LYNN — North Shore Community College’s laboratories are receiving an upgrade as a result of the $1 million grant the college recently received through federal funding.
Earlier this month, it was announced that Rep. Seth Moulton secured $13.2 million for 15 community-improvement projects across the 6th congressional district, including the lab modernization at NSCC.
College President Dr. William Heineman said that years earlier, the school received $1 million in federal funding, which went toward upgrading the anatomy and physiology labs. Now, he said the newly obtained funding will go toward the biology and physics labs on the college’s Lynn campus.
Heineman said the main focus of the college is to provide a quality education for students, so they can enter the workforce ready and knowledgeable.
“We’re also really focused on results for our community, and we know one of the biggest challenges in the community right now, particularly for employers, is labor shortages,” Heineman said. “So, for instance, the anatomy and physiology lab will directly serve the needs of our health programs, so students who are interested in going into health care, where the shortages are particularly severe, will be able to work in kind of state-of-the-art facilities there.”
The anatomy and physiology labs have been upgraded and in use since the start of the 2023-24 school year.
Heineman said it is crucial for students to learn in state-of-the-art, modernized facilities, because students will be equipped to work in any lab outside of school and knowledgeable on all of the new technologies used.
“The biology lab will serve the needs of the life sciences industry, which is another really rapidly growing sector of the economy here in Massachusetts,” Heineman said. “On the physics side, that will support getting students ready to go into things like advanced manufacturing, which is also an important industry on the North Shore as well.”
Heineman said that the college’s Danvers campus has received $17 million in state funding for a complete overhaul and expansion of all laboratories. In regards to the Lynn campus, he said the college is planning to go one lab at a time.
“In Lynn, the strategy is to go after other funding and work one lab at a time to improve, make those (labs) absolutely up to date and state-of-the-art as well,” Heineman said.
The funding and improvements are long overdue, Heineman said.
“The campus in Lynn, the main building, went up in the mid-1980s, and I’m sure some improvements have been done over the decades, but this is certainly the first major overhaul for these labs in 10 or more years,” Heineman said.
