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Virginia Tech College of Science

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Viriginia Tech
College of Science
MottoUt Prosim (That I may serve)
TypePublic
Established2003
DeanLay Nam Chang
Location
Blacksburg, Virginia
Websitehttp://www.science.vt.edu/

The College of Science at Virginia Tech contains academic programs in biology, chemistry, economics, geosciences, mathematics, physics, psychology, and statistics. In 2010-11, the College of Science consisted of 339 faculty members and 4,370 students.[1] The college was established in July 2003 after university restructuring split the College of Arts and Sciences, established in 1963, into two distinct colleges. Lay Nam Chang has been acting dean of the College of Science since its inception in 2003.[2]

Academics

The College of Science contains eight departments for undergraduate and graduate study. In addition to these eight departments, the college also offers degrees through the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Department of Biochemistry, which offers undergraduate students a bachelor of science in biochemistry and graduate students a master of science or doctoral degree. The college also houses Virginia Tech’s two largest undergraduate degree-granting programs, biology and psychology.[3]

Biological Sciences

As of 2010, the Department of Biological Sciences contained the largest undergraduate degree-granting program on campus. Undergraduates in this department can earn a bachelor of science in biology. Graduate students can earn a master of science or doctoral degree.[4]

Chemistry

The Department of Chemistry is located in Davidson Hall, Hahn Hall North, and Hahn Hall South. The department consists of approximately 300 undergraduate majors, 30 professors, eight instructors, and 40 staff members. Undergraduates can earn either a bachelor of arts or a bachelor of science in chemistry, and graduate students can earn either a master of science or doctoral degree.[5]

Economics

The Department of Economics is based in both the College of Science and the Pamplin College of Business. Undergraduates can earn a bachelor of arts in economics. Graduate students can earn a master of science or doctoral degree.[6]

Geosciences

The Department of Geosciences offers undergraduates a bachelor’s degree in geosciences by way of three options: geology, geochemistry, and geophysics. Graduate students can earn a master of science or doctoral degree. The Department of Geosciences’ graduate program has two top-ranking programs: paleontology and earth sciences.[7]

Mathematics

In the Department of Mathematics, undergraduates can earn a bachelor of science in mathematics. Graduate students can earn a master of science or doctoral degree. The Department of Mathematics also offers a mathematics education option, in which students can earn master or doctoral degrees in education.[8]

Physics

The Department of Physics is housed in Robeson Hall and Hahn Hall North. The department also often uses labs in Derring Hall. Undergraduates can earn a bachelor of science or bachelor of arts. in physics. Graduate students can earn a master of science or doctoral degree. Graduate students can also participate in an internship program that leads to a master’s degree in applied and industrial physics.[9]

Psychology

The Department of Psychology is located in Williams Hall. In 2010, the department’s undergraduate program in psychology was the second largest degree-granting undergraduate program on campus. Undergraduate students in this department can earn a bachelor of science in psychology. Graduate students can earn a doctoral degree in three areas: clinical psychology, biological psychology, and industrial/organizational psychology. (Students can earn a master of science en route to a doctoral degree, but the department does not offer a terminal master’s degree). The clinical psychology doctoral program is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association and is a member of the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science Programs.[10]

Statistics

The Department of Statistics is located in Hutcheson Hall. Undergraduates in this department can earn a bachelor’s degree in statistics, and graduate students can earn either a master of science or doctoral degree.[11]

Research

Since its inception in 2003, the College of Science has nearly doubled its research awards, bringing in $31.94 million in funding from government agencies and private corporations in 2010. This funding leads to many research opportunities for students and faculty in the college. As of 2010, 57 percent of undergraduates graduating from the College of Science participated in research for credit. [12]

Virginia Tech has numerous interdisciplinary research institutes available for use by the faculty and students of the College of Science, including:

  • Institute for Advanced Study
  • Fralin Life Science Institute
  • Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS)
  • Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment (ISCE)
  • Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute (VTC)

Distinguished Faculty

Patricia Amateis received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Virginia Tech in 1984. Amateis has won the William E. Wine Award, the Sporn Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, Alumni Teaching Award, and the Student Alumni Associates Students’ Choice Award. In addition, Amateis wrote a comprehensive laboratory manual published by Hayden-McNeil. She routinely speaks and gives chemistry demonstrations to schools and civic groups.[13]

Martha Ann Bell is a professor of psychology interested in child psychology. Specifically, her interests include developmental changes in brain-behavior relations during infancy and early childhood; developmental cognitive neuroscience (executive function, EEG, ECG); individual differences in development; and integration of cognition and emotion in early development. Bell has published numerous articles related to the field of child psychology. She also has been the recipient of many internal and external grants, including grants from the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. In addition, Bell has won many awards including the Outstanding Scholar Alumni Award in 2010 from the University of Maryland and the Favorite Faculty Award in 2007 from Virginia Tech and is a fellow of the American Psychological Association.[14]

