Virginia Academy of Science, Virginia Junior Academy of Science to Bring Hundreds to VCU Campus

By Anne Buckley

Hundreds of scientists, science educators and students from across the state will converge on Virginia Commonwealth University for the annual meetings of the Virginia Academy of Science and the Virginia Junior Academy of Science.

The meetings will be held from May 26 through May 29, with speakers, research presentations and networking opportunities throughout the four-day event. About 700 members from the groups are expected to attend, and a large number of them will stay on campus.

The Virginia Academy of Science furthers science and scientific research in all of its branches, and the Virginia Junior Academy of Science promotes scientific aptitude among students in grades seven through 12. The students, considered among the best and brightest in the sciences, are selected by their teachers to present research to their peers for judging and will have the opportunity to speak with the senior scientists attending the concurrent meeting.

“VCU is excited to again host this important meeting of Virginia scientists,” said Thomas F. Huff, vice provost for Life Sciences. “VCU remains at the forefront of life sciences education, integrating all the branches of science under an interdisciplinary umbrella for excellence in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, medical sciences, physics, psychology and statistics.”

The VJAS meeting features a lecture by Kevin Whaley, M.D., with the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on “Postmortem Identification of Mass Disaster Victims.”

Both groups will attend the George W. Jeffers Memorial Lecture, “Necessity is the Mother of Invention: The Story of the SwiPM3,” with inventor Sheldon Retchin, M.D., vice president for Health Sciences and CEO of the VCU Health System.

And the senior group will attend the Academy Conference and Sidney S. Negus Memorial Lecture, “Woundstat: From Bench to Bedside and Beyond,” with Kevin Ward, M.D., a VCU emergency physician and associate director of the VCU Reanimation Engineering Shock Center (VCURES); Robert Diegelmann, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry, anatomy & emergency medicine at the VCU School of Medicine; and Gary Bowlin, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering.