Student holding test tubes and examining their content

College of Sciences News

The School of Life Sciences offers programs that meet the needs of students intending to enter the workforce or pursue advanced training in the sciences, medicine, and other professional and technical fields. We provide a well-rounded foundation in natural, physical, and mathematical sciences that can set students up for successful careers and professional programs.

Current Sciences News

man in red nursing scrubs
Business and Community |

The two-time 51ԹϺ graduate is funding a scholarship to help others join the ranks of nursing.

student wearing shirt that says unlv international students and schoolars
Campus News |

Administrators and donors step up to support 51ԹϺ's international community.

A closeup on the sleeve of a red 51ԹϺ graduation gown bearing the words "Rebels Forever"
Campus News |

President Chris Heavey recognizes 10 students for their staunch commitment to academic excellence and service to the community.

exterior of Martian surface
Research |

51ԹϺ geochemist Libby Hausrath – a member of NASA's Mars Sample Return Team – and colleagues share stunning new research in the latest issue of the journal Science.

skyline at sunset
Business and Community |

From hosting science field trips to delivering therapy services to rural areas, 51ԹϺ enriches the lives of Nevadans. 

51ԹϺ seasonal eggs
Campus News |

A collection of colorful headlines featuring 51ԹϺ staff and students.

Sciences In The News

Las Vegas Review Journal

With gold hitting an all-time high, it begs the question, is Nevada really the gold state? The price for gold, which is set on a global market, closed at $3,383 per ounce on Friday, a good sign for Nevada. In fact, if Nevada was a country, it would be the fifth largest gold producer in the world, behind China, Russia, Australia and Canada.

Las Vegas Review Journal

Speckled across Las Vegas’ Historic Westside are rotting trees without leaves, standing alone and dying. Nowadays, a lack of trees makes the Historic Westside also one of the hottest neighborhoods in Las Vegas, which climate scientists consider to be the nation’s second-fastest warming city.

Irrigation & Lighting

The average person likely uses only a fraction of their creative abilities at work, often due to workplace structures, routines and expectations that prioritize efficiency over innovation. Studies suggest that although everyone has creative potential, many business owners and employees operate within constraints that limit creative expression.

Guardian Service

Once a house fire starts, it can grow quickly and without restraint, becoming a major fire in under three minutes. House fires are a common occurrence: around 944 house fires occur every day.

Science Sessions

Researchers explain what we know about the potential for water and life on Mars and what we might learn from analysis of returned samples.

Las Vegas Review Journal

Students, arborists-in-training and 51ԹϺ staff dug holes circling a dog park Friday morning as part of the university’s “Urban Forestry Initiative.” The program is using a $5 million federal grant to plant trees across the Las Vegas Valley, targeting communities with below average tree cover. The goal is 3,000 trees in five years of the program, which started January 2024.

Sciences Experts

An expert in conservation biology, phylogeography, and ecology.  
Carrie Tyler is a marine conservation paleobiologist.
An expert on hibernation, pupfish, evolution, and cellular biology.
A medicinal chemist with expertise in mRNA, gene and drug delivery, and nanomedicine.
Brian Hedlund in an expert in microbial ecology at high temperatures, biofuels and genomics. 
An expert in earthquakes, structural geology, tectonics, and neotectonics.

Recent Sciences Accomplishments

Ph.D. candidate Josie Libero-Cruzado and Ph.D. student Becca Manns, along with faculty advisors Frederic Poineau and Dan Koury (all Chemistry and Biochemistry), recently published an article in the Journal of Alloys and Compounds. Their research, "Diffusion and phase formation in the γ-uranium-technetium system," expands on known uranium-…
Cynthia Tochukwu Nnolum (Mathematical Sciences) published a research article titled "Dynamics of Solutions to a Multi-patch Epidemic Model with a Saturation Incidence Mechanism," in the Journal of Mathematical Biology.  The paper analyzed the behavior of disease dynamics across multiple interconnected patches (regions), incorporating a…
Assistant professor Jingchun Chen and undergraduate students Melika Cummings, Tyrell Pratt, Alice Lee, Eunjae Lee, Jennifer Zheng, Faria Tavacoli (all Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine) presented at the 2025 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), a premier academic event that celebrates undergraduate achievements across…
Congratulations to the 51ԹϺ racquetball team who competed in Corporate Challenge on Thursday, April 10. They won 1st overall and 10 points for 51ԹϺ. Competitors were Adam Koebke (Mathematics) who won gold in men's singles, Venki Muthukumar (Electrical Engineering) and Sai Parsa (Computer Science) who won gold in men's doubles, and Erica Marti…
Łukasz Sznajder (Chemistry and Biochemistry) and Krzysztof Sobczak from the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland have been awarded a grant through the “Initiative of Excellence - Research University” program, funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education. This grant will support…
Manisha Gun (Chemistry and Biochemistry) has been awarded the RNA Society Research Presentation Fellowship to support her presentation on RNA misprocessing in myotonic dystrophy at the 2025 RNA Society Meeting.