Forker Laboratory is home to all things science at Penn State Shenango. This building boasts lecture and laboratory spaces for biology and chemistry, engineering and physics, and our Physical Therapist Assistant program.
The largest classroom at Shenango – the Forum – is also located in Forker Laboratory and is the only auditorium-style classroom on campus.
Biology and chemistry
Our life sciences and chemistry labs are stocked with innovative learning devices to prepare tomorrow’s healthcare leaders.
Students in our popular biology courses benefit from an extensive assortment of teaching models, real bone collections, and Bluetooth Vernier EKG equipment so students can view and store results on their phones.
Two of our students’ favorite models are Ana and Tomy – female and male SynDavers. SynDavers are artificial human bodies that very closely replicate a real human in both structure and touch. These models provide our students with better scale in terms of muscle linkage, texture, position, and size of organs to promote student learning.
Our chemistry courses also feature Bluetooth-equipped Vernier devices, such as spectrophotometers, and pH and temperature sensors that all connect and record readings to the student’s phone.
Physical Therapist Assistant
Half of the second floor is utilized by our Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) program. This area keeps our PTA lecture classroom, laboratory, study room, and faculty office suite together in one place. On this level, our PTA students learn the interventions, rehabilitations, and educational elements needed before beginning clinical rotations and taking their licensing exam.
Engineering and physics
Our engineering and physics faculty offer hands-on learning to test theories and ideas.
In physics, students will perform optic experiments, as well as projectile motion and pulley tests to help bring textbook lessons to life.
Our engineering labs utilizes the latest in technology, including a 3D scanner to make a digital copy of existing items. From the digital copy, students will be able to 3D print the item or manipulate the digital version to include new features. We have several 3D printers that our engineering students use to create models to facilitate learning, including a sophisticated polyresin printer that is able to achieve precise angles and smooth curves.
If an experiment or model happens to fail, students can use our Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to learn why. SEMs are complex tools that scan the surface of an object with a focused beam of electrons to create an image for review. Many engineering students do not have the opportunity to learn from SEMs until graduate studies, but at the Shenango campus our engineering students begin using this tool their first semester.