Support Science

Alumni Update from the Dean of Science

Dear Science Alumni,

This past year as Dean of Science, I must tell you how pleased I am to have met so many of you at various events on and off campus. It has given me an opportunity to appreciate the value that an SFU education provides to its graduates. I hope to meet many more of you at our upcoming Cafe Scientifique@Surrey series at Central City Brew Pub. These exciting public talks start on October 19th with an informal discussion with Dr. Scott Lear on the ethnic and environmental determinants of heart disease. For event information, please visit http://www.sfu.ca/cafescientifique-surrey/. We hope you will join the conversation.

I have enjoyed hearing about your accomplishments since graduation, and your thoughts on how your science education prepared you for your careers. Not all of you have become scientists. However, no matter what careers you have chosen, most of you feel strongly that a science education provided you with vital skills that prepared you for business, for the professions, for teaching, or that simply enriched your appreciation of the world around you. We are pleased that we have helped you succeed and we would like to do the same for the next generation of students. So this fall we will start a major initiative to re-examine our approach to teaching science across the Faculty. As ever our goal is to produce the best science graduates, and to prepare all our graduates for the rapidly changing world of tomorrow.

Our alumni have told us of the benefit that they received from participating in research as undergraduates. Those who did not have the opportunity wish that they had. In response, we are starting up a summer undergraduate research award program that will provide undergraduate students with financial support to learn about research under the mentorship of a faculty member during the summer semester.

Many of you are familiar with our Starry Nights program; I know a lot of you regularly bring the children in your life up to the Burnaby campus for this exciting program. Together Starry Nights and Science in Action reach over 5,000 children every year, introducing them to the fun of science. Thanks to your support and generous donations, we have been able to reach our capital goal to build the SFU Observatory and Science Outreach Centre. We would not have been able to accomplish this goal without our community's support. Thank you. Our next goal is to build our program capacity to support the volunteers who work so hard to conduct our public outreach programs.

I am also pleased to tell you that we have established the Training for Aboriginal Youth in Biomedical Labs Program with the support of biology alumni and Merck. This program provides aboriginal youth with the opportunity to work closely with a faculty member to learn research and lab skills, and to prepare them to be leaders and role models in their communities. With the success of the first pilot year of the program, Merck has generously renewed their support to expand the program.

Lastly, many of our recent chemistry alumni had the privilege of learning from Dr. Melanie O'Neill, a young woman with a passion for science and a dedication to teaching science. Thus, it is with great sadness that I inform you of her tragic death this summer.  To honour her commitment to undergraduate research, friends, family and colleagues have established the Melanie O'Neill Undergraduate Research Award endowment so that her legacy will continue in perpetuity.

In closing, I  thank you for your continued interest in Science at SFU, and for keeping our science alumni community vibrant and engaged. Please consider supporting one of these priority programs by clicking here.

I invite you visit the Burnaby and Surrey campus and see the exciting changes that have taken place since you graduated. We welcome your interest in our latest initiatives, and would welcome your support as we plan for the future. Please do contact me if you would like to learn more about any of these initiatives, if you would like to participate in upcoming events in the Faculty of Science, or if you would simply like to share some of your ideas. We are always happy to hear from you.

Best wishes,

Claire

Claire Cupples, PhD
Professor, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Dean, Faculty of Science

scdean@sfu.ca

Faculty of Science Advancement and Alumni Contact Information

For more information about supporting the Faculty of Science, please contact:

Tracy London

Director, Advancement

tal2@sfu.ca

778-782-4891

Other Alumni Opportunities:

SFU Alumni Association website: www.sfu.ca/alumni

Continuing Studies in Science: http://www.sfu.ca/cs/science/

Engage in thinking about science issues and re-connecting with Science faculty.