The L&N STEM Academy campus will expand to include an exciting new building for collaborating.
The iLab is going to be a regional hub for education in science, technology, engineering and math fields such as robotics and nuclear energy, L&N Executive Principal Jimm Allen told Knox News.
"Not only students are going to be learning the skills that are going to be necessary to compete on a regional global scale over the next however many years, but to also make sure we're staying at the cutting edge of things in the STEM fields," Allen said.
While leaders are still figuring out how the space will be used, renderings and floor plans shared with Knox News show the new two-story building is slated to have two multipurpose rooms, a meeting space and a flexible
lab space, as well as lab areas dedicated to AI, nuclear energy and data science. Students and teachers from across the county will be able to use it.
iLab is natural next step for East Tennessee
Allen said the lab represents a broadening of the school's goal since it first opened its doors in 2011.
"This is, to me, just one of the next steps of not only what we already do, but what we can do as a county and a region here in East Tennessee," he added.
It helps that the iLab will be centrally located not only in downtown Knoxville, Allen said, but at the historic L&N Station the school has called home for 15 years.
iLab construction will be funded through Battelle, an applied science and technology company based in Ohio, Knox County and the state of Tennessee. Battelle, in partnership with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, has managed the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 2000.
“We are fortunate to have an extraordinary concentration of scientific, engineering, technology and research institutions in our area," Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs said in a statement. "This building will give our students and community the opportunity to see those careers, experience those fields and develop the skills to pursue them.”
"While we are not in a position to fund a project like this through the district, we are incredibly grateful to the county and (Gov. Bill Lee) for leading this effort and for their commitment to the successes at L&N STEM Academy," Superintendent Jon Rysewyk said in a statement to Knox News. "Any time there is an opportunity to invest in our schools, it’s our students who benefit − and that’s exactly what’s happening here."
Allen said private partnerships with regional companies make the iLab and L&N's work possible.
"These are the things that students are going to be doing for the rest of their lives," he said. "Very few people are going to be going into academia or into the education sector."
And this investment will prove fruitful for companies, too, Allen believes.
"They're doing what they can to say, 'Hey, as a community, we need to build that workforce through education, through training, through exposure to things these students are going to be doing for a living someday,'" he said.
The principal hopes the expansion will allow L&N to enroll more students than it does now. He said there's a long waitlist as it is, and it's growing as the school allows students from outside Knox County to attend. More than that, Allen wants L&N to become a regional and statewide hub for educators, students and industry experts.
'Everything is changing exponentially'
Adapting is just part of the fabric of L&N, Allen said. It's a feature of the STEM industry as a whole.
"If we're doing the same thing we were doing five years ago, then to me, we're not doing things right," he said. "We were doing some really great things five years ago. The world's changed and we need to be able to stay ahead of that."
It's why L&N added a nuclear energy class in 2024 and is adapting its course offerings to fit the everchanging STEM world.
Allen said a "huge part" of the school's success is due in large part to its willingness to change.
"When we hire people, we are upfront on things are going to be evolving and changing because you're teaching one thing one year (and it) doesn't mean you're going to be teaching that same thing the next year," Allen explained. "That's the type of people that are making change and then doing these incredible things in education."
L&N has been a top 10 high school in the Volunteer State for years. In 2026, U.S. News & World Report named it the No. 5 high school in Tennessee and 219th in the nation. It is a three-time winner of the Apple Distinguished Schools award for those that are "centers of leadership and educational excellence," and the school is a three-time Tennessee Reward School designation winner.
Allen did not have a timeline for the project's conclusion, but hoped it would be up and running "as soon as possible."
Caitlyn Meisner is the K-12 education reporter for Knox News. Email tips and story ideas to caitlyn.meisner@knoxnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: L&N STEM Academy expands campus with new regional laboratory hub
