Borderless classrooms, endless opportunities

Life Sciences represents the full spectrum of experiential and classroom studies of the natural world.

Lab coats and goggles give way to waders and sunglasses. Many courses in VCU Life Sciences allow our students to immerse themselves in experiential learning. Whether it is navigating the whitewater rapids on the Salmon River, banding birds on top of a mountain in Panama or gathering water quality data down the road at VCU Rice Rivers Center, our pathway to an education in the life sciences takes students to the research.

It's not where you start, it's where you finish. 

Not every one of our graduates began their educational journey with VCU Life Sciences. Our students have joined us from community colleges, four-year universities, even other fields of study within VCU. Our alumni can be found working at places like NASA, NOAA, the Environmental Protection Agency, National Institutes of Health and the Army Corp of Engineers. Whether they are taking wildlife photos for National Geographic or tracking Atlantic Sturgeon in the James River, their paths led them through our hallways. Hands-on student opportunities often lead to top-tier jobs as alumni.

four scenes: a person standing on a pier overlooking a body of water, a v.c.u. student group posing outside in a mountainous area, students working in a lab, and a group of people whitewater rafting

News

Dr. Matt Balazik on stage accepting a T-Mobile Unconventional Award, holding the award

Oct. 14, 2024

Matt Balazik, Ph.D., receives national T-Mobile Unconventional Award

Financial award goes toward further sturgeon research.

Dr. Matthew Balazik pulls in a gill net on the James River near Osbourne Landing. All photos by Scott Elmquist

Sept. 23, 2024

Matt Balazik, Ph.D., the focus of Style Weekly's Sunday with Style

Even with decades of research, Atlantic sturgeon remain a puzzle despite having roamed local waters for thousands of years.

A surface geology map of the proposed Massive Australian Precambrian-Cambrian Impact Structure. (Provided by Daniel Connelly)

Sept. 20, 2024

Australian crater could offer fresh insight into Earth’s geological history

VCU’s Arif Sikder of the Center for Environmental Studies is part of the research team that is going back in time – by hundreds of millions of years.