Prepare for the future with hands-on experiences in the classroom, field, and lab.

What are the Sciences?

The goal for sciences at AC is to provide an inquiry-based undergraduate education. Our philosophy of teaching encourages undergraduate participation in original research, which is a graduation requirement for chemistry and physics students.

Specific goals of the division are to:

Intellectual & Practical Skills

Provide students with the intellectual skills to understand current concepts in their chosen field of science, through lectures and discussion in class and reading and discussion of original scientific literature.
Provide students with the practical skills that will enable them to use basic laboratory and field protocols for data collection, and to use modern scientific instrumentation.

Training & Preparation

Train students to be effective written and oral communicators, including the use of posters and presentation opportunities on and off-campus.
Prepare students to be leaders in their chosen fields through specific, targeted activities designed to develop leadership skills. The STEM Teaching and Research Leadership Program (STAR Leadership Program) works toward this goal. Courses incorporate leadership activities into classroom and laboratory components in all disciplines and at all levels, from first-year to senior.

Leadership Activities

Sciences Departments & Programs

Jade Rutledge ’09

Jade Rutledge is currently an Aquatic Scientist for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. She conducts environmental and conservation reviews of water rights applications. She also facilitates environmental flows stakeholder groups throughout the state. Prior to this position, Jade worked on education programming at a variety of national and state parks in Oregon, Alaska, and… [Read More]

Erin Eckart ’18

I graduated from Austin College in 2018 with a major in Public Health and a minor in chemistry. I will begin pursuing my MPH in epidemiology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in the fall of 2018. I am interested in studying maternal and child health, as well as cognitive decline. After grad… [Read More]

Kenan Ince ’11

My excellent education in mathematics at AC inspired me to apply to graduate school to become a professor at a small liberal arts college similar to AC. I spent five years at Rice University in Houston getting a Ph.D. in math. My research focus was in knot theory, the study of mathematical knots. Mathematical knots… [Read More]

Arthur Yang ’15

Arthur Yang graduated in 2015 with a major in Chinese and a minor in chemistry, where he worked in a lab for three years. He currently is a medical student pursuing an MD at UT-Medical Branch in Galveston.

Amy Glazier ’17

Major: Physics – Minor: Math and Chemistry Bio: From a young age, I was drawn to the stars, and by the time I was a teenager, I knew that I wanted to study astronomy. Knowing how beautiful and mysterious the universe is, knowing that we are all made of stardust, knowing all humans are more… [Read More]

Joseph Helsing ’10

After graduating in 2010 from Austin College I was accepted into the Computer Science and Computer Engineering PhD program at the University of North Texas in scenic Denton, Texas. In the Spring of 2011 I was picked up by Dr. Armin Mikler and joined his Computational Epidemiology Research Lab (CERL). By the Fall of 2011… [Read More]

Andrew “A.J.” Horton ’11

After graduation from Austin College, Andrew received his Master of Science in Ecology from Colorado State University in 2014. He currently serves as an Environmental Investigator for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. His work involves conducting technical inspections of large facilities that generate air pollution, including gas refineries, metal refineries, natural gas pipelines, and… [Read More]

Science Division Opportunities

Research Opportunities

Find opportunities for research through CREATE during the year, and special opportunities are available during the summer months through the Sciences Summer Research Program.

Research topics range from atoms to outer space. Students use lab instrumentation, including the 60 cm telescope in the Adams Observatory. Research laboratories are used year-round.

Field Laboratories

Austin College owns five pieces of property in Grayson County that serve as research areas, field laboratories, and nature preserves. The Barry Buckner Biological Preserve and Research Area is a diverse 115-acre site containing native deciduous forest, pine forest, sandstone outcrops, and successional communities. The Lee Harrison Bratz Field Laboratory, located on the sandy soil of the East Cross Timbers vegetational area, is a 76-acre site that consists primarily of deciduous forest, including both upland and bottomland vegetation.

The Clinton and Edith Sneed Environmental Research Area, a 100-acre site in the Blackland Prairie vegetational area, is adjacent to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge; this property includes a small native prairie plot and three ponds. The Sneed ERA is the site of an extensive effort to restore native prairie vegetation. The Garnett Prairie is a 60-acre tract, also in the Blackland Prairie zone; it includes a 10-acre tract of intact native prairie. The McCarley Woods Nature Preserve is a 12-acre site that is primarily upland hardwood forest.