With design plans for a new science building underway and the creation of an online magazine, Georgetown College is raising the visibility of science education and research on the Hilltop.

Georgetown College Research News, which is scheduled to release its second issue later this month, highlights the innovative projects and research of faculty members and students. Through profiles and interviews, the magazine illustrates the scope of scientific advancements at Georgetown.

"There was a strange misperception that we don't do first-rate science at Georgetown – but we do," College Dean Jane McAuliffe said. "We have a first-rate faculty who are extremely productive in terms of research and teaching, and we want to get the word out on that."

As in its inaugural edition in November, the new issue will have profiles in five areas: nature, body, technology and numbers, mind and behavior, and molecules and matter. There also is a section on the future of science at Georgetown, including the university's push to raise money for new facilities and boost the number of faculty members in the departments.

The "flash and glitter" of the site is purposeful, McAuliffe said. Instead of simply listing faculty and student achievements, the College wanted to create an exciting and easy-to-use site, she said. Research News employs video, bold designs, flash components and lots of photography. Web designers will continue to add new features in order to keep the magazine fresh and interactive.

Despite the site's glitzy appeal, the College only had a limited staff to get the project off the ground. Assistant Dean Michael Kessler is the interim editor until a full-time writer and editor take over later this month. Three students served as the first issue's editorial and photography staff, while university employees and outside consultants worked on multimedia design elements and story research.

Eventually Research News will be expanded to other research fields within the College. But for now the focus will remain on science.

"Georgetown has long been known for other areas of intellectual endeavors," McAuliffe said. "[Science] simply didn’t have the visibility it should."

That visibility will be important for the university's next capital campaign, which is likely to put an emphasis on raising funds for science facilities among other priorities. That expected focus is a primary reason scientific research will be the only area of scholarship highlighted on the site at first.

"We need to raise funds for and build momentum around the new sciences, the reinvention of Reiss [Science Building], the new building and the bolstering of the science curriculum and faculty," Kessler said. "Georgetown has great science faculty and great scientific research, but the facilities aren't as good right now and a lot of our students haven’t been exposed as much as we’d like to the sciences."

The College is seeking to make science more approachable to interested students by putting a particular focus on faculty-student interactions and projects. The e-magazine's first issue, for example, highlighted work by Darlene Howard, the Davis Family Distinguished Professor of Psychology. She is researching implicit learning, or how humans learn from subtle patterns.

Howard's collaboration with two recent graduates is highlighted in the issue as well. Mim Ari (C'05) and Daryaneh Badaly (C'06) both worked with the professor during their time at Georgetown.

"Part of the fun for me was seeing the articles about students I've worked with over the years," Howard said. "I think this helps to show how science operates here at Georgetown."

It also helps spread the word about faculty and student endeavors not specifically featured in the magazine. Research News, for instance, links to Howard's lab Web site, which features the professor's publications and areas of study for those interested in learning more about what is going on in the psychology department.

Howard's lab site also links to Research News, which exposes her regular visitors to the College's e-magazine.

Research News' next issue will feature more faculty profiles, including Martha Weiss, associate professor of biology; Hans Engler, professor of mathematics; and Rachel Barr, associate professor of psychology.

As that second issue is published, the College is trying to entice more traffic to the site. Research News is featured prominently on the College's home page and broadcast e-mails have gone out to the community about the magazine. Nearly half of the group receiving the broadcast e-mail clicked on the link to the first issue, Kessler said.

Editors now want to focus on drawing alumni to the site, so they can learn about the progress in scientific research since they attended Georgetown.