VT College of Science Quarterly August 2014 Vol. 3 No. 1 Feb. 2015 | Page 2

On the cover: Sterling Nesbitt, assistant professor of geological sciences, is
responsible for the naming of several new
animals and species - learn about the latest, the Nundasuchus, inside.

Courtesy Photo

ADMINISTRATION
Lay Nam Chang Dean
Gary Long Associate Dean for
Curriculum & Instruction
Randy Heflin Associate Dean for
Research & Graduate Studies
J.P. Morgan Associate Dean for
Strategic Initiatives
Janet Sanders Assistant Dean for
Finance & Administration
Jerry Via Assistant Dean for
Undergraduate Instruction

ADVANCEMENT

Jenny Orzolek Director of Development
Rosaire Bushey Director of
Communications
Vacant Director of Alumni Relations
Tim Howland Associate Director of
Corporate and Foundation Relations

DEPARTMENT HEADS

Peter Kennelly Biochemistry
Brenda Winkel Biological Sciences
Jim Tanko Chemistry
Nic Tideman Economics
Nancy Ross Geosciences
Peter Haskell Mathematics
Leo Piilonen Physics
Bob Stephens Psychology
Eric Smith Statistics

ACADEMY OF INTEGRATED SCIENCE
J.P. Morgan Director
Eric Smith Computational Modeling & Data
Analytics
Randy Heflin Nanoscience
Kirby Deater-Deckard Neuroscience
John Tyson Systems Biology
Michel Pleimling Integrated Science
Curriculum
Anna-Marion Bieri Science, Technology,
and Law
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discrimination or accessibility should contact the
Office of Equity and Access.

2

College of Science Quarterly

Message from the Dean

2015 off to great start
Welcome everyone to what is quickly turning
into a very exciting new year.
As we enter 2015 students can now apply
for three new interdisciplinary majors which
were approved during
2014. They are: Computational Modeling
and Data Analytics,
Nanoscience, and
Neuroscience. All of
these programs are
housed in the new
Academy of Integrated
Science.
Lay Nam Chang
Despite an applicant
pool for post-secondary education that has
been falling since about 2008 - and expects to
continue a decline until about 2018 - Virginia
Tech recorded an 11 percent increase in the
number of applicants it received last year.
Within the College of Science, the outlook has
been even brighter, thanks largely to our latest
academic offerings.
In its first year being offered to new students,
Computational Modeling and Data Analytics,
as of January, already has 85 students selecting
it as a first-choice major, and more than 230
selecting it as a second choice.
Nanoscience and Neuroscience are similarly
showing strong initial numbers and excellent
second choice growth potential.
As these programs are inherently interdisciplinary, it means that other programs see an

effect as well, most notably physics. With 260
first choice candidates already established,
an unprecedented 1,667 students have the
program listed as a second choice option.
Many of these students, will almost certainly
become graduates of the College of Science in
several years.
The numbers for the new programs are
especially heartening during a cycle of generally lower applicants for colleges and universities. We have known for some time that these
programs are what industry is calling for and
now initial enrollment numbers are confirming
to us that the programs are resonating with
students as well.
If any proof of concept is needed, I can
provide it by saying these figures have come
about with minimal advertising beyond word
of mouth. Virginia Tech’s presence as a top-tier
engineering and science research university is
well known and well respected.
Our commitment to providing cutting edge,
challenging, and forward-looking programs is
rapidly becoming our calling card.
Our first semester for these programs is, by
all measures, a success. Yet, I am convinced
the best is yet to come and our new programs
will quickly take their place among our most
popular programs.
The table is set for the end of this academic
year and the start of the 2015-2016 academic
year to be among the College’s most exciting
ever.

Virginia Tech statistics professor
portrayed in The Imitation Game
Advanced math as a concept isn’t foreign
to Virginia Tech. Advanced math as a disclaimer to a major motion picture, however,
is oddly juxtaposed with sex and violence.
And yet, the New York Times did just that in
reviewing The Imitation Game.
The movie portrays British code breaker
Alan Turing who worked to break the Nazi
Enigma code and help win the war.
A prominent member of Turing’s team was
Irving “Jack” Good, a British mathematician
who arrived in the United States in 1967

and was appointed a research professor
of statistics at Virginia Tech where he later
was appointed University Distinguished
Professor and, in 1994, received Emeritus
status.
Good liked to point out that, “I arrived
in Blacksburg in the seventh hour of the
seventh day of the seventh month of year
seven in the seventh decade, and I was put
in apartment seven of block seven … all by
chance.”
Good died in 2009.