Focus: Vision 2020

Imperative 4: Build on the letters, arts and sciences core

Vision 2020 Advisory Council Update December 2, 2004

Science Today, Technology Tomorrow

As the scientific core of Texas A&M University, the College of Science seeks to accomplish an important joint mission: 1. educate new generations of scientists; 2. conduct cutting-edge research to produce the technologies of tomorrow that will help our state and our nation meet the scientific challenges of the 21st century.

College of Science Data: Fall 2003

BIOL CHEM MATH PHYS STAT

Total Undergraduate Majors SCH

1,354 222 317 98 N/A

1,991

32,089 40,827 65,431 25,002 13,995

147,344 Graduate Majors SCH Research Funding*

* in millions 93 5.79

250 1,561 4,908 3,396 14.79

143 3.08

129 102

717

2,918 4,963

17,746

9.51

5.26

38.43

Distinct Competencies

What sets the College of Science apart in our University-driven goals of teaching, service and research as we pursue national public Top 10 status?

Departments of Distinction

• In spite of resource limitations, our departments have made huge strides in both academic and research circles: – Historically, the Department of Biology has placed more of its majors in medical and dental schools than any other A&M department. – The Department of Chemistry is ranked 15th by the National Research Council and has the 6th-ranked inorganic program in the

U.S. News & World Report.

– Two-thirds of our Mathematics faculty have grants from the National Science Foundation, despite the fact that the Department maintains one of the highest teaching loads at Texas A&M. – Physics recently obtained funds for and awarded two new endowed $1,000,000 chairs (total number is now eight).

– Statistics is ranked 10th of 65 in mathematical sciences in the most recent

U.S. News & World Report.

– As one of four university facilities in the country supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Cyclotron Institute is a major technical and educational resource for the state and the nation.

Top-Notch Faculty

• • • • • Approximately half of the distinguished professors at Texas A&M; 1 of 2 female distinguished professors at Texas A&M (Susan S. Golden, BIOL); 8 of 32 University Faculty Fellows; 2 National Academy of Sciences members Many young faculty, including CAREER, NYI, Sloan awardees

Outstanding Students

• •

67% of the college undergrad majors are in biology

– Of the 1,354 undergraduates, 18% are listed as of either African-American or Hispanic descent.

Chemistry Department Ph.D. program

– Graduated more Ph.D. students during last 10 years than any other Texas A&M department – Graduates the 3rd largest number of Ph.D. students among the nation’s 230 Ph.D. granting chemistry departments

Doctorates Awarded in Last 10 Years

363

292 223 197 191 161 154 144 135 131 129

125

116 114

109 CHEM

ELEN EPSY CVEN MEEN SCSC CPSC ANSC CHEN EHRD INEN

BIOL

WFSC PSYC

PHYS

109 106 106 102 97 96 83 81 81 79

77

76 75 69

67

BCBP EDCI EDAD ENGL EAHR ECON AGEC OCNG LAUP VTPB

MATH

PETE GEPL VTPP

STAT

Target: Top 10

By advancing discovery and solving real-world problems, we play a key role in helping Texas A&M University become one of the nation’s top 10 public institutions by the year 2020.

Target Top 10:

Reshaping the Future through Reinvestment

• • • Under Texas A&M’s five-year faculty reinvestment plan, the College of Science will

add 70 of the University’s 447 proposed new faculty

.

This figure represents one of the largest percent gains across the University’s 10 academic units.

Under the plan, the College is working hard to fulfill three related goals: 1. increasing national and international visibility; 2. enhancing the undergraduate and graduate experience; 3. increasing faculty diversity.

Target Top 10:

Year One Reinvestment Gains

• Historic Preservation: Biology has hired six assistant professors and one full professor, a strong first step in reversing 10 years of attrition that saw its faculty headcount drop from 42 to 30.

• All in the Family: Multiple openings across the College’s five departments have allowed Science to hire husband wife teams in Biology, Mathematics and Statistics.

Target Top 10:

Year One Reinvestment Gains

• • Mind for Matter: Leonid Keldysh, Professor of Physics who will arrive on campus in January 2005, is considered to be one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists and is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Dynamic Duo: Mathematics Professors Jean-Luc Guermond and Joseph M. Landsberg are regarded by the international math community as leading experts in their respective research fields —computational fluid dynamics and algebraic geometry.

Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty: Fall 2003

BIOL CHEM MATH PHYS STAT Total

Dist. Prof.

2 5 5 4 2

18

Prof.

11 33 39 29 15

127

Assoc.

Prof.

12 5 17 6 3

43

Asst.

Prof.

5 3 9 6 5

28 Total 30 46 70 45 25 216 Approximately 12% of total TTF for Texas A&M

Al Cotton, Marlan Scully: Nat’l Academy of Science

REINVESTMENT UPDATE:

15 additional faculty hired, as of 9/2004

TTF Females/Total: Fall 2003

BIOL CHEM MATH PHYS STAT

Total

Dist. Prof.

