From left to right: Leon Thomsen, Gordon Mills, M.D., Roger Berry, Dean John Bear, John Butler, Jr., Rob Adams, Jamie Robertson, Greg Leveille. Not pictured, Herman Suit, M.D.

Positioning the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics to solve more global energy and health problems was the focal point of the 2009 meeting of the college’s Dean’s Advisory Board.

Board members – which include accomplished NSM alumni – met with Dean John Bear and some of the college’s leading faculty in October to assess NSM’s strengths as well as areas of improvement.

The board discussed ideas to build research enterprise, strengthen NSM’s reputation for producing high-quality graduates and to better market and publicize the college’s news and achievements.

Board members were also briefed on some of the most exciting health and energy research being done by NSM faculty and reviewed some of the college’s notable accomplishments for 2009, which include:

• 50 percent increase in research awards for NSM faculty, bringing NSM’s research funding total to $36.6 million and pushing the university-wide research total past the $100 million milestone
• 17 percent increase in the number of Ph.D. students
• Hiring prominent faculty in our growing health and bioscience research cluster.