and art history.
In addition, the industry partners mentor 
P-TECH students and also offer them 
internships. Zierlein’s was with Agilent 
Technologies, where for five weeks, he 
and fellow students rotated through 
multiple departments for an inside look at 
how Agilent develops life-saving therapies.
“We got hands-on experience and saw how 
all the little moving parts come together,” 
he says. “It gave me a real understanding of 
how complex and important this industry is.”
Along the way, Agilent got to know 
Zierlein, too, and they liked what they saw. 
When he graduated from Frederick High 
in 2023, they hired him as a manufacturing 
chemist, and he’s since won a promotion. 
In addition to building DNA and RNA 
strands to treat rare diseases, he’s serving 
as a mentor to P-TECH students.
Agilent Technologies 
Invests in Workforce to 
Support Growth
In late July, Zierlein looked on as the 2026 
crop of six Agilent Technologies P-TECH 
summer interns gave their final presen­
tations. Next to him sat John Flahive, 
Agilent’s Site Head for Manufacturing.
“Every year we get an impressive group of 
kids,” Flahive says.
Laura Goldberg, Agilent’s Site Head for 
Quality and Regulatory and a Colorado 
BioScience Association board member, 
was also there. She got goosebumps when 
one of the interns presented on quality, 
she says.
“She’s saying things that were spot on, and 
that means the people that taught her at 
Agilent were spot on,” Goldberg says.
The P-TECH program is part of Agilent’s 
wider efforts to ensure that the company 
can deliver on the growth it continues to 
enjoy. The contract development and man­
ufacturing organization, or CDMO, makes 
therapeutic oligonucleotides, which are 
active pharmaceutical ingredients used as 
inputs in a variety of drugs and therapies. 
Flahive says the company is starting up its 
198,000-square-foot, $725 million expan­
sion that is undergoing qualification activ­
ities and will be ready in Q2 of 2027. That 
would further boost the company’s work­
force, which stands at over 600 people.
Agilent, with two decades of history of 
making oligonucleotides in Colorado, 
recruits heavily from the state’s univer­
sities, Flahive says, from bachelor-degree 
graduates to Ph.Ds. But, he says, “We’re 
trying to make sure that people don’t feel 
they need to have a four-year degree to 
come here, because we do extensive 
on-the-job training.”
To that end, Agilent has been an industry 
partner in the Life Sciences Employer 
Talent Collaborative. The collaborative, led 
by The Institute and Colorado Succeeds, 
brings together life science employers to 
map talent needs, co-design solutions, and 
align training and educational programs 
to high-demand roles. The first initiative 
focused on production associates.
“That was the biggest demand we saw 
across all the companies,” Flahive says. 
“The team came up with Life Science 
Manufacturing 101, a class through 
Colorado BioScience Institute. We had the 
“
We’re good at developing 
our people so they can 
take the next step in 
their careers.
LAURA GOLDBERG
SITE HEAD, QUALIT Y  AND  REGULATORY
AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES
 P-TECH students get an inside look at how Agilent Technologies 
develops life-saving therapies.
2026-27 BIOSCIENCE COLORADO     37

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