Robert Bodnar came to Virginia Tech in 1985. He was named the C.C. Garvin Professor of Geochemistry in 1997 and University Distinguished Professor of Geosciences in 1999. He was named Virginia’s Outstanding Scientist 2010 by Gov. Bob McDonnell and the Science Museum of Virginia, and he received the American Geophysical Union Bowen Award. He is a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).[15]

Ezra “Bud” Brown is an Alumni Distinguished Professor of Mathematics. Since he began teaching at Virginia Tech in 1969, he has received the Diggs Teaching Scholar Award, the William E. Wine Award, and the G. Burke Johnston Award for Outstanding Teaching.[16]

Arthur Buikema Jr., an Alumni Distinguished Professor of Biology, has been teaching at Virginia Tech since 1971. Throughout his teaching, he has been the recipient of many national, state, and university awards. Some of his awards include Outstanding Biology Teacher of the Year, Outstanding Teaching Award, the William E. Wine Award, the Diggs Teaching Scholar Award, and two University Sporn Awards.[17]

Dennis Dean is a professor and director of the Fralin Life Science Institute. In 2010, he was named a University Distinguished Professor and named the J.B. Stoobants Professor of Biotechnology. Dean has received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and Office of Naval Research.[18]

Carla Finkielstein is an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. Her research, which is supported by a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation, focuses on how changes in circadian rhythms may contribute to the development of breast cancer in women. In 2010, she earned a Minority Scholar Award in cancer research from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). Additionally, Finkielstein’s work in cellular processes that affect tumors has received private funding from the Susan G. Komen and Avon Foundations. She also serves on the board of directors for the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation (VBCF).[19]

E. Scott Geller began working at Virginia Tech in 1969. Since then, he has been appointed Alumni Distinguished Professor of Psychology and received numerous awards, including the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV), the Outstanding Technical Writing Award, Alumni Award for Graduate Student Advising, and the William E. Wine Award. He is a Fellow of the American Psychology Association, the American Psychological Society, American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology, and the World Academy of Productive and Quality Sciences.[20]

Michael Hochella Jr. received his B.S. and M.S. from Virginia Tech in 1975 and 1977, respectively. He returned to Virginia Tech in 1992 and was named a professor in 1996. He was appointed University Distinguished Professor of Geosciences in 2007. Hochella has also been a Fulbright Scholar, a Humboldt Award winner, and Virginia Outstanding Scientist. He is also a Fellow of six international scientific societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).[21]

David Kingston, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, holds 14 U.S. patents and has two plants, Taxus kingstonii and Cordia kingstoniana, named in his honor. He has won the Virginia Scientist of the Year award from the Science Museum of Virginia, the Research Achievement Award from the American Society of Pharmacognosy, and the Gene Wise Award from the Blue Ridge Section of the American Chemical Society, among others.[22]

James McGrath came to Virginia Tech in 1975. Since then, he has become a University Distinguished Professor in Chemistry and Ethyl Corporation Chair. He has also won the Virginia Scientist of the Year award from the Science Museum of Virginia and the American Chemical Society Award in Polymer Chemistry.[23]

Thomas Ollendick is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Child Study Center in Blacksburg, Va. Since coming to Virginia Tech in 1980, he has served on several committees, including the Clinical Treatment Guidelines Advisory Steering Committee of the American Psychological Association, and he has been ranked the 10th-most frequently published core clinical faculty member in a study of 157 clinical psychology programs nationwide.[24]

Madeline Schreiber is an associate professor of hydrogeosciences in the Department of Geosciences. Her research focuses on contaminant hydrogeology and chemical hydrogeology. In 2007, Schreiber won a competitive grant from the Virginia Water Resources Research Center for her research on karst hydrology.[25]

John Tyson was named a University Distinguished professor of Biology in 1996. He has won numerous honors and awards, including the Virginia Outstanding Scientist award from the Office of the Governor, the Arthur T. Winfree Prize, and Associate Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Belgium.[26]

Rankings

According to U.S. News & World Report’s “America Best Graduate Schools 2012,” the paleontology and earth sciences graduate programs rank ninth and 28th in the nation, respectively. Both of these programs are part of the Department of Geosciences, which has been consistently ranked among the best overall geosciences graduate programs in the nation for the past 20 years.

In 2011, the U.S. News & World Report also ranked the Department of Psychology’s clinical psychology program 33rd for the third consecutive year. In a recent study of 157 similar programs across the nation, the clinical psychology doctoral program was ranked seventh in research productivity and 19th in overall research. The Ph.D. program in clinical psychology is also a member of the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science Programs, which is composed of the top 40 research-oriented programs in the United States and Canada.

