SLAS Receives Grant from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to Develop Lab Automation Educational Guidelines

Oak Brook, IL (January 28, 2026) – The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) has been awarded a $199,884 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to lead a multi-year initiative to develop education standards for laboratory automation, addressing a growing gap between the rapid adoption of automation technologies and formal training pathways for the scientific workforce.

The project, Standards for Automated Science Education, will establish evidence-based, interdisciplinary guidelines to help educators prepare students for the technical competencies required in modern laboratory environments. The work will be led by Kennedy McDaniel Bae, PhD, in collaboration with Joshua D. Kangas, PhD, associate teaching 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 increasingly integrates robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence across pharmaceutical, biotechnology, manufacturing and academic research settings. Despite this growth, automation training is often fragmented and institution-specific, creating challenges for educators and employers alike.

“The automation infrastructure investments have been massive, but training infrastructure hasn't kept pace,” says Bae. “We're building that missing piece—the first comprehensive framework that bridges traditional education with the convergence of robotics, AI, and machine learning.”

The project includes four primary components: assessing industry workforce needs and educational barriers; developing tiered competency standards aligned with real-world job requirements; curating and publishing implementation-ready teaching resources; and documenting broader insights on successful models for integrating automation into curricula. All guidelines and resources will be made openly available under a Creative Commons license and hosted long-term by SLAS.

“SLAS is committed to strengthening the scientific workforce by connecting education, technology and real-world application,” said Vicki Loise, CMP, CAE, chief executive officer of SLAS. “This project directly supports that mission by creating shared standards that help educators, employers and learners speak the same language—ultimately accelerating innovation across the life sciences.”

Padraic Foley, Director, Strategy and Partnerships at the Acceleration Consortium (University of Toronto) and member of the Standards Drafting Committee, affirmed the initiative, "To fully realize the potential of autonomous science, we need a workforce skilled not just in biology or chemistry, but in the integration of robotics and data. This initiative is a critical step toward upskilling researchers and creating a shared language that connects education with industry needs."

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

The guidelines and accompanying resources are scheduled for public release beginning in late 2026, with broader findings and publications extending into 2027.

*****

SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international professional society of academic, industry and government life sciences researchers and the developers and providers of laboratory automation technology. The SLAS mission is to bring together researchers in academia, industry and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology via education, knowledge exchange and global community building.

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

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a not-for-profit, mission-driven grantmaking institution dedicated to improving the welfare of all through the advancement of scientific knowledge. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-President and Chief Executive Officer of the General Motors Corporation, the Foundation makes grants in four broad areas: direct support of research in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics; initiatives to increase access and opportunity in graduate science education; projects to develop or leverage technology to empower research; and efforts to enhance and deepen public engagement with science and scientists. sloan.org | @SloanFoundation

###