Freshmen taking an introductory biology course at Syracuse University last semester would often find themselves using the same lab equipment as students taking those courses three decades ago.

But with the help of an anonymous donation of $1 million, the biology department and the other hard sciences at SU have an opportunity to upgrade and modernize their equipment for the first time in years.

This donation will allow departments, such as biology, to receive upgrades to equipment — something these areas rarely see.

“If we get $5,000 here or $10,000 there for equipment — it’s just not enough,” said Ramesh Raina, chair of the biology department. “Infusion of this kind of funds makes a difference and it has already made a huge difference on the undergraduate experience. We can do things now that we could not do before.”

The donation was made to the Science Equipment Excellence Fund, which was established last year by an anonymous donor and developed by Karin Ruhlandt, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, according to an SU News release. The donation was announced in early February and will be used to purchase new equipment.

The biology, chemistry, physics, Earth sciences, psychology and science teaching departments, in addition to the forensics program, were all able to share the $1 million donation, Ruhlandt said. While each department is using the money for different equipment, many department chairs have said the donation is being used to make upgrades that benefit students and are long overdue.

For example, the biology department’s share of the money is being used to upgrade and modernize the equipment used in the biology department, starting with the freshman biology courses, Raina said. The department purchased microscopes as well as more complex equipment for the upper division courses.

“Now the equipment is in keeping with Syracuse University’s standards,” he said.

The chemistry department bought several measuring instruments called spectrophotometers and spectrometers, which are often used in the freshmen laboratories. The chemistry department also has access to a $100,000 gas chromatograph mass spectrometer that the forensics program purchased with the donation, said James Kallmerten, interim chair of the chemistry department.

Kallmerten said students are now using the kind of instruments they would if they were to enter the chemical industry today.

“Students are actually being trained on the instruments they would use in a profession as opposed to something (their) grandfathers would have used in the laboratory,” he said.

Kallmerten added that every day this semester there was something new on the loading docks for the science departments and faculty could be found lining up to see what equipment they were getting that day.

“Students are using modern, new technology for classes and it has made a tremendous difference. I’m really thrilled,” Ruhlandt said. “Everybody has started to think about new experiments to do and it’s great.”

The $1 million initiative was the first time in a long time that a significant investment was made into teaching equipment in the sciences, she said. The funds were distributed by teaching load so that the departments that taught more students got more money. Every department had to write a proposal with what it wanted to buy and how that would affect its students, Ruhlandt said.

The individual departments purchased the equipment and most of it is in place right now. Ruhlandt added that these departments were able to introduce new curricula and create new experiments to make the classes more engaging and interactive.

“In my many years at Syracuse University, I have never seen such a dedicated and concerted effort to improve the quality of teaching in the sciences,” Ruhlandt said.

She added that the $1 million donation is a “great investment, but it can’t stop there.” More funding would open up opportunities to further improve the science courses.

“This is a huge priority of myself as a new dean to enhance the student experience and have students do experiments that are really meaningful,” Ruhlandt said. About 1,200 students per semester in the biology and chemistry courses alone will be affected by the $1 million donation, she said.

The number of students enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences has increased over the past seven or eight years, which only emphasizes the need for improved equipment.

“Even if it may not seem like it, biology and life sciences (have) seen a significant increase in enrollment, which tells us that these students are finding these majors more appealing than others,” Raina said.

Students are interested in life sciences because they are looking for careers in these fields. People find these majors attractive because they have better job prospects, Raina said.

Regardless of enrollment or class size, the new equipment will not only benefit students, but the professors who teach them as well, Kallmerten said.

“I think any time you’re able to do your job better that’s incredibly empowering to the faculty, not just the senior faculty members but to the graduate students as well,” he said. “We all want to do the best job that we can do and this new equipment allows us to teach at a level that was just not possible prior to it arriving.”

Published on February 17, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact Sara: smswann@syr.edu | @saramswann