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
1,354
222
317
98
N/A
1,991
SCH
32,089
40,827
65,431
25,002
13,995
147,344
93
250
143
129
102
717
SCH
1,561
4,908
3,396
2,918
4,963
17,746
Research
Funding*
5.79
14.79
3.08
9.51
5.26
38.43
Graduate Majors
* in millions
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 percentgains 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 husbandwife 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
Prof.
Assoc.
Prof.
Asst.
Prof.
Total
2
11
12
5
30
CHEM
5
33
5
3
46
MATH
5
39
17
9
70
PHYS
4
29
6
6
45
STAT
2
15
3
5
25
Total
18
127
43
28
216
Dist.
Prof.
BIOL
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
Dist.
Prof.
Prof.
Assoc.
Prof.
Asst.
Prof.
Total
BIOL
1/2
2/11
2/12
0/5
5/30
CHEM
0/5
3/33
1/5
1/3
5/46
MATH
0/5
3/39
1/17
1/9
5/70
PHYS
0/4
1/29
0/6
0/6
1/45
STAT
0/2
1/15
2/3
2/5
5/25
Total
1/18
10/127
6/43
4/28
21/216
REINVESTMENT UPDATE:
3 additional females, as of 9/2004
TTF Minority*/Total: Fall 2003
Dist.
Prof.
Prof.
Assoc.
Prof.
Asst.
Prof.
Total
BIOL
0/2
0/11
0/12
2/5
2/30
CHEM
0/5
2/33
0/5
0/3
2/46
MATH
0/5
0/39
2/17
1/9
3/70
PHYS
0/4
0/29
0/6
0/6
0/45
STAT
0/2
0/15
0/3
0/5
0/25
Total
0/18
2/127
2/43
3/28
7/216
* Minority = African American and/or Hispanic
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
Female
BIOL
100
300
2,400
CHEM
50
100
600
MATH
10
30
275
PHYS
8
30
160
STAT
<5
<5
50
Total
173
465
3,485
* Minority = African American and/or Hispanic
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
Total
Faculty
DOE
NSF
NIH
BIOL
30
2
9
15
CHEM
46
8
27
14
MATH
70
1
43
_
PHYS
45
13
23
_
STAT
25
_
12
8
Total
216
24
114
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
rating: (Blank
means no
Ph.D.
program)
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
2.89
national rank &
percentile
56/127=44.1%
A&M rank
17
2.95
2.97
2.61
3.24
68/187=36.4%
62/165=37.6%
76/127=59.8%
38/102=37.3%
14
13
20
7
3.16
2.32
60/121=49.6%
106/135=78.5%
11
23
3.12
2.50
2.91
3.40
3.25
3.81
17/33=51.5%
34/38=89.5%
37/93=39.8%
17/86=19.8%
32/126=25.4%
5/37=13.5%
12
21
16
4
6
2
3.22
27/110=24.5%
9
rating: (0
means no
national rank & percentile
Ph.D.
program)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES & MATHEMATICS
Astrophys/Astron
Chemistry
4.11
15/168=8.9%
Computer Science
2.30
62/107=57.9%
Geosciences
3.20
34/95=35.8%
Mathematics
2.84
59/135=43.7%
Oceanography
3.26
12/26=46.2%
Physics
3.22
46/146=31.5%
Stat/Biostat
3.78
13/58=22.4%
SOCIAL & BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
Anthropology
Economics
2.83
33/106=31.1%
Geography
History
2.15
87/111=78.4%
Political Science
Psychology
2.94
71/185=38.4%
Sociology
2.47
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*
Ranking
BIOL (all biological sciences)
60 (29)
CHEM
22 (10)
Analytical
14 (14)
Inorganic
6 (3)
MATH
Applied Mathematics
42 (22)
39 (22)
PHYS
46 (29)
STAT
10 (7)
*Most recent rankings for each discipline
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 neuroscience research, which features 50
faculty from five A&M departments who study the brain and its impact
on behavior, as well as structural genomics, 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