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Governor Deval Patrick was in Lowell today to deliver the first $4 million in state funds for the new Nanotech Center at UML. As the photo to the left depicts, State Senator Steve Panagiatakos made welcoming remarks before Governor Patrick spoke. To Patrick’s left is Dana Mohler-Faria, his special advisor for education, and to his right is UML Interim Chancellor David MacKenzie. State Rep Kevin Murphy, chair of the Higher Education Committee, is shown in the far right photo.

 It was inspiring to hear the speeches about what a great opportunity the nanotechnology center will offer not only Lowell, UML, and the Merrimac Valley, but how it could very well be the catalyst of as Governor Patrick put it “one piece in an overall plan” to bring robust economic development to the state with far-reaching impact within the global marketplace. Why not have Massachusetts–specifically UMass Lowell–be the world center for nanotechnology research and product development? As inspiring as those words are for those of us who call this place home, I couldn’t help but think about our K-12 students and how we have had to downsize our science programs since 2003. We no longer have science teachers for our elementary students, who now receive science instruction from classroom teachers with little time to prepare experiments or do hands-on science work. At the middle school level, science has suffered time crunching to make way for more math and reading instruction. At the high school, a poorly equipped, limited number of science labs result in only a small percentage of students getting exposure to science experiments, and even for those students, it is in inadequate increments.

So, of course, when Governor Patrick asked if there were any questions from the audience, I wanted to ask. (I didn’t but I wish I had, and next time I will.) I should have asked because for me it was the elephant in the room that needed to be addressed: How will Lowell public school children have access to nanotechnology studies and the opportunities UML will offer if our science education is inadequate to prepare them to meet the challenges? What is the governor’s or the legislators’ plan to make sure our kids get the quality science preparation they deserve and that is required in the world we live in today? Just adding a science component to MCAS, which is all I’ve seen so far, won’t cut it.