1/2 0/5 0/5 0/4 0/2

1/18

Prof.

2/11 3/33 3/39 1/29 1/15

10/127

Assoc. Prof.

2/12 1/5 1/17 0/6 2/3

6/43

Asst. Prof.

0/5 1/3 1/9 0/6 2/5

4/28 Total 5/30 5/46 5/70 1/45 5/25 21/216 REINVESTMENT UPDATE:

3 additional females, as of 9/2004

TTF Minority*/Total: Fall 2003

BIOL CHEM MATH PHYS STAT

Total

Dist. Prof.

0/2 0/5 0/5 0/4 0/2

0/18

Prof.

0/11 2/33 0/39 0/29 0/15

2/127

Assoc. Prof.

0/12 0/5 2/17 0/6 0/3

2/43

Asst. Prof.

2/5 0/3 1/9 0/6 0/5

3/28

* Minority = African American and/or Hispanic

Total 2/30 2/46 3/70 0/45 0/25 7/216

Target Top 10:

One Spirit One Vision Success

• • • Former students (George Mitchell ’40, Charles Munnerlyn ’62), friends of Texas A&M and corporate partners are making a significant impact on the College of Science through their visionary support.

The

College is at 82 percent of its $46 million goal with two years remaining in the campaign.

The campaign has resulted in eight endowed chairs in the Department of Physics alone, which had only one chair prior to 2000, the campaign’s first year.

Target Top 10:

Branching Out in Qatar

• • Although Texas A&M University-Qatar currently offers only engineering degrees, the College of Science is ensuring a valuable foundation for the fledgling program by providing faculty to teach lower-division courses in chemistry, mathematics, physics and statistics, equipping Qatari Aggies with the fundamentals to excel in engineering.

With the pending addition of two research centers to provide related opportunities for faculty and graduate students, we anticipate an even greater presence in Education City in the future.

Target Top 10:

Leaders in Diversity

•

The College is national leader in Ph.D. production in minorities and females

despite faculty limitations in these areas. • Three of its five departments have been recognized with diversity awards. • The College’s recent appointment of an associate dean for diversity further punctuates our commitment to encouraging a welcoming and supportive environment for all Aggies.

Ph.D Minority*, Annually

Afr. Am.

Hispanic BIOL CHEM MATH PHYS STAT

Total

* Minority = African American and/or Hispanic 100 50 10 8 <5

173

300 100 30 30 <5

465

Female 2,400 600 275 160 50

3,485

Target: Education

Our students interact with outstanding classroom educators and world renowned researchers —on campus and across the globe.

Target Education:

Class Service

• With only 12 percent of the tenured/tenure-track faculty at Texas A&M University, the College teaches 20 percent of the University’s total semester credit hours taught each semester, or

one of every five classroom hours logged

by its 45,000 students. • Each year, the College sponsors a wide variety of educational science activities for middle and high school students and is actively involved in reversing the current science and mathematics teacher shortage.

Target Education:

Innovative Approaches

• Local and national leaders in

innovative educational approaches

(technology-mediated instruction, distance ed) – The Information Technology in Science (ITS) Center for Teaching and Learning, funded by a five-year, $10 million National Science Foundation grant, is an interdisciplinary graduate program that seeks to replenish the nation's supply of science and mathematics education specialists through

team-led, learner-centered opportunities

involving scientists, mathematicians, education researchers and education practitioners.

– – Through another five-year, $1.25 million NSF grant, the Departments of Biology, Mathematics, and Statistics are teaming up

to develop integrated undergraduate curricula that will train biology and applied mathematics students to speak similar languages about the natural world

.

The College also offers the

nation’s only 100 percent online master’s degree in mathematics

. The 36-credit-hour program has grown to 67 graduate students and 31 non-degree-seeking students.

Target Education:

Unique Participation/Research Experiences

• • • Unlike most science programs nationwide,

our undergraduates are exposed to challenging research opportunities

designed to enhance the academic experience and provide beneficial practical skills to better prepare them for advanced studies or careers in science.

As seniors, many are

mentored by faculty researchers

in Undergraduate Research Fellows program —paid positions with some projects.

Three departments (Chemistry, Math, Cyclotron)

offer paid summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs

.

Target: Research

A fundamental approach to solving today's complex problems is the foundation of our discoveries and research to benefit mankind.

Target Research:

Federal Agency Funding: Fall 2003

BIOL CHEM MATH PHYS STAT

Total

Total Faculty 30 46 70 45 25

216

DOE 2 8 1 13 _

24

NSF

114

9 27 43 23 12 NIH 15 14 _ _ 8

37

Target Research:

By the Numbers

• Leaders in generating funding for research on campus – The College of Science's five departments and their associated centers and institutes total peer-reviewed federal funding for 2002 was $24,230,875 and rose to an all time high of $29,125,706 during calendar 2003.

