A donation by Jamestown Electro Plating will enable JCC to resume offering a chemistry lab component that lacked needed equipment.

Jamestown Electro Plating owners Jay and Alison Churchill have provided an atomic absorption spectrometer, which will be put to use when fall semester classes begin later this month. An AA spectrometer uses light absorption to measure the concentration of gas-phase atoms.

“JCC had an atomic absorption spectrometer that we used in the lab for our College Chemistry II course,” said Taylor Pancoast, professor of chemistry. “When it died several years ago, we were forced to remove that lab from the course. Thanks to the generosity of Jamestown Electro Plating, we will again be able to give our students the opportunity to use the AA spectrometer.”

Noting that chemistry students will need experience with sophisticated equipment, whether they transfer into a bachelor’s degree program or move directly into a related career, Churchill said the equipment donation is a token of a great relationship between his company and JCC.

“Over the past 25 years that I have owned Jamestown Electro Plating,” said Churchill, “JCC has been extremely helpful for our training needs, managerial as well on the factory floor. Our chief chemist is a JCC graduate and many of our other managers have attended JCC.”