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BUSINESS JOURNAL EDITORIAL
Dominican sets milestone for North Bay science education
Monday, September 3, 2007
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That’s what makes the opening of Dominican University’s $20 million science center a milestone for the North Bay.
The San Rafael university intends to use the 35,000-square-foot center as a place for undergraduate research more typically found at the graduate level.
That can’t do anything but help North Bay employers.
“It’s really a program to train people who are going into the work force in the North Bay, whether they’re going into the biotech or high-tech world, whether they’re going to be K-12 science or math teachers or nurses,” said Dominican President Dr. Joseph Fink.
By getting students involved in research in their freshman year, “it makes them much more competitive and much more confident when it’s time for them to go into medical school or graduate schools,” Dr. Fink said.
The university has expanded its natural sciences and mathematics department from 30 students five years ago to 130 today.
It also has hired several science professors who are bringing their research to the university. One of the latest additions uses mouse embryonic stem cells to study hormones. The researcher plans to collaborate with the nearby Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato.
It’s just those kinds of synergies that form the foundation for successful technology regions.
In the Bay Area, Stanford and University of California are the source of innovation and research that fuel the Silicon Valley economy. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Texas do the same for their regions.
The North Bay may not be at that level yet, but between the Sonoma State University undergraduate and graduate engineering programs and Dominican’s push into original research for undergrads, the region is at least headed in the right direction.
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