2018 FALL LC MAGAZINE

The acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math — STEM — is a hot buzzword these days. As a liberal arts and sciences institution, however, Lycoming College is not new to the game, and we have been teaching STEM classes for more than 200 years. The last few years have seen many exciting additions of majors, equipment, and scholarship opportunities in our STEM programs, so I am writing to bring you up to speed. In the past four years, Lycoming has added several important STEM majors. First, the department of astronomy and physics added astrophysics. This major allows students to capitalize on the existing strengths of our astronomy and physics programs and to take full advantage of the new state-of-the-art Detwiler Planetarium. Meanwhile, a number of recent faculty hires in the departments of psychology, biology, and philosophy have degrees or research interests in neuroscience. This allowed for our existing neuroscience minor to expand into a full interdisciplinary major that officially launched in fall 2017. Interest in both of these majors has been strong, with over twenty students already declared as majors. Biochemistry has become the foundation of a new generation of pharmaceuticals, and the major has become a central choice for high school and pre-med students wanting to study both biology and chemistry. Lycoming has long had a course in the field, but the biology and chemistry departments recently teamed up to design biochemistry as yet another STEM major offered this fall. Additionally designed during this year is the engineering physics major. Housed within the astronomy and physics department, this major allows physics students to focus their education on the aspects of physics that are most important for those wishing to enter the engineering job market or graduate school. The College already has a cooperative dual degree partnership in engineering with Binghamton University (three years at Lycoming and two at Binghamton), so this new major adds an all-Lycoming opportunity. The last several years have seen significant facility and equipment upgrades for our STEM programs that move our student experiences to a still higher level. That wave began with the ribbon cutting of the state-of-the-art Lynn Science Center in 2015, followed closely by the acquisition of a scanning electron microscope through a grant from the Alden Trust that supports learning and research in biology, chemistry, and physics. In the summer of 2017, we replaced our nuclear magnetic resonance imager with an upgraded and much improved model. With a combined price tag of over $400,000 for these instruments, undergraduate students at larger schools are infrequently exposed to them, but they are part of the Lycoming STEM experience. We have also been busy applying for grant funding to make our STEM programs affordable to students. During this past year, we were awarded two large grants from the National Science Foundation: the Robert Noyce and the S-STEM scholarship programs. Looking to the future, the College continues to plan for enhanced STEM opportunities. One possibility under consideration is to bring back computer science to Lycoming, perhaps in the form of a data science major. The collection, analysis, and use of “big data” has become an important part of many fields, and developing a computer and data science major for our mathematics department would allow students from many different majors to differentiate themselves with data and programming expertise. STEM is thriving at Lycoming College and its future promises to be a continuing source of pride. Philip Sprunger, Ph.D. Provost and Dean of the College A M E S S AG E F R O M T H E P R OVO S T 10 LYCOMING COLLEGE 2018 FALL MAGAZINE