VCU Life Sciences

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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

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At the event at the Science Museum of Virginia, VCU engineering professor Stephen Fong, Ph.D., shared results of recent VCU research on the health care costs of extreme heat. (Photo by Thomas Kojcsich, Enterprise Marketing and Communications).

Aug. 1, 2023

VCU faculty share insight at climate roundtable with Rep. Jennifer McClellan and NASA Deputy Administrator Pamela Melroy

Researchers Stephen Fong, Ph.D., and Damian Pitt, Ph.D., discuss how extreme weather threatens public health in Virginia and across the country, as well as strategies for mitigating climate change.

Rohan Rathi is a rising senior in the VCU Honors College who is majoring in bioinformatics in VCU Life Sciences. (Tom Kojcsich, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)

July 18, 2023

Honors student, faculty member research how to improve medical trust in Kenya

As part of a VCU summer research program, Rohan Rathi is working with professor Christopher Brooks on a project framed by pandemics.

Prolonged periods of extreme heat are becoming more common due to climate change, costing the U.S. approximately $1 billion in health care costs every summer, according to a new report. (Getty Images)

July 17, 2023

Interdisciplinary study from VCU reveals health care costs of extreme heat

Physicians, earth scientists, staff and students collaborated to better understand the health impact of extremely hot days in Virginia and across the nation – and they estimate a toll of $1 billion per summer.

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