MCLA gets $250,000 Grant for Science Programs

NORTH Adams, Mass. — The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, under the Workforce Development Capital Program, has awarded MCLA a $253,542 grant to purchase equipment to advance its biology, chemistry, and health sciences programming. 

The funds, which are to advance student training and career preparation, are to be utilized over the next two fiscal years. The equipment purchases will allow MCLA to continue to pursue an interdisciplinary approach to a Life Sciences curriculum that prepares students for a variety of careers in research, biomanufacturing, teaching, diagnosis, lifesaving treatment, and other biotechnology fields.   

"Thanks to institutions such as MCLA, we are able to continue to accelerate educational and geographic equity in the life sciences," said Massachusetts Life Sciences Center President and CEO Kenneth Turner. "Western Massachusetts has a growing cluster of innovation and entrepreneurship. We are emboldened by the opportunities to support economic and workforce development in this region that is critical to our strategy for remaining the global leader in the life sciences." 

Tools and supplies that support such programs include a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), an osmometer, sonicator, and lyophilizer, which are important in pharmaceutical design, manufacturing, and biomedical research. Additionally, common equipment such as pH meters and micropipettes will be updated, and more sophisticated instruments such as the inductively-coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) and gas chromatograph (GC) will receive maintenance and updated parts in order to improve data integrity and accuracy. These specific instruments are equivalent or identical to the equipment used in the industry and can benefit student training and career preparation.   

"The Workforce Development Capital Program is a fundamental stepping stone for MCLA to reach new heights and allow students to attain necessary skills in health sciences," said MCLA President Dr. James F. Birge. "I’m elated to hear that the College can better support our liberal arts programs by strengthening the life sciences studies and attain tools that are equivalent to those being used in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry." 

"Typically, small liberal arts colleges such as MCLA offer students close mentorship by faculty and small, intimate, hands-on class experiences, while larger institutions provide more state-of-the-art equipment and resources," said Professor of Chemistry Dr. Carolyn Dehner. 

She and fellow faculty members Professor of Biology Dr. Ann Billetz and Chair and Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Justin Golub said what makes this partnership between MCLA and MLSC so powerful is that students will benefit from the best of both worlds.

"Since we have such a small student-to-faculty ratio, all our biology and chemistry students will have the opportunity to train on the most advanced technology currently being utilized by biotech and health science industries in the Berkshires and across Massachusetts," she said. 

Healey, Driscoll Talk Transportation Funding, Municipal Empowerment

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:56PM / Friday, January 24, 2025

The governor talks about a transportation bond bill filed Friday and its benefits for cities and towns.

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll were greeted with applause by municipal leaders on Friday as they touted $8 billion in transportation funding over the next decade and an additional $100 million in Chapter 90 road funds. 

 

Those were just a few of the initiatives to aid cities and towns, they said, and were based what they were hearing from local government

 

"We also proposed what, $2 1/2 billion the other day in higher education through investment in campuses across 29 communities statewide," the governor said. 

 

"Really excited about that and with those projects, by the way, as you're talking to people, you can remind them that that's 140,000 construction jobs in your communities."

 

The governor and Driscoll were speaking to the annual Massachusetts Municipal Association's conference. Branded as Connect 351, the gathering of appointed and elected municipal leaders heard from speakers, spoke with vendors in the trade show, attended workshops and held their annual business meeting this year at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

 

Healey and Driscoll followed a keynote address by Suneel Gupta, author, entrepreneur and host of television series "Business Class," on reducing stress and boosting energy, and welcomes from MMA Executive Director Adam Chapdelaine, outgoing MMA President and Waltham councilor John McLaughlin, and from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu via her chief of staff Tiffany Chu.

 

"We know that local communities are really the foundation of civic life, of democracy. We invented that here in Massachusetts, many, many years ago, and that continues to this day," said Healey. "It's something that we're proud of. We respect, and as state leaders, we respect the prerogative, the leadership, the economy, the responsibility of our local governments and those who lead them, so you'll always have champions in us."