College of Science Magazine
The College of Science cares deeply about enriching, strengthening, and elevating our teaching and learning communities. Through research, practice, and follow-through, our students develop a passion for science and an understanding of why it matters.
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Teaching Matters & Learning Matters
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Triassic fossil reveals nature’s best jaw for hunting fast fish , articleNewly discovered species of extinct fish shows striking similarities to unrelated modern-day predators, suggesting certain traits have emerged multiple times and remained consistent over hundreds of millions of years.
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Video ItemA classroom in nature , video
The outdoors becomes the classroom for Susan Whitehead's unique freshman seminar, Natural History of Stadium Woods. This one-credit Biological Sciences course invites students to explore the wonders of this old-growth forest right on campus. Each week, the class meets in Stadium Woods to immerse themselves in the ecosystem, focusing on a new group of organisms with every visit. From towering trees to the smallest forest inhabitants, students gain hands-on experience and a deeper appreciation for the natural world around them.
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Video ItemPreventing avian pink eye in the cold , video
Feeding birds in winter helps them survive the cold, but did you know dirty feeders can spread disease? Sara Teemer and Dana Hawley studied how bacteria causing pinkeye in birds survives in cold temperatures and found a simple solution—regular cleaning.
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Data competitions provide invaluable opportunities for Virginia Tech undergraduates , articleThese competitions provide students the opportunity to work on open-ended real-world problems.
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Research Matters
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What in the world is quantum? Experts explain , articleIs quantum as hard to understand as everyone says? Well, yes. But for World Quantum Day, Virginia Tech professors from the College of Science and the College of Engineering help us figure out what all the buzz is about.
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Researcher measures microplastics' massive changes on the micro world , articleAustin Gray received a $1.3 million National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award to explore the ecological effects of microplastics.
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Greg Liu is in his element using chemistry to tackle the plastics problem , articleLiu, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, details how he converted plastic wrappers such as these into soaps and detergents in an article published by Nature Sustainability. The next step is to scale up his process and make it a continuous one, while, more importantly, making it cost effective.
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The days of unproctored testing may be over , articleIncreasingly beleaguered by artificial intelligence-based cheating, unproctored testing is now completely vulnerable to reasoning large language models like ChatGPT. A Virginia Tech psychologist has a few ideas about where to go from here.
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Outreach Matters
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Video ItemGeoscience campers roleplay a volcano disaster response , video
Ph.D. student Elizabeth Curtiss led a tabletop role-playing game where campers stepped into geoscience roles to work together on a simulated volcanic disaster. The activity gave students a hands-on look at how scientists team up during real-world crises.
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Angela Scarpa: Autism Services – Can we move mountains? , redirectI often hear parents say that they would move mountains to help their child thrive. But if you begin to suspect autism, what do you do? And how would you move mountains if the Appalachian mountains stood between your child and an autism specialist?
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MORE math, please! , articleThis unique workshop connects math, data science, and security through talks, hands-on activities, and engagement with graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from the Virginia Tech Department of Mathematics.
Message from the dean
It's why we're here
At the heart of our mission is a simple but powerful idea: A college education should be hands-on, collaborative, and grounded in real-world relevance. Teaching and learning are about more than delivering information.
In a world where facts are instantly accessible — from search engines to AI — we are called to do something deeper. And that’s the education our science majors receive: a rigorous diet of courses that includes humanities and social sciences to offer an expansive view of the world. We challenge them to think critically, to solve problems, and to connect meaningfully with the community around them.
While much attention today is placed on career readiness, we also emphasize career relevance. A bachelor’s degree will not immediately prepare a student to perform surgery, but it can and should prepare them to think like a problem-solver in any professional context. Our goal is to equip students not only with answers, but with the mindset and tools to ask the right questions — and to pursue thoughtful solutions.
As a research university, we are proud of our contributions to discovery and innovation. But one of the most powerful aspects of a research institution is the way new knowledge intersects with education. Our faculty bring the same curiosity and rigor they apply in the lab or field into their teaching. The result is a dynamic environment where students learn not just what we know, but how we come to know it.
This is the kind of learning we strive for — active, relevant, and deeply human. Since Virginia Tech was founded more than a century and a half ago, much about our world has changed. But providing students with the knowledge to shape their communities for the better has remained the foundation of our work.
April 14th, 2025 - Students in Ann Steven's microbial physiology class wade into the Duck Pond to collect and ignite methane gas created by microbial organisms. (Photo by Luke Hayes/Virginia Tech)
