NARRATOR:
Welcome to North Carolina State University and the College of Physical and Mathematical
Sciences, better known as PAMS.
The college is made up of internationally recognized programs in Chemistry; Mathematics;
Physics; Statistics; and Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
To understand PAMS today, it is important to understand our beginnings. When the college
was formed back in 1960, our primary mission was to provide core courses in science and
mathematics for the university’s entire student body. More than half a century later,
this is still an important part of what we do … but we also do a lot more.
PAMS faculty are still dedicated teachers, and they take student success very seriously.
In fact, in recent years the college has developed a reputation as a national leader in the study
of how to teach more effectively.
We use technology to make homework a more effective learning tool.
We’ve even modified the classroom environment to foster collaborative learning and improve
student performance.
Some of the classroom techniques and technologies developed in PAMS have been so successful
for our own students that they have been adopted at other colleges and universities across
the country.
In PAMS, we also understand that some of the best learning opportunities take place outside
the traditional classroom. This is why the college encourages our undergraduate majors
to participate in research early on.
With just 900 undergraduate majors and more than 200 research-active faculty, PAMS students
have all the benefits of a tight-knit, small-school atmosphere combined with the resources of
a national research university.
Our undergraduates routinely work alongside graduate students and faculty to try to answer
some of society’s most pressing questions:
STUDENT 1:
How can we improve the diagnosis and treatment of deadly diseases like cancer?
STUDENT 3:
How can we better understand the environment in which tornadoes form?
STUDENT 3:
How can we use supercomputers to make more powerful electric cars?
NARRATOR:
Discovering the answers to questions like these can make the world a better place to
live for all of us. This is one reason why students across all our academic programs
are working on “applied” research that addresses challenges related to health, energy
and environment.
Of course, some of the research conducted by PAMS faculty and students addresses the
more fundamental questions about how the world – and even the entire universe – works:
STUDENT 4:
How can we use today’s high-tech tools to better understand prehistoric fossils?
STUDENT 5:
What can photosynthesis tell us about the origins of life?
STUDENT 6:
What happens when a star explodes?
NARRATOR:
These are big, important questions, and we will need all the talent we can get to answer
them. This is why PAMS – through programs like The Science House – works closely with
thousands of K-12 teachers and students to enhance science teaching skills and provide
hands-on learning experiences to help meet this demand for talent.
We also have initiatives – from elementary school to the workforce – to increase the
number of women and other underrepresented groups in our disciplines. Today, almost half
our majors are women, and we are consistently among the national leaders in awarding degrees
in the physical sciences to African American students.
So, what does it all mean?
First and foremost, the PAMS experience prepares our students to be candidates for top jobs
in government or industry or to continue their education in graduate school or to pursue
a professional degree in law or medicine.
It also prepares them to become critical thinkers and problem solvers who can better understand
the world around them and how they might make it better.
Every day, PAMS students are making important discoveries:
STUDENT 5:
Discoveries about the world around us.
STUDENT 6:
Discoveries about how the universe works.
STUDENT 7:
Discoveries about ourselves.
NARRATOR:
PAMS: Join Us in Discovery!