The MCL was taken out of service on May 5, 2004 because of a lack of operating funds from the Commonwealth of Virginia. While funds were initially included in the 2004-05 State Budget, the House declined to include the MCL Program in their final budget. Because no state funds could be appropriated to fund the project for the 2004-05 academic year, the MCL staff positions could not be renewed and the MCL could not be operated. For the first four years of service (2000-2004) the bulk of the operating funds came from grants from the National Science Foundation, Corporate Sponsors, and Virginia Tech. These NSF grants, which were for the development and implementation of the lab as a national model for outreach to rural high schools, ended in Summer 2004. During these four years, high school students from 44 high schools performed nearly 35,000 experiments on the MCL. Whereas students from these schools performed 20 points below the state average before the MCL Program began, by 2003 students from these schools performed above the state average on the Chemistry Standards of Learning Exam. The MCL is currently parked on campus. During the 2004-05 academic year, funding will be sought to return the MCL to service in the following academic year. For more information or to help return the MCL to service, please contact Dr. Gary L. Long at long@vt.edu or (540) 231-7575

Chemistry Outreach Program Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061 voice: 540.231.7575, fax: 540.231.3255, email: long@vt.edu A University Sharing the Power of Knowledge