From watchmaker to molecular biologist: Swift leads OSU-OKC’s biomanufacturing program

From watchmaker to molecular biologist: Swift leads OSU-OKC's biomanufacturing program

Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Armond Swift's path to becoming director of the biomanufacturing program at Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City was a winding one. Appropriate in some ways, as along the way, Swift made plenty of winds and turns as a watchmaker. Now, he leads one of the leading biomechanical programs in the state.

A Tulsa native, Swift dropped out of high school twice before eventually earning his GED diploma and returning to school decades later. Today, he leads one of the state's most workforce-driven STEM programs, preparing students for careers in biotechnology and biotherapeutics.

"I'm a high school dropout twice," Swift said. "I dropped out of high school twice, immediately before I would have graduated. I stayed in, I got my GED, and then failed miserably at college because I was young and had other priorities."

After years of working in various industries - including medical transcription and watchmaking - Swift returned to school in 2008, starting at Tulsa Community College. He earned his associate, bachelor's and master's degrees, completing his graduate work in 2018.

"So, I was a manual machinist, then a watchmaker, and now I'm a molecular biologist," Swift said. "My Tinker Toys just got smaller and smaller."

Swift's passion for biotechnology is evident in both his teaching style and curriculum development. At OSU-OKC, he oversees a hybrid biomanufacturing program that combines online coursework with intensive, hands-on lab training.

"All of the learning, all of the reading, all of the homework and tests are online," Swift said. "Most of our students work, so that they can do that at their leisure during the week. Then they come in and we do our labs, and our labs are pretty intensive."

His students work with mammalian cell strains, such as Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, commonly used in industry to manufacture complex proteins. In one lab, students insert a jellyfish-derived gene into CHO cells to produce a green fluorescent protein.

"They get a visual confirmation that it happened," Swift said. "We're all about manufacturing proteins, usually for therapeutics, but also enzymes for detergents."

Swift's program is designed to meet the growing demand for biomanufacturing professionals. Graduates can pursue careers as bioprocess technicians, quality control analysts and research associates.

"There are jobs right here, right here in Oklahoma City," Swift said. "My two-year students are already getting job offers."

For Swift, teaching is more than a job - it's a calling.

"I absolutely love what I'm doing," he said. "Biology sounds really scary, but it's just super cool. The things that occur at the subcellular level are just amazing. It blows my mind every day."

And Swift remains on a mission to demystify biotechnology for the next generation. During Innovation Week at Science Museum Oklahoma, Swift introduced seventh-grade students to the world of molecular biology through hands-on demonstrations designed to spark curiosity and inspire future careers.

"What we were doing there was we were just being present, trying to introduce kids," Swift said. "This was entirely seventh graders. So they're quite a ways off from coming into my program, but we kind of want to be there to let them know, this is an option."

Swift's demonstration centered on the use of micropipettes - precision instruments used to measure and transfer minuscule amounts of liquid in laboratory settings. Students practiced moving colored water using the same tools employed by professionals in biotech labs.

"A micropipettor is a piece of equipment that you hold in your hand, and you can dispense extremely precise amounts of liquids," Swift explained. "The largest we would ever move would be one milliliter, and the smallest is 0.2 of a single microliter."

The exercise gave students a tangible glimpse into the scale and precision of biotechnology. Swift used food-colored water - jokingly referred to as "dihydrogen monoxide" - to make the activity both educational and fun.

"They could take it home with them, they could pick their colors, whatever," he said. "It was more popular than I expected, which was great. It was very gratifying."

Swift's goal was simple: make an impression. He hopes students will remember the experience when they begin considering career paths in high school.

As director of OSU-OKC's biomanufacturing program, Swift is passionate about raising awareness of the field. He said the biggest challenge isn't a lack of jobs or low pay - it's that most people don't know what biomanufacturing is.

"My journey in life at this point is to get the word out," he said.

Swift's outreach efforts have already made an impact. He recalled one student who enrolled in the program after a chance conversation at a grocery store.

"One of my present students was my cashier," Swift said. "I gave him the tour, showed him our programs, showed him my lab, and then like two weeks later, he emails me and said, 'Yeah, I did that. I went ahead and enrolled.'"

With growing demand for biotherapeutics and biotechnology, Swift believes OSU-OKC is positioned to lead the way in workforce development.

"I think we're right there at the front, at the leading edge," he said. "And I think we're going to continue leading on that. There's no reason not to."