The UTRGV College of Science launched the School of Integrative Biological Chemical Sciences this fall semester. Which is combining the former departments of Biology and Chemistry into one new school.
Director of the school of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences Ph.D Robert Dearth said the college of sciences is transitioning the traditional thought of saying, this is what you need to know, versus what you gain out of this course that actually applies to the real world.
“Our degrees now are pretty much they jump between biology, chemistry, but we’re getting even further out there.”Dearth said. “You’re going to be able to pull in business. You’re going to be able to pull in anthropology. So we’ve got ideas and programs coming from within forensics that takes chemistry, biology and anthropology. We’ve got wildlife biology that’s going to take in from conservation to stewardship to bringing in environmental sciences.
Assistant Professor of the UTRGV College of Sciences Eloi Camprubi Casas expressed that one of the things he is most excited about the new school is, that not only are they adapting to what the world is doing, but also leading the way when it comes to developing new courses.
“Actively at least 25 plus members of the faculty are meeting every one or two weeks to basically design brand new courses that adapt to the necessities of what the job market offers.” Casas said. “So the faculty are on top of doing their normal duties. We’re spending a lot of our time educating ourselves into how to better design courses that include active learning, online tools and interactive tools.
Dean of the UTRGV College of Sciences Dr. Vivian Incera said it is a modular approach to training students in a way that they can really feel competitive, since they will have knowledge of related disciplines, in this case biology and chemistry.
“Science nowadays is multidisciplinary, because the premises are complex.” Incera said. “You cannot solve them, mostly cannot be solved with the way it was done many years ago, where one discipline was enough. And chemistry and biology are very closely related disciplines to solve the complex problems we have now. So this school is aligned with precisely that reality.”
For more information about the UTRGV college of sciences visit utrgv.edu/cos/
This is Timothy Chapman for Vaquero Radio
