Inside the restored Roundhouse at Hazelwood Green, a building that once serviced locomotives for the sprawling J&L Steel mill along the Monongahela River, the University of Pittsburgh celebrated a milestone in late April that says something important about how Pittsburgh's next economy is being built. The first cohort of the Pitt Life Sciences Bridge Program, a paid workforce development initiative designed specifically for Greater Hazelwood residents without college degrees, had just graduated. For the people in that room, it was a door that wasn't there before.
"People here in Greater Hazelwood were unfamiliar with the field of life sciences," said Heidi Ward, who leads Pitt's Greater Hazelwood Neighborhood Commitment and has lived in the community for years. "Individuals didn't feel confident committing to months of training or enrolling in postsecondary education if they didn't know if it was the right fit for them." The 50-hour Bridge Program was built to solve exactly that problem, introducing participants to careers in biotechnology and life sciences, then connecting them to training pipelines, educational pathways, and employment opportunities with partners like BioForge.
BioForge: Where the Jobs Are
BioForge, the biomanufacturing facility being built at Hazelwood Green, is the anchor for much of this workforce ambition. Ian Johnson, BioForge's director of life sciences and a Pittsburgh native who graduated from Pitt's College of Arts and Sciences in 2015, describes what his organization does with characteristic directness: they take "really cool science" and make it into something manufacturable, "so that it impacts people immediately." Among BioForge's active projects are a platform called "Furnace," an mRNA brokerage system developed partly in response to lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, and collaborations involving microneedle patch technology from Pitt-connected researchers. One startup, Panther Life Sciences, found BioForge's resources compelling enough to relocate its operations to Pittsburgh entirely.
BioForge's permanent facility remains under construction at Hazelwood Green, but the work of building a pipeline of trained local talent is well underway. Ward and Johnson have worked together to ensure that as the facility scales, it draws from the neighborhood on its doorstep rather than importing talent from elsewhere. "How do we make sure that the innovation that's happening on this street actually opens doors for the people who live on the next street over?" Ward said at the April speaker event. That question has driven much of the Bridge Program's design.
"This building is a metaphor for what's possible when research, industry and neighborhood partnerships all work together to shape Pittsburgh's next chapter."
Heidi Ward, Director, Pitt Greater Hazelwood Neighborhood Commitment
A 25-Year Partnership Deepens
Pitt has maintained a presence in Greater Hazelwood for more than a quarter century, but the arrival of BioForge prompted the University to expand its commitment in concrete and measurable ways. Beyond the Bridge Program, Pitt's engagement in the neighborhood now spans middle school biotechnology education, public science events, health screenings, and environmental monitoring initiatives co-designed with local residents. That last piece, Rosta Farzan, an associate dean for engaged scholarship in Pitt's School of Computing and Information Sciences, explained at the same panel, is essential. One initiative centered on air quality asked community members to help identify sensor locations and participate in public education, turning a research project into a genuine collaboration. "That is actually how we learn a lot about how to best solve these problems," Farzan said, "and build technologies that are actually better for everyone."
Vice Chancellor for External Relations Lina Dostilio framed the work in terms of Pitt's broader institutional identity. "We are a partner in solving the real problems that folks are facing," she said at the April gathering. "It means we are showing up every day to expand workforce development opportunities, and our research is opening new doors." The Roundhouse itself has become a symbol of that commitment. What was once an industrial relic is now a modern coworking and event space, an anchor for the innovation ecosystem taking shape around it and a venue for exactly the kind of conversation Pitt, BioForge, and Greater Hazelwood residents are having.
For Pittsburgh, the story of Hazelwood Green has always been about what comes after steel. With a research university, a growing biomanufacturing facility, and a workforce pipeline that starts in the community itself, that question now has some compelling early answers. The first Bridge Program graduates are proof of concept, and more cohorts are in the pipeline.