Notable Alumni

  • Mary Brumfield (biology 1923; M.S. 1925) was the first female student to graduate from Virginia Tech.[27]
  • Robert M. Thomas (chemistry 1929) was the co-inventor of butyl rubber, a synthetic material that became famous during World War II.[28]
  • Wilson B. Bell (biology 1934; M.S. 1935; Ph.D. 1952) co-developed a new vaccine to protect calves against bovine leptospirosis, which had cost livestock raisers throughout the country thousands of dollars daily.[29]
  • James M. Smith Jr. (M.S. chemistry 1936) and his colleagues developed methotrexate as a cancer chemotherapeutic agent.[30]
  • Benjamin Rubin (M.S. biology 1938) invented the bifurcated vaccination needle to deliver tiny amounts of smallpox vaccine. The needle is credited with helping to eradicate smallpox.[31]
  • James F. Van Pelt Jr. (biology 1940) was the navigator of a B-29 Superfortress in both atomic bomb attacks against Japan at the close of World War II. He navigated the instrument ship in the first attack against Hiroshima, and his airplane dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki.[32]
  • Robert C. Richardson (physics 1958, M.S. 1960) won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering how helium-3 can transform itself into a liquid that flows without friction at temperatures near absolute zero.[33]
  • William W. Lewis Jr. (physics 1963) was Virginia Tech’s first Rhodes Scholar and went on to earn a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Oxford in 1966.[34]
  • Roger K. Crouch (M.S. physics 1968; Ph.D. 1971) twice served as the scientific astronaut with the Columbia space shuttle in 1997.[35]
  • Jim Buckmaster (biochemistry 1984) is CEO of Craigslist, a centralized network of online urban communities that features free classified ads and forums on multiple topics.[37]
  • Mark Embree (mathematics and computer science 1996) became Virginia Tech’s second Rhodes Scholar in 1996. Currently, Embree is professor of computational and applied mathematics at Rice University.[38]
  • Roger Craig (biology 1999, biochemistry 1999) became the highest one-day total winner on the game show “Jeopardy!” in 2010. He won $77,000 in one evening, surpassing the previous record of $75,000. His seven-day total winnings of $231,200 -- amassed before his run as the show’s champion ended Sept. 21, 2010 -- was third highest for the show, excluding tournaments.[39]

References

  1. ^ http://www.vt.edu/about/factbook/student-overview.html
  2. ^ http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2003/02/2003-22.html
  3. ^ http://www.science.vt.edu/facultystaff/AR/coll-ar10.pdf
  4. ^ http://www.biol.vt.edu/
  5. ^ http://www.chem.vt.edu/
  6. ^ http://www.econ.vt.edu/
  7. ^ http://www.geos.vt.edu/
  8. ^ http://www.math.vt.edu/
  9. ^ http://www.phys.vt.edu/
  10. ^ http://www.psyc.vt.edu/
  11. ^ http://www.stat.vt.edu/
  12. ^ http://www.science.vt.edu/facultystaff/AR/coll-ar10.pdf
  13. ^ http://www.chem.vt.edu/people/faculty/amateis-patricia/index.html
  14. ^ http://www.psyc.vt.edu/sites/default/files/profile_vitaes/mabellcv_4-10-2011.pdf
  15. ^ http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2010/02/2010-65.html
  16. ^ http://www.math.vt.edu/people/brown/
  17. ^ http://bioinquiry.biol.vt.edu/buikema/
  18. ^ http://www.biochem.vt.edu/faculty.php?lname=Dean&view=yes
  19. ^ http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2010/05/2010-408.html
  20. ^ http://www.psyc.vt.edu/users/esgeller
  21. ^ http://www.geos.vt.edu/people/hochella/
  22. ^ http://www.kingston.chem.vt.edu/
  23. ^ http://www.mii.vt.edu/MACR/faculty/mcgrath.html
  24. ^ http://www.psyc.vt.edu/users/tho
  25. ^ http://www.geos.vt.edu/people/mschreib
  26. ^ http://www.biol.vt.edu/faculty/tyson/cv.php
  27. ^ http://www.vt.edu/alumni/notable-2011/alum/pioneers/pioneers-tag.html
  28. ^ http://www.vt.edu/alumni/notable-2011/alum/inventions/inventions-tag.html
  29. ^ http://www.vt.edu/alumni/notable-2011/notable-az.html
  30. ^ http://www.vtmagazine.vt.edu/winter01/feature1.html
  31. ^ http://www.vt.edu/alumni/notable-2011/alum/inventions/inventions-tag.html
  32. ^ http://www.vtmagazine.vt.edu/winter01/feature1.html
  33. ^ http://www.vtmagazine.vt.edu/winter01/feature1.html
  34. ^ http://www.vt.edu/alumni/notable-2011/alum/pioneers/pioneers-tag.html
  35. ^ http://www.vtmagazine.vt.edu/winter01/feature1.html
  36. ^ http://www.usec.com/boardofdirectors.htm
  37. ^ http://www.craigslist.org/about/jim_buckmaster
  38. ^ http://www.vt.edu/alumni/notable-2011/alum/education/education-tag.html
  39. ^ http://www.vt.edu/alumni/notable-2011/alum/pioneers/pioneers-tag.html
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