Science, Engineering & Research
True knowledge comes from putting every part of your brain to work. That’s why we are huge believers in providing support for student projects – from a solar water distiller to a 3D-printed quad-copter to a claymation video about biodiversity.
Today’s leaders need to see problems from innovative angles, to envision scenarios, and to offer creative and dynamic answers. The Baylor IdeaLab is a wide-open space where students learn coding, circuit design, business skills, and (maybe most important) collaboration that results in patents, prototypes, and publications.
Baylor is teaching students to color outside the lines in order to find new answers inside them.
Leading Authorities. As experts in their own fields of study, Dr. Dawn Richards, Dr. Mary Loveless, and Dr. Elizabeth Forrester are leading the way in developing curriculum and programs that will inspire the next generation of research scientists.
Technology’s Best Tools. The Weeks Science Building is supported with a $15 million endowment to ensure the most advanced program possible. In the words of one teacher, “It allows us to have all the best tools” for bringing scientific and engineering theories to life: robots, apps, scoping devices, wind tunnels, computer programs, and much more.
Our river offers more than a beautiful view. Baylor’s campus is home to the Southeast’s only freshwater research center: the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute. The 14,000-square-foot facility gives students from around the state (and beyond) the unique opportunity to rub elbows with brilliant aquatic scientists. For some Baylor students, it’s a chance to dive even deeper into limnology – freshwater science – for their three-year scientific analysis and research program.
Putting knowledge to work. When Sims Pettway ’17 had saved enough money to purchase his first drone, his interests in business and engineering soared to a new level. He is now the owner of Aerial Eye productions, LLC, a drone photography and video business. He hopes to expand into the Atlanta area as a student at Georgia Tech University.
A life-changing invention. A virtual reality calm room developed by Hayley Harwood ’18, could give parents an affordable and portable way to help a child with autism, and could also grant families more freedom to participate in activities outside the home without additional stress for their child.
Science students becoming scientists. Training students to think like scientists is the mission of Baylor's advanced research courses. From taking part in actual cancer research in one elective to tackling college-level environmental research projects in another, Baylor students are leading the way in becoming tomorrow’s problem-solvers.
Real-world possibilities. Imagine a robot entering a burning building and distinguishing between the heat of the flames and the body heat of a person who needs rescuing, or a computer program allowing the elderly to venture beyond the confinement of their nursing home through virtual reality. These are the real-world possibilities investigated by students in Baylor’s engineering design class.
Silicon Valley comes to Baylor. Baylor’s academic reputation, inviting campus, and innovative spirit proved to be a perfect match for the Silicon Valley-based Camp BizSmart.™ An entrepreneurial summer academy (ages 11-19) that recently attracted NetFlix as one of its partnering companies, Camp BizSmart launched their “east of the Mississippi” location on Baylor’s campus in 2017 and returned in 2018.