WORCESTER, MA — A college in Worcester will expand hands-on life sciences education with a new state grant aimed at strengthening workforce training.
Clark University received a $354,443 Post-Secondary Education and Training Grant from the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, one of 22 academic institutions and nonprofit organizations awarded funding through the program. The money will support lab equipment, materials, supplies, technology and facility improvements tied to training students for life sciences careers.
Clark was one of two Worcester-based academic institutions to receive a post-secondary education and training grant, according to the university.
The award is part of more than $7.3 million MLSC awarded to schools and nonprofit organizations through the grant category. Overall, the Healey-Driscoll Administration and MLSC awarded $12.3 million through the center's Education and Workforce Development Grant Program.
"We are grateful to the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center for its continued investment in Clark University and in the students who will become the next generation of life sciences professionals," said Jennifer Hanselman, associate provost and dean of research at Clark.
Hanselman said the grant will help Clark provide more students with laboratory experience for graduate education, research careers and life sciences jobs.
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Over the past two years, MLSC has awarded Clark $1.1 million to support biotech workforce training infrastructure through facility upgrades, equipment and supplies, according to the university. In 2024, Professor Donald Spratt received a $750,000 Workforce Development Capital Grant to modernize biochemical instrumentation and expand research-grade training for students.
Spratt, chair of Clark's chemistry department and director of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program, said the new Center for Biomolecular Research and Experiential Learning will change how students learn biochemistry at the university.
Gov. Maura Healey said the grants are meant to expand access to training in one of the state's major industries.
Since the launch of the Life Sciences Initiative, MLSC has invested more than $240 million in education and workforce training programs, according to the center. The agency has deployed more than $1.1 billion in Massachusetts since 2008 through grants, loans, capital investments, tax incentives and workforce development programs.
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