SLAS received a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to develop laboratory automation education guidelines

OAK BROOK, IL (USA) — The Laboratory Automation and Screening Society (SLAS) has been awarded a $199,884 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to lead a multi-year effort to develop educational standards for laboratory automation to address the growing gap between the rapid adoption of automation technology and formal training pathways for scientists.

The project is Standards for automated science educationestablishes evidence-based interdisciplinary guidelines to help educators prepare students with the technical competencies needed in modern laboratory environments. This work will be led by Dr. Kennedy McDaniel Bay in collaboration with Dr. Joshua D. Kangas, Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and a diverse expert drafting committee drawn from academia, industry, and professional networks, including SLAS, the Acceleration Consortium (University of Toronto), and others.

Laboratory automation is increasingly integrating robotics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence across pharmaceutical, biotech, manufacturing, and academic research settings. Despite this growth, automated training is often fragmented and organization-specific, creating challenges for both educators and employers.

“The investment in automation infrastructure is huge, but the training infrastructure hasn’t kept pace,” Bae says. “We are building the first comprehensive framework to bridge that missing piece: the convergence of traditional education with robotics, AI, and machine learning.”

The project includes four key elements: assessing the industry’s workforce needs and educational barriers; Develop progressive competency standards that align with real-world job requirements. We carefully select and publish educational resources that can be implemented immediately. We document extensive insights into successful models for incorporating automation into curriculum. All guidelines and resources are published under a Creative Commons license and hosted on a long-term basis by SLAS.

Vicki Loise, CMP, CAE, Chief Executive Officer, SLAS, said: “This project directly supports that mission by creating common standards that help educators, employers, and learners speak the same language, ultimately accelerating innovation across the life sciences.”

Padraig Foley, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at the Acceleration Consortium (University of Toronto) and a member of the standards drafting committee, affirmed the initiative, saying, “To realize the full potential of autonomous science, we need a workforce skilled not only in biology and chemistry, but also in robotics and data integration. This initiative is an important step in upskilling researchers and creating a common language that connects education and industry needs.”

By creating a common framework and language for automation education, this project is expected to reduce adoption friction, expand access to automation training across institution types, and strengthen talent pipelines in data-driven and automated science.

The guidelines and accompanying resources will be made publicly available from late 2026, with broader findings and publications extending into 2027.

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SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international professional association of life science researchers from academia, industry, and government, as well as developers and providers of laboratory automation technology. SLAS’ mission is to bring together researchers from academia, industry, and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology through education, knowledge exchange, and global community building.

SLAS publishes two scientific journals that are peer-reviewed and indexed in MEDLINE. SLAS Discovery and SLAS technology. For more information about SLAS and its journals, please visit www.slas.org/journals.

of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a nonprofit, mission-driven, funding agency dedicated to improving the well-being of all people through the advancement of scientific knowledge. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then president and chief executive officer of General Motors Corporation, the foundation provides direct support for research in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics; Initiatives to increase access and opportunity to graduate science education. Projects that develop or leverage technology to enhance research. and efforts to strengthen and deepen public engagement with science and scientists. sloan.org | @SloanFoundation

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