Measures of Excellence
We live our lives at an often frantic pace. In the last century, information and technology have boomed around us, and scientific discoveries have changed the way we live. The science disciplines at Virginia Tech have been a powerful force in leading this change. The College of Science is dedicated to fostering a research intensive environment and giving students a comprehensive foundation in scientific method. Following are some of the most notable achievements in the College of Science and its departments.
- The College of Science has a faculty member who is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences (John Cairns, biology emeritus) and another faculty member who is a member of the equally prestigious National Academy of Engineering (James McGrath, chemistry).
- The college has six faculty members who are University Distinguished Professors (Robert J. Bodnar, geosciences; Michael F. Hochella, Jr., geosciences; David G. I. Kingston, chemistry; James McGrath, chemistry; Thomas H. Ollendick, psychology; John Tyson, biological sciences).
- The college has three faculty members who are Alumni Distinguished Professors (Ezra “Bud” Brown, mathematics; Art Buikema, biological sciences; E. Scott Geller, psychology).
- The college has two faculty members who have received the internationally acclaimed Alexander von Humboldt Research Award (Michael F. Hochella, Jr., geosciences and Royce Zia, physics).
- Four faculty members from the College have been named Virginia Outstanding Scientists since the year 2000 (Neal Castagnoli, chemistry, 2000; David Kingston, chemistry, 2002; John Tyson, biology, 2004; Michael Hochella, Jr., geosciences, 2005).
- One faculty member has received the Lifetime Achievement in Science Award (Duncan Porter, biology, 2006).
- Three faculty members (Robert Bodnar, Patricia Dove, and Michael Hochella) in the Department of Geosciences are Fellows of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
- The College of Science offers a unique pre-law program that focuses on intellectual property law, one of the fastest growing fields in law.
- An alumnus from the College (physics) was a Nobel Prize winner (Robert C. Richardson, B.S. ’58, M.S. ’60).
- The college has two Fellows in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) - Robert J. Bodnar and Michael F Hochella, Jr.
- David G.I. Kingston, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, has two plants named in his honor. Taxus kingstonii is a yew tree that grows in India, China and Taiwan. Cordia kingstoniana is a South American tree.
- Beate Schmittmann, professor of physics, is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
- Royce Zia, professor of physics, is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics.
- The Department of Psychology has six faculty members who are Fellows of the American Psychological Association (Martha Ann Bell, Jack W. Finney, E. Scott Geller, Russell T. Jones, Thomas H. Ollendick, Richard A. Winett).
