New MatSE Safety Fund to support safety training for students, labs

A young man and a young woman working together in a Penn State lab

By David Kubarek

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In the vast and varied research that comes out of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MatSE) at Penn State, there’s one thing that’s even more important than discovery: lab safety.

Making the department a leader in laboratory safety has been a focus since the mid-2000s with the creation of the MatSE Safety Awareness Organization. Since then, the group has been working with faculty, staff, students and industry partners to keep labs safe while ensuring students enter the workforce with stellar safety practices.