DSU Receives $400,000 Welfare Foundation Grant to Upgrade Science Labs

Friday, February 10, 2012

Jan. 12, 2012

Delaware State University has received great assistance in its work to strengthen its already strong emphasis on its Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines with the award of a $400,000 grant from the Welfare Foundation.

The generous Welfare Foundation grant will go toward an $826,000 project to renovate the DSU STEM laboratories in the Mishoe Science Center.

The original portion of the Mishoe Science Center (north side) was built in 1964, and a south addition was completed in 1995. The building annually serves 350 STEM-related majors as well hundreds of students in other majors who take classes there every year to fulfill their science requirements.

In their past there have not been sufficient capital funds to counter the deteriorating conditions of the laboratories of the College of Mathematics, Natural Sciences & Technology in the Mishoe Science Center.

The renovation project will include critical upgrades of air control systems, HVAC equipment, and new safety provisions, the installation of a new observatory area that will replace the obsolete one, as well as the necessary computer technologies.

The upgrading of the air control system is particularly critical as much of the college’s research in optics, chemistry, neuroscience and biology areas requires stable air quality and the ability to maintain acceptable humidity levels.

In addition to improving the research environment and possibilities for DSU science students and faculty, the upgrades will improve the University’s potential for attracting high-caliber researcher to the institution, as well as draw businesses and corporations that might find commercial application with DSU research activities.