Chapman University will open a small research center in Bethesda, Maryland to enable some of its newly-recruited computational scientists to continue collaborating with scholars at NASA and other federal agencies on the East Coast.
The scientists Chapman lured from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia in May will split their time between Bethesda and the university’s main campus in Orange. Chapman also is hiring an East Coast grants coordinator, underscoring the school’s push to greatly increase its research funding. The school landed $3.7 million in grants last year, which is about 10 times what it had been average annually.
“We want to provide a way for (our scientists) to keep in close contact with those agencies, and to explore additional funding,” says Daneille Struppa, Chapman’s chancellor. “We are also hiring scientists who will work in close collaboration with our faculty here to develop such few funding venues.”
Chapman recruited five scientists this year from George Mason to form the core of a physics department that will have a heavy emphasis on computational science. The recruits include Yakir Aharonov, a world-renowned physicist. A year earlier, the university raided George Mason for Vernon Smith, a Nobel laureate in economics who has started an institute that is beginning to bring in significant research money.
“While we remain a student-focused institution, we are striving to bring more
research into the classroom,” Struppa says. “Unlike major research universities, we intend to really make a niche for ourselves in terms of the way in which our undergraduate students participate in world class research.”
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Chapman has had some impressive publicity over the past few years.
But I seriously have to wonder why a small FOUR-YEAR, UNDERGRADUATE institution is getting involved in initiatives like this. It seems to me that these changes are an effort to make Chapman something that it’s not. I really find it hard to see how undergraduate students, except perhaps the very brightest and most motivated, will benefit from scientists, grants, and programs like these. And those students are going to Cal Tech, Cal, etc. Chapman is a lot of wonderful things, but it’s not Cal Tech or Cal…and won’t be in this lifetime. And it’s well-known that, in general, big-time researchers like this (especially in the sciences) have little interest in undergraduate teaching.
I think Chapman should be focusing on what it’s already good at, and what the parents who send their kids there (and I’m sure the kids themselves value): personal attention, small class sizes, and a liberal arts core.
Actually, Lucille, I think you have it wrong. Chapman is specifically focusing on areas of science NOT covered by other universities in Southern California, and by using this “boutique science” approach, it stands to offer both its students, the local area and the state a great deal of benefit. For example, the new computational science group is going to be researching local hazards, such as wildfires, earthquakes and floods — all very pertinent to Californians. By plugging in computational data, which they will be receiving minute by minute from NASA and Google Earth, the scientists will actually be able to work with local disaster crews to help them in, for example, predicting the path of a wildfire. That’s just one example. And since ALL the new scientists WILL be teaching undergraduates — Chapman does not have “grad assistants” and ALL professors (except in the law school), even Nobel winner Vernon Smith, teach undergrads! — your comment that “big-time researchers” rarely teach class seems way off base. Both this new computational science team and our new economic science team (led by Smith) will attract undergraduate students who are specifically interested in those areas of study — clearly defined scientific niches that would be hard to find elsewhere. Rather than building a massive science school with a vast array of specialty areas — which would be impossible for a mid-sized university like Chapman — instead Chapman is focusing on specific specialties where it truly can excel, and can attract undergrads and eventually graduate students. And Chapman will keep its small class sizes — AND its focus on students working right alongside their professors in doing research and writing papers. Many a Chapman undgraduate science student has had the opportunity to co-publish and co-present papers along with their professors at major conferences — and how many undergrads get to do that at bigger schools? You may guess that yes, I work at Chapman and yes, I have an interest in these things — and yes, I do speak with an insider knowledge. So forgive me if I defend my university, but I think most of your comments are completely mistaken