We recently completed a study for a local college to bring better science education to the small college. On the heels of Massachusetts’ Governor Duval Patrick’s recently announced commitment to providing greater funding for science labs at the local college and community college level, such a study has increased importance. Massachusetts and the Boston-Cambridge area is one of the leading areas in biotechnology, however, it remains a challenge in the state to find small colleges to train the local workforce for careers in the fields of drug development and manufacturing. Integrated science centers, such as the one for which we were asked to create a study, are critical in that they look to bring disciplines together to form dynamic teaching environments which enable students to gain a broad education along a wide spectrum of scientific studies. We find them exciting to develop and think about, as they are unbounded in their potential to revamp our the way we teach and look at science in the small college and equally in the larger universities.
