UW Science Initiative Kickoff Meeting Thursday

A meeting to launch planning to implement the University of Wyoming’s Science Initiative is scheduled Thursday, April 23, from 4-6 p.m. at the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center.

All faculty and permanent staff members of the Departments of Botany, Chemistry, Molecular Biology, Physics and Astronomy, and Zoology and Physiology -- along with the Life Sciences Program -- are invited.

In addition to the UW faculty team that worked with a governor-appointed task force to craft the Science Initiative, five “specialty teams” have been appointed to implement the initiative. Those teams, composed of faculty members, will plan for the Center for Advanced Scientific Imaging, the Center for Integrative Biology Research, an active-learning suite, an animal care facility and a plant growth facility.

“The meeting will provide an opportunity for many of the specialty team members to meet for the first time, as well as meet members from the other teams,” says Professor Greg Brown, who chairs the Science Initiative executive planning team. “An overview of the Science Initiative, updates on current status and review of the overall schedule will be presented.”

Endorsed by the governor-appointed panel of accomplished scientists, industry leaders and other professionals, the initiative aims to transform science education and improve student success at UW and across the state, while creating world-class facilities to propel research on issues important to the state and nation.

The plan calls for programmatic and facilities improvements in two phases, starting in 2015 and concluding in 2021. It emphasizes collaboration among multiple disciplines by assembling researchers into a single complex with shared instrumentation, technical support and collaboration spaces.

The plan also signals a dramatic change in the way the foundational sciences are taught at the university, moving from traditional lectures and laboratories to an “active learning” format.