Newsletter Message from Dean Carmie Garzione - February 2026

Dear College of Science community,

With a new semester underway on campus, there are many great things happening across the College of Science community that I want to share in this newsletter.

The College of Science Lecture Series is off to a terrific start. Opening night featured a fascinating talk by Dr. George Sutphin on the science of aging. It was great to see so many of our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and Galileo Circle members at Centennial Hall as we shared our collective support for the sciences and celebrated 20 years of the lecture series. The series continues this month with three more lectures: Dr. Martha Bhattacharya on February 11, Dr. Lise-Marie Imbert-Gérard on February 17, and Dr. Laura Condon on February 25. I hope you will join us for these free lectures, either in person at Centennial Hall or via YouTube livestream. Click here to get your free tickets and learn more about the series.

We are proud to share a significant milestone in the University of Arizona’s leadership in space science. In January, the College of Science and the U of A assumed a leading operations role for NASA’s Pandora mission, marking the first time a NASA on-orbit mission is being fully managed from the university’s Multi-Mission Operation Center (MMOC) in Tucson. Pandora, a space telescope designed to study the atmospheres of distant exoplanets, will provide critical insights into planetary composition and potential habitability. With U of A overseeing end-to-end mission operations, this achievement underscores our expanding capacity to support complex NASA missions.

Finally, I’m excited to highlight recent national and global recognitions that reflect the strength of our academic programs and research enterprise. The online bachelor’s degree in psychology was recently ranked No. 5 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, cementing itself among the nation’s best. In addition, Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject now places the University of Arizona No. 8 among public U.S. universities in the physical sciences, with a No. 20 national ranking and a No. 45 global ranking (up five spots from 2025). These distinctions are a testament to the excellence of our faculty, the impact of our research, and the outstanding experiences we provide our students.

In closing, I wish you all the best as we continue to progress through the semester. I hope to see you at the Lecture Series soon!

Best,
Carmie Garzione
Dean, College of Science