Message from Dean Garzione - February 2022

Dear students, colleagues, and friends,

I’d like to open this newsletter with a hearty "thank you” to our entire College of Science community as we navigated the start of the spring semester during the latest surge in Covid, related to the spread of Omicron variant. This surge resulted in the highest daily new cases yet documented in Pima County and Arizona, as well as the highest infection rates that seen since the early days of the pandemic. We are well-past the peak in daily new infections and continue to see declining infection rates. As we welcomed students back to campus and back into the classroom, our community went into action to support the implementation of enhanced Covid mitigation strategies. I am so grateful and proud of our community efforts to keep people as safe as possible and to provide the support that our students need to be successful. We continue to show adaptability and resilience, which demonstrates our capacity to emerge from this pandemic as strong as ever.

I am excited to share that Minerals is the topic of our 17th annual College of Science Lecture Series. We are planning to host and livestream this five-part series inside Centennial Hall beginning in March. We have a tremendous line-up of faculty presenters who will share their deep understanding on a fascinating and diverse range of topics from what minerals tell us about the history of our solar system and planet to the future of mining and sustainable mining practices. Visit our lecture series webpage for more information.

The University’s Giving Day begins February 14, and I hope you will meet the challenge and help support the students, faculty, staff, and programs that make our community so vibrant. Scientists are driven by a shared purpose to improve the world through research and discovery. Making a gift on Giving Day makes you a partner in those efforts! Gifts can be made towards the College of Science General Scholarship Fund, the UA Science Dean’s Innovation and Education Fund, and/or the Rex Adams Endowment for the Tree-Ring Archive. Visit our Giving Day webpage for more information.

I am proud of the remarkable efforts our students are putting forward to help advance the College of Science. This month’s Scientist Spotlight is on Bassil Ramadan, a recent graduate in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science with an emphasis of Biomedical Engineering. In addition to his leadership on several clubs and student groups, Bassil serves on the College’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and is developing a new STEM outreach program for rural K-12 education in collaboration with multiple units across campus. Please join me in celebrating Bassil’s many accomplishments as a Wildcat!

Wishing you the very best this spring semester!

Sincerely,

Carmie Garzione
Dean, College of Science