TLDR: In under four months, I built and led delivery of LabShell, a virtual lab platform that allowed Oregon State University to move chemistry labs online during the pandemic. The system now powers 1,200+ courses, delivering over 100,000 virtual lab sessions at < $100/month operating cost.

1. Context & Stakes

In early 2019, Oregon State University Ecampus faced a critical challenge. They could not offer accredited online Chemistry degrees because lab sections still required in person attendance. Accreditation would only be granted if we could replicate hands-on chemistry labs online, with the same rigor, accessibility, and learning outcomes.

Initially, Ecampus partnered with a third-party vendor to build the virtual labs, but the results were slow, inaccessible, and costly to maintain. Quality fell short, and the timeline threatened the program’s accreditation.

Having already delivered several successful software platforms for the university, I was asked if my team could step in and deliver instead.

Replacing the vendor meant building an entirely new platform capable of replicating real laboratory experiences online, at scale, before the next academic term. Failure to deliver would mean hundreds of courses going offline and thousands of students unable to complete degree requirements.

2. Problem → Insight

After evaluating the labs built by the vendor, I identified a number of critical issues.

The labs felt static. They tried to visually replicate real lab equipment, but students couldn't make meaningful choices that affected outcomes. The experience felt more like a guided tour than a hands-on experiment.

To truly understand what we were missing, we partnered with faculty from the chemistry department, not just to learn how the labs were supposed to go, but where they could go if built with real interactivity in mind.

The challenge was equal parts technical and experiential.

Key Insight: We reframed the goal from "replicating lab equipment and forms" to "creating an interactive workspace where students make meaningful choices and see immediate outcomes."

3. Approach & Execution

To meet the deadline, we designed LabShell as a modular SaaS platform instead of building dozens of one off course apps. I structured the work so that each new lab accelerated the next, reusing core logic, form components, and tools, while dividing responsibilities to eliminate developer overlap and blockers.

• Architecture: React + TypeScript front end; Node.js Serverless backend (AWS Lambda, S3, DynamoDB).
• Authoring system: JSON driven configuration with WYSIWYG interface so instructors could build new labs without developer support.
• Rendering: Dynamic components (sliders, droppers, equations, graphs) orchestrated through a schema engine.
• Delivery: Multi tenant model allowing reuse across courses and subjects.
• Performance: Static asset delivery through CloudFront; subsecond load times.
• Hyper-realism: Worked with chemistry staff to ensure all compounds and devices worked exactly as they do in real life, even down to fluctuations of a balance.

We delivered the first working chemistry lab in less than six weeks, scaling to all 28 required labs by the end of the term.

4. Technical Highlights

• Schema-Driven UI: Labs defined declaratively in JSON → interpreted at runtime → 10× faster authoring cycle.
• State Machine Engine: Managed multi-step experiments, branching logic, and result persistence.
• WCAG 2.1 AA Compliance: Full keyboard support, semantic markup, ARIA labeling.
• Serverless Infrastructure: Near-zero maintenance, auto-scaling, global availability.
• Analytics Hooks: Captured step-level interactions for faculty dashboards.
• Designed Assets: Created realistic and animated replications of over 60 pieces of lab equipment.

5. Impact

LabShell received the 2020 NWACC Educational Tool of the Year Award as well as the 2022 Online Learning Consortium Innovate Award, and was later licensed to other universities to offer online chemistry labs.

6. Leadership & Collaboration

• Defined platform strategy and architecture; wrote ~70% of the core codebase.
• Mentored junior developers; established TypeScript and testing standards.
• Worked directly with faculty to translate pedagogical needs into interaction models.
• Coordinated daily with stakeholders to ensure we maintained quality compliance and were on track with deadlines.
• Helped cement usage of reusable platforms vs one off content at Ecampus.

7. Risks & Mitigations

8. Aftermath & Lessons

LabShell not only solved the immediate pandemic crisis, it permanently transformed how Ecampus builds digital labs and other interactive content. Its schema-driven design became a permenant pattern for subsequent tools (video, interactive reading, and assessments).

The project proved that a small, focused team with clear scope and strong technical direction could out deliver large external vendors, faster, cheaper, and with better UX.

What I’d Do Next

• Build out a role based identity system to allow students, assistants and faculty to access dashboards catered to their needs and duties.
• Expand to more STEM focuses outside just chemistry.
• Build connections to tie directly into Learning Management Systems (like Canvas).

9. Credits

Engineering: David Jansen, Chris Patenaude

Faculty Partners: Chemistry Department, OSU

LabShell redefined what was possible for online science education, transforming static simulations into authentic, hands on experiments and unlocking new opportunities for learners everywhere.