HHMI-BRIDGES Curriculum Development Program

As a part of the HHMI-BRIDGES initiative, Furman is actively developing two new concentrations for math/science students to assist them in their preparation for careers as scientists, health care providers and educators.

The first new development is the Quantitative Science Concentration, led by Professor Bob Fray in the Math Department.  This program seeks to link together a group of new and existing courses across the science, math, and computer science departments to provide students with the strong quantitative background essential for careers in the life sciences.  As the program becomes more fully developed during the next few months, check back on this site for updates on the list of courses approved for completion of the concentration, which may include Vectors and Matrices (MTH), Introduction to Computer Science (CS), Introduction to Computational Science (CS, new), Mathematical Statistics (MTH), Quantitative Biology (MTH, new), Medical Physics (PHY, new), Neural Imaging (PSY), Bioinformatics (BGY), Molecular Modeling (CHM, new) and Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (EES).  Students participating as HHMI Scholars will be especially well-prepared for this opportunity having already completed the Vectors and Matrices course that counts for the concentration and having completed most pre-requisites for the other courses.

The second curricular development is the Science Education Concentration, led by Professor Michael Svec in the Education Department.  This concentration will serve to build the skills necessary for students to become effective communicators in the nature of scientific inquiry as they enter professional careers not only as teachers and professional educators but also as practitioners in all fields of science and medicine.  As the program is developed, we anticipate that courses including select freshman seminars and GERs in the Humanities and Social Sciences will be combined with new courses in the sciences that include field work/internships both in the community (e.g, public school system, state parks, zoo, etc.) with newly developed credit-bearing courses providing teaching exposures within the science departments (e.g., student interns working with an assigned faculty member in entry-level and non-majors courses).  More details will be provided as this unique opportunity continues to be developed, so check back regularly for updates.