The division of Natural Sciences within the College of Arts and Sciences comprises eight departments - Biology, Chemistry, Computer and Information Science, Geological Sciences, Human Physiology, Mathematics, Physics and Psychology - as well as the General Science Program.

These departments are committed to creating and disseminating new knowledge in their fields by combining research and teaching, a principle devised by Wilhelm von Humboldt in the early 1800s, and followed by research universities throughout the world.

Our 200 faculty members, including fellows of many learned societies and academies, are engaged in research that spans a broad range from the basic to the applied, from questions about the foundations of quantum mechanics, to the development of cancer cells and the workings of the brain, to work that results in the spin-off of high-technology companies.

Natural Sciences faculty share their excitement about their research with their students, both in the classroom and in the laboratory. They train their students to become part of the next generation of scientists who will push the frontiers of human knowledge.

-Dana Johnston , Associate Dean of Natural Sciences

Johnston was appointed Associate Dean of Natural Sciences in 2010. He is a geologist who conducts experimental research at the extreme pressures and temperatures of the Earth’s upper mantle aimed at elucidating the origins of a broad range of magma types and constraining the mineralogical and geochemical composition, and thermal structure, of this dynamic region of our planet’s interior. Visit Dr. Johnston’s web page in the Department of Geological Sciences to learn more.