Putting VCU on the map

New programs and facilities at the VCU Rice Center help establish Central Virginia as a leader in life sciences

With today’s increasing complexity and interrelationship of scientific disciplines, Virginia Commonwealth University has moved to the forefront of universities offering a new, “connected” approach to the study of life sciences.

Rather than train students in a specific, but isolated, field of science, VCU Life Sciences now provides multidisciplinary training, preparing students for the rapidly changing job market. Gifts to the Campaign for VCU have helped pave the way for this new approach to teaching life sciences.

In 2006, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute awarded a $1.5 million grant to VCU. This grant fueled greater interaction and collaboration among VCU Life Sciences and departments within the College of Humanities and Sciences, such as Computer Science and Mathematics, as well as in the School of Medicine.

Just a year later, VCU was one of only 31 biomedical research institutions to receive an additional $750,000 grant from HHMI. This second grant will help encourage students in kindergarten through 12th grade and their teachers to participate in programs designed to enhance their understanding and appreciation of the life sciences.

Richard J. Rezba, Ph.D., director for VCU’s Center for Life Sciences Education and program director for this grant, said the grant will be a boon to VCU and the community.

“This award from HHMI enhances VCU’s visibility on a national level in the fields of biomedical research and science education,” Rezba said. “Many more science teachers will know about the university and what it has to offer when their students are making decisions on which college to attend.”

The VCU Life Sciences program, he explained, is adapting to reflect shifting educational attitudes about the interdisciplinary nature of the sciences as well as increasing numbers of students who are interested in pursuing life sciences as a career.

“One of the major ways [the program is changing] is that it is getting larger — more faculty, incredible resources, such as the VCU Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences, and impressive support from state and federal agencies, foundations, corporations and individuals,” he said. “Our goal is to nurture children’s curiosity, increase their knowledge of science and inspire them to consider careers in basic and health sciences through classroom, laboratory and field activities.”

The VCU Rice Center, comprised of 343 acres on the James River in Charles City County donated to the university by Inger Rice in 2000, serves as a biological classroom, giving VCU faculty and students, as well as students, teachers and researchers from the community, the opportunity to work in a natural environment.

VCU’s changing life sciences program is providing an avenue through which the university can better reach out to the community, said Reuban Rodriguez, Ph.D., vice provost and dean of student affairs.

“This is just another way, through an interdisciplinary approach, that VCU has become a leader in that particular program,” Rodriguez said. “We host not only students who are interested in coming to the university for academic programs, but [we] also partner with the community and others who want to come and learn what we’re doing.”