Student holding test tubes and examining their content

College of Sciences News

The School of Life Sciences offers programs that meet the needs of students intending to enter the workforce or pursue advanced training in the sciences, medicine, and other professional and technical fields. We provide a well-rounded foundation in natural, physical, and mathematical sciences that can set students up for successful careers and professional programs.

Current Sciences News

blurred figure in UNLV commencement robe
Campus News |

UNLV’s commencement tradition highlights exceptional students who embody the highest level of academic excellence and community involvement.

springtime bees
Campus News |

A flowery collection of top headlines featuring UNLV faculty and students.

Three people holding an oversized ceremonial for $5,000 made out to "President's Investment Challenge First Place"
Campus News |

Competition was fierce for the 79 student teams that managed portfolios of $500,000.

Satish carrying ceremonial mace during commencement ceremony
People |

The mathematical sciences professor reflects on a path that began with a one-year appointment and grew into a 52-year career as UNLV’s longest-serving faculty member.

collage if five radiochemistry alum caricatures
People |

UNLV radiochemistry alumni — from plutonium pioneers to molten-salt mavens — are immortalized in caricature and now lead the nation’s top nuclear science labs.

UNLV undergraduates pose for photo outdoors in front of red UNLV letters
People |

Students Lex de Asis and Adrianna N. Tsao among select group nationwide selected for the prestigious research award.

Sciences In The News

Las Vegas Review Journal

Last summer, UNLV students and staff planted 18 trees in a North Las Vegas neighborhood. Saturday’s giveaway continued the valleywide effort, aiming to reduce higher temperatures in often low-income, underserved neighborhoods caused by a lack of green space and tree cover.

KSNV-TV: News 3

While no cases have been reported in Nevada, researchers at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who conduct local wastewater surveillance and have monitored COVID-19 variants, say hantavirus is not currently included in their testing panel. However, they note that detection may be possible since the virus is shed through urine. Researchers say it is something they will continue to monitor as they consider targeted applications.

Simply Recipes

You dry pots with it, wipe your hands on it, and use it to swab the counter, but when you’re done—if you’re like me—you probably hang your trusty kitchen towel right back on the oven or dishwasher door handle. And this cycle repeats for days, weeks, maybe even months with a single dish rag. And yet, we all know that the kitchen is the perfect breeding ground for all sorts of potentially harmful germs. The dish towel, unfortunately, is not immune to this.

Martha Stewart

Feeding pigeons birdseed in the park can be fun, but having these birds settle into your yard may be less appealing. For starters, their droppings contain uric acid, which can damage cars, roofs, and other surfaces over time. And because pigeons are non-migratory and tend to stay in one area year-round, they may repeatedly feed on garden seeds and seedlings. For bird lovers, the cooing and pretty color may be a boon. But if you prefer to keep these birds out of your garden and yard, we have expert-backed strategies to help.

Vision Monday

That level of regeneration may be out of the question for humans right now, but at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), one lab team is researching the possibility of animal eye regeneration, and how that might impact human eyecare.

Popular Mechanics

Awareness itself may predate our universe.

Sciences Experts

An expert in biochemistry.
An expert in Mars geochemistry, astrobiology, water-rock interactions, and snow dynamics.
An expert in insect physiology and evolution.
An expert in earthquakes, structural geology, tectonics, and neotectonics.
User icon
An expert on water resources, paleoclimatology, and environmental pollution. 
An expert on bacterial gene regulation and bacterial pathogens, including E. coli, Shigella, and Salmonella. 

Recent Sciences Accomplishments

Jichun Li (Mathematical Sciences) was ranked 885 (out of 1155 total ranked mathematicians) in United States 2271 in the world in the 2026 edition of Research.com's Best Mathematics Scientists 2026 Rankings.
Quinn Summerfield (Radiochemistry) was awarded the prestigious ASCENDR Fellowship. Advised by chemistry professor Art Gelis, Summerfield will participate in this highly competitive, one-year program designed for STEM students at HSRU Alliance institutions. The cohort-based fellowship prepares emerging scientists for leadership in the…
Angel Diaz and Mel Hernandez (Sciences Advising) represented UNLV at the 2026 NSHE Corequisite Conference on April 9-10 in Reno, Nevada, where they facilitated an interactive workshop titled “Advising at the Core: An Interactive STEM Workshop.”  Their session engaged attendees in collaborative strategies to support student success in…
UNLV graduate student and faculty microbiologists traveled to Tuba City, in the Navajo Nation for the regional American Society for Microbiology conference. Microbiologists from across Arizona and Southern Nevada attended to share their research. Three UNLV graduate students were awarded prizes for their research talks. They were Austin Dmitrieff-…
Fabian Vargas Rowan, a prospective Ph.D. student at UNLV, has been awarded the 2026 U.S. National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Beginning in fall 2026, he will join Yan Zhou’s group in the Department of Physics and Astronomy to work on developing novel quantum sensors aimed at probing fundamental symmetry breaking and exploring…
Ph.D. candidate Renee Olney (Radiochemistry) has been awarded a prestigious fellowship with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). As a member of the Class of 2026-27 NNSA Graduate Fellowship Program (NGFP), Olney will begin a 12-month appointment in Washington, D.C., within the NA-22 Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation…