Siena College purchased about a dozen new laboratory instruments for a $3 million instrumentation center.
The private college in Loudonville is in talks with start-up companies about offering student internships in exchange for use of the equipment.
Siena will open its $3 million advanced instrumentation and technology center this month to train a high-tech workforce in a liberal arts setting.
The project got underway about a year and a half ago, when a $500,000 nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer died and School of Science dean Allan Weatherwax opted to replace all the laboratory instruments instead of one.
'We envisioned replacing all the instruments in our lab. We took a different approach. Let's go after equipment that's not student grade, but professional grade, something you'd see at GlobalFoundries, at Wadsworth Lab, at Regeneron,' Weatherwax said, referring to several tech-oriented outfits in the Albany area.
More students are enrolling in the School of Science at Siena. The college enrolls about 3,216 students and about a third of those students are in the School of Science. In 2005, only a quarter of students were enrolled in science majors, Weatherwax says.
The college's curriculum reflects that growth. The school has created minors in instrumentation, focused on nanotechnology, biotechnology and chemical analysis, and in science technology and values.
So far, Weatherwax has heard from three smaller companies with fewer than 20 employees that are interested in using the equipment at the center. He has also heard from larger companies that could use the center to run tests without disturbing their production lines.
Megan reports breaking news and covers education. Entities 0 Name: School of Science Count: 3 1 Name: Weatherwax Count: 3 2 Name: Siena Count: 2 3 Name: Allan Weatherwax Count: 1 4 Name: Albany Count: 1 5 Name: Loudonville Count: 1 6 Name: Siena College Count: 1 7 Name: Wadsworth Lab Count: 1 8 Name: Megan Count: 1 9 Name: Regeneron Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1nuPTeS Title: One liberal arts college loses money after its state adopts a performance funding model @insidehighered Description: New College of Florida is a public institution with small classes and close faculty-student interaction in a state where most students attend mammoth universities with large classes. It attracts and graduates high-quality students, and it's known for its rigorous curriculum. But so far it has come out a loser under the state's new performance funding plan.
Post a Comment for "Siena College invests $3M in new science center"