MESSAGE FROM DEAN THOMAS 

Greetings COSAM Friends and Family,

This is a great time to be at Auburn University. There is a sense of real excitement and optimism on the Plains since the selection of Auburn’s 21st President, Christopher B. Roberts last year. As he has begun visiting all of the academic units on campus and has begun building his leadership team, we are all beginning to understand the new opportunities that will take Auburn University into the future.

Here, in COSAM, we are proud to be an integral part of moving Auburn forward. In Fall, 2022, COSAM began as the primary academic unit that teaches in the new Academic Classroom and Laboratory Complex (ACLC). This state-of-the-facility, now the second largest classroom complex on campus after the Haley Center, uses an innovative and flexible design to offer Auburn students a modern, interactive teaching environment that enables active learning and collaboration. It has quickly become one of the most sought-after teaching and learning spaces on campus by both faculty and students.

COSAM is also playing a pivotal role in training the next generation of STEM educators. Through a recently announced award supported through a partnership between the Alabama STEM Council and the UTeach Institute, COSAM and the Auburn University College of Education are developing an innovative new program called AUTeach. As part of the nationwide UTeach initiative pioneered at the University of Texas, the goal of AUTeach is to increase the number of highly trained STEM teachers and to diversify the pipeline of secondary STEM teachers in Alabama. This continues COSAM’s long commitment to the Auburn University land grant mission of service to the state.

Finally, I am pleased to report that as part of its February 2023 meeting, the Auburn University Board of Trustees approved the construction of the STEM+Ag Complex. This $200 million, three building complex will be one Auburn’s largest investments in the academic program and will be the new home for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Department of Geosciences, and offers new research space for the Department of Biological Sciences. Although it is still at least three years away, we are all very excited by this major step forward for COSAM.

With the construction of new facilities, welcoming new faculty, and the ever present enthusiasm of students, I believe that the next several years will be very busy, but very hopeful for COSAM. I hope that you will join us in this Journey.

Thank you all for everything that you do for COSAM!