Division of Natural Sciences

Are you interested in doing research? Do you spend extra time in the science lab perfecting an experiment? Are you eager to study marine life or analyze some of the smallest structures on the planet? Are you really, really good with numbers? Then you may find your area of study within the Division of Natural Sciences. The natural sciences seek to shed light on the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods. Although mathematics and computational science may not be considered natural sciences per se, they provide critical insight and many tools used within the natural sciences.

The Heiser Natural Sciences Complex includes teaching and undergraduate research labs for chemistry, biology, computational science, physics and mathematics. In addition to modern teaching facilities such as a chemistry teaching lab with transparent fume hoods, students have access to special research equipment including a scanning electron microscope in biology, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers and a home-built, state-of-the-art microwave spectrometer in chemistry, real-time PCR equipment for biochemistry, and a laser Raman spectrometer in physics that records vibrations to yield information about the nature of materials, such as pigments in ancient vessels and paintings. There is a greenhouse, herbarium and sampling equipment for field ecology. Our newest facility is a Nanotechnology Lab to study the properties of tiny structures used in cutting-edge technologies for the computer, robotic, medical and optical communication fields. We are also setting up a computer cluster for computational sciences to serve as a student development lab for parallel computing and high-end computation.

The Pritzker Marine Biology Research Center houses over 100 aquaria and features student and faculty research laboratories, classrooms and office space for New College's marine biology program. Each tank in the Living Ecosystem Teaching and Research Aquarium features a different captive ecosystem, several with a camera to send images to a streaming video server. Underneath the building, an additional 10,000 square feet of space provides room for quarantine, storage, and the system that supplies seawater to the facility's aquaria and labs.

The Division of Natural Sciences offers the following areas of concentration (AOC):
(see below for faculty)

Applied Mathematics
Biochemistry
Biology
Chemistry
Computational Science*
Marine Biology
Mathematics
Natural Sciences
Neurobiology
Physics

*Can be completed as part of a combined area of concentration.

Natural Sciences Faculty

Alfred Beulig, Jr.
Professor of Biology

Amy Clore
Associate Professor of Biology

Don Colladay
Professor of Physics

Leo S. Demski (On Leave 2012-13)
Professor of Biology
Leonard S. Florsheim Senior Chair

Sandra L. Gilchrist
Professor of Biology
Director of Pritzker Marine Biology Science Center

Karsten Henckell
Professor of Mathematics

Elzie McCord, Jr.
Professor of Biology

Patrick T. McDonald
Professor of Mathematics

David T. Mullins
Associate Professor of Mathematics

Eirini Poimenidou
Associate Professor of Mathematics

Imad Rahal
Visiting Assistant Professor of Computational Science

George Ruppeiner
Professor of Physics

Paul H. Scudder
Professor of Chemistry
Chair, Division of Natural Sciences

Mariana Sendova
Professor of Physics

Suzanne E. Sherman
Associate Professor of Chemistry

Steven Shipman
Assistant Professor of Physical Chemistry

Katherine M. Walstrom
Associate Professor of Biochemistry

Diana Weber
Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies/Biology

Necmettin Yildirim
Associate Professor of Mathematics
Soo Bong Chae Professorship Chair

Division of Natural Sciences
New College of Florida
HNS 111
5800 Bay Shore Road
Sarasota, FL 34243

Phone: (941) 487-4370
Fax: (941) 487-4396
naturalsciences@ncf.edu