School of Theoretical and Applied Sciences Home

A Message From the Dean

The School of Theoretical and Applied Science has enjoyed a rich historical record of preparing students for professional and academic careers in the sciences and mathematics. We have grown in the last three decades from an academic unit of just a few hundred students and six majors to one with over twelve hundred students and twelve majors. We have recently added programs in biochemistry, bioinformatics, integrated science studies, engineering physics, and nursing, as well as a graduate program in nursing education. Eleven new faculty have been hired in the last year alone.

The last two years have been particularly exciting for the School’s vitality and future. The nursing programs were completely assimilated from their prior associations with UMDNJ-SN and are now singularly our programs. The laboratories were thoroughly cleaned of accumulated and obsolete equipment and improved, student study areas were established, and new research facilities for both faculty and students were fashioned from existing space. We also now have a newly constructed greenhouse and classroom facility installed with state of the art systems for both teaching and research uses. We have also received our first substantial donations from those interested benefactors who have dedicated support to particular School of TAS programs for student/faculty research, and have chartered a new TAS Science Advisory Board to work with regional public and private research institutions on joint initiatives and projects.

The close collaboration of the faculty with students has been a continual source of pride and success, and one which our graduates historically recall with warmth. That collaborative effort has been recently formally institutionalized in the TAS Research Honors curriculum in which our students work with a faculty research sponsor for up to four semesters on a continuing research project. The results have been presented in recent years at the annual TAS Research Symposium, as well as at regional, national, and international professional meetings and conferences.  Students have also been able to publish their work, jointly with faculty, in respected peer reviewed journals. This year, plans are in the works to establish a School of TAS online scientific journal devoted to student research and projects.

These past few years have witnessed substantial advancements in furthering the academic and institutional goals of the School of TAS for its students and faculty. More is yet to be done; I certainly welcome your support and ideas as we continue to promote excellence in preparing our students in the future.

Bernard Langer, Dean
School of Theoretical and Applied Science