COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES & MATHEMATICS

The College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics comprises the departments of Biology; Chemistry; Computer Science; Geography; Mathematics; and Physics and Astronomy. It also houses STEMteach and the STEM Institute.

The College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics began construction on its new Lewis Science Center Annex. The 6,600-square-foot space will provide additional laboratory areas for the sciences and enable the college to continue its work in offering real-world experiences to students. The Lewis Science Center Annex will include five state-of-the-art labs. Three of the labs will be dedicated to anatomy and physiology courses, and two will be designed for engineering courses. The engineering labs are planned to allow projects to be performed over multiple lab meetings. The annex is scheduled to be completed in fall 2020.

HIGHLIGHTS ◊ Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed Stephen Addison, dean of the college, to the Governor’s Task

Force on Computer Science and

Cybersecurity. Addison is also chairing the subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Data Science. ◊ Department of Computer Science faculty Mark Doderer, Karen Thessing,

Mark Smith and Michelle Talley organized the inaugural Computer

Science Contest for Arkansas high school students. ◊ For the third consecutive year, the

American Chemical Society awarded

the college’s student ACS chapter with a Green Chemistry Award. The award recognized the chapter’s efforts to promote the 12 principles of green chemistry through outreach and public promotion activities. ◊ The Society of Physics Students recognized the UCA chapter of the society as an Outstanding Chapter.

The chapter has earned this honor six years in a row. ◊ The college successfully transitioned its annual Student Research Symposium and State Science Fair to be online events in response to COVID-19.

$650K $750K

National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics grant amount awarded to chemistry faculty who established a program to attract, support and retain low-income chemistry majors from diverse backgrounds

National Institutes of Health grant amount awarded to computer science faculty Tansel Halic and Sinan Kockara for research titled “Virtual Rotator Cuff Arthroscopic Skill Trainer”

VIRTUAL ROTATOR CUFF ARTHROSCOPIC SKILL TRAINER (VIRCAST)