– Chemistry is ranked the 7th largest total in research and development expenditures among all chemistry departments in the U.S.

– Mathematics department has risen to 13th nationally of public universities in research funding, including being only one of five having both Vertical Integration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences (VIGRE) and Research Undergraduates NSF grants.

Target Research:

Texas A&M National Research Council Rankings

ARTS & HUMANITIES Art History Classics Comp. Lit.

English French German Linguistics Music Philosophy Religion Spanish BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Biochem/Molec Biol Cell Biol Ecol/Evol/Behav Molec/Gen/Genetics Neurosciences Pharmacology Physiology ENGINEERING Aerospace Eng Biomedical Eng Chemical Eng Civil Eng Electrical Eng Industrial Eng Materials Science Mechanical Eng rating: (Blank means no Ph.D. program) 2.89

2.95

2.97

2.61

3.24

3.16

2.32

3.12

2.50

2.91

3.40

3.25

3.81

3.22

national rank & percentile 56/127=44.1% 68/187=36.4% 62/165=37.6% 76/127=59.8% 38/102=37.3% 60/121=49.6% 106/135=78.5% 17/33=51.5% 34/38=89.5% 37/93=39.8% 17/86=19.8% 32/126=25.4% 5/37=13.5% 27/110=24.5% A&M rank 17 14 13 20 7 11 23 12 21 16 4 6 2 9 rating: (0 means no Ph.D. program) national rank & percentile PHYSICAL SCIENCES & MATHEMATICS Astrophys/Astron Chemistry Computer Science 4.11

2.30

15/168=8.9% 62/107=57.9% Geosciences Mathematics Oceanography Physics 3.20

2.84

3.26

3.22

34/95=35.8% 59/135=43.7% 12/26=46.2% 46/146=31.5% 13/58=22.4% Stat/Biostat 3.78

SOCIAL & BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES Anthropology Economics Geography 2.83

33/106=31.1% History Political Science Psychology Sociology 2.15

2.94

2.47

87/111=78.4% 71/185=38.4% 50/95=52.6% A&M rank 1 24 10 18 5 8 3 19 25 15 22

Target Research: U.S. News & World Report Graduate-Level Rankings* BIOL (all biological sciences) CHEM Analytical Inorganic MATH PHYS STAT Applied Mathematics *Most recent rankings for each discipline Ranking 60 (29) 22 (10) 14 (14) 6 (3) 42 (22) 39 (22) 46 (29) 10 (7)

Target Research:

Interdisciplinary Excellence

• With the search for answers requiring an increasingly interdisciplinary approach, we forge collaborations that break traditional barriers, combine uncommon skills and produce unique and unparalleled results: – Biology: Five-year, $5 million National Institutes of Health grant to examine

biological clocks

in organisms ranging from bacteria to mammals; results should help understand sleep, mood disorders.

– Statistics: National Cancer Institute-funded

bioinformatics program

that is building bridges between life and computational sciences to analyze relationship between diet and cancer risk.

– College: Major player in on behavior, as well as

neuroscience research structural genomics

, which features 50 faculty from five A&M departments who study the brain and its impact , which uses modern analytical methods to study protein structure and function.

– Cyclotron: Houses

one of only five K500 superconducting cyclotrons

in the U.S. and provides technical capabilities for a wide variety of applications (space & materials science, nuclear medicine).

– World-leaders in many other areas, including

quantum optics

,

inorganic chemistry

and

catalysis

, and

theoretical physics

.

Target Research:

On the Horizon

• Texas A&M recently became a member in the Giant Magellan Telescope Consortium. Once completed,

the GMT will collect 70 times as much light as the Hubble Space Telescope and produce images 10 times sharper .

• Internationally recognized

Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics

annually attracts eminent experts such as Cambridge University physicist Stephen Hawking and other world-renowned researchers in theoretical physics to Texas A&M.

• The Cyclotron Institute was recently granted $1.8 million by the U.S. Department of Energy for facility upgrades.

Target: Service

To us, introducing the world to science, its careers and contributions to daily life is higher education in its truest sense.

Target Service:

Math/Science Teacher Shortage Solutions

• As one of the state’s most prominent scientific educational resources, the College is also one of the leading proponents of public education reform in Texas and across the nation.

– Major players in A&M System’s Regents’ Initiative to address current math/science teacher shortage.

– Math & Science Scholars (MASS) program encourages our majors to also pursue specialization in science teaching.

– Center for Math and Science Education (CMSE) provides pre-service programs and professional development opportunities for current math and science teachers while researching ways of improving teaching and working to shape related policy.

– Information Technology in Science (ITS) Center for Teaching and Learning takes team-led, learner-centered approach to graduate education by involving scientists, mathematicians, education researchers and education practitioners.

Target Service:

Educational Outreach & Women’s Programs

•

Attract state/national participants

– 10 major events annually, as a result, influencing even more young people, women to pursue science/technical careers – More than 1,700 participants came to College Station in 2003 alone for events