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.
Sciences Departments & Programs
Science Division Opportunities
- Center for Environmental Studies
- GreenServe
- OutReach Paraguay
- STEM Leadership Program
- Student Scholarship Conference
- Thinking Green
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.
January Term opportunities:
- Tropical Ecology in Trinidad and Tobago
- Introduction to Organic Chemistry Research
- Going Green in Europe
- Ecology and Conservation in Panama
- The Space-ious Southwest
- Mythbusting: You can do it too
- Unity 3D Game Design Workshop
- Prairie Restoration
- East Africa Explorer
- The Science and Culture of Wine
- Building Arduino Robots
- The Ideas of Science Fiction
- Birds, Humans, and the Environment
- Prohibition, then Craft Beer?
- A Deliberate Life
- Exploring Health Professions
- Natural History of the Hawaiian Islands