about our foundation
Bio Nebraska Foundation
The Bio Nebraska Foundation helps build a skilled, diverse bioscience workforce through scholarships for Nebraska students and career development opportunities for professionals through support and funding.
Welcome to the Bio Nebraska Foundation
The Bio Nebraska Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization focused on workforce development and education affiliated with Bio Nebraska.
The Foundation aims to aid in the development of a highly educated and diverse Nebraska workforce by providing scholarships to Nebraska students and educational programming for professionals interested in advancing their careers in biosciences. Bio Nebraska is a nonprofit trade association tasked with supporting, promoting, and catalyzing the biosciences in Nebraska.
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Bio Nebraska Foundation Scholarships
This scholarship aims to support and encourage Nebraska high school students as they pursue relevant classroom study and professional experiences in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-related fields.
Scholarships are available to Nebraska high school seniors who have been accepted at a Bio Nebraska approved Nebraska college, community college or university, are planning to enroll in an undergraduate course of study in a STEM-related field, and who plan to pursue a career with a STEM-related organization. A one-time scholarship payment of $2,500 may be awarded to up to two high school seniors for the 2025-2026 academic year.
The Bio Nebraska REACH Scholarship is designed to support and empower women who are nearing the completion of their undergraduate education in a bioscience-related field of study.
It provides financial assistance to students with at least a junior standing in a four-year curriculum or have more than 50 percent of credits needed for a degree in a two-year curriculum and need additional support to complete their degrees. Up to two $2,500 scholarships will be awarded for the 2026-2027 academic year to students enrolled at a Nebraska college, community college or university.
Bio Nebraska Foundation Board of Directors
Andy Davis
Vice-President & Associate General Counsel, Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company
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Andy Davis is Vice-President & Associate General Counsel for Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company. He has over twenty-five years of litigation experience primarily in insurance coverage, products liability and commercial litigation matters.
He has served as a trustee of the Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Memorial Foundation since 2008 where he has worked with multiple student scholarship funds in Nebraska. Andy received his B.A. from Colgate University and a J.D. from the University of Nebraska College of Law. He is admitted to practice in both Nebraska and California.
Rob Owen, Secretary and Treasurer
Executive Director, Bio Nebraska
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Rob Owen joined Bio Nebraska as Executive Director in 2019. Prior to Bio Nebraska, Rob was an attorney with the Dobrusin Law Firm, a strategic intellectual property law firm, where he was Of Counsel, and served as general counsel for Streck, Inc., a market leader in the medical device industry, for over 8 years. While serving as Streck’s general counsel, Rob became involved with Bio Nebraska. He was active in the organization for many years and most recently served as chairman of the board of directors.
Prior to entering the private sector, Rob held a series of advisory positions in the federal legislative and executive branches, first as Senior Counsel to U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, then as Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, and later as Counselor with the U.S. Department of Labor. He also worked as the Director of Government Affairs for the National Association of Broadcasters.
Rob earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Juris Doctor from the University of Nebraska. He continues to give back to the Omaha community as a volunteer and board member with the Westside High School Alumni Association and the Christ the King School Parents Club.
Marylinn Munson
Board Member, RAIN Incubator and Recombinetics
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Marylinn Munson has worked in the life science, biotechnology and agriculture industries for more than 20 years. Currently she is on two Boards, RAIN Incubator advancing STEM and Recombinetics solving intractable challenges through gene editing. She has held international leadership roles at industry-leading biotech and life science companies.
At Neogen she led the Genomics business; she managed the international genomics informatics field team at Qiagen; built and managed a field sales team and an international operations group where she was responsible for 60 percent of Illumina’s global business; and part of a Core Strategy Team, business development and marketing at Agilent. At Amersham Biosciences (GE Healthcare), she sold Next Generation Systems in North America, many of which were used as part of the Human Genome Project.
Marylinn’s passion for excellence, people and customers has made her the recipient of industry awards including the Federal Labs Consortium Award for Technology Transfer. She is listed as an inventor on U.S. patents.
Tom Zuk
Principal, Holland Basham Architects
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Tom is a licensed architect and serves as a principal at Holland Basham Architects, a mid-sized architectural firm situated in Omaha, Nebraska. Boasting more than three decades of expertise in the design and construction realm, Tom’s career spans various sectors, including industrial, industrial manufacturing, Bio Health Sciences, large scale retail, corporate, educational, healthcare, and workforce housing.
Beyond his architectural pursuits, Tom’s entrepreneurial spirit has led him to ownership of ventures in the professional, retail, and single-family housing sectors.
Notably, Tom is an alum of Leadership Omaha and significantly contributes to the nonprofit landscape through his board membership and participation in various committees such as Kiwanis, Meyer Foundation for Disabilities, ACE, and a Bellevue Nebraska Chamber Board Member.
Get Involved
Interested in getting involved in the Bioscience or STEM community? Contact us and we can keep you up to date on upcoming events and news.