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Chapman Sees Chance to Grow Business Links With Schmid

Chapman University had no formal school of science six years ago.

Now it has three.

Its push into the sciences includes at least $190 million spent or committed.

It split the atom of its science programs earlier this year, separating the “hard” sciences like chemistry, biology and physics from health sciences, such as psychology and a physician’s assistant program.

The third science component is a new pharmacy school—the first in Orange County—that will hold its first classes in fall 2015.

The new dean of the hard sciences began his duties on July 1.

L. Andrew Lyon will lead the Schmid College of Science and Technology and is also a professor of chemistry at Chapman.

The university is raising $130 million for a flagship 140,000-square-foot Center for Science and Technology building to house Schmid College on Chapman’s main campus in Orange.

The campaign got a boost last month with a $1 million grant from the Los Angeles-based W.M. Keck Foundation to buy chemistry lab equipment.

The three-story center is slated to break ground in 2016 and be ready for students in 2018.

Lyon said Schmid will grow its links with Orange County businesses.

“Our aim is to do basic research that is broadly applicable,” he said.

Problems Solved

Lyon chaired the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta before joining Chapman.

He has served since 2009 on the Scientific Advisory Council for the private Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation based in Irvine, which awards chemistry and life sciences research grants.

Lyon said that a major university doing high-level research can work closely with local companies.

“We can help solve problems companies have but don’t always have the resources for,” he said.

A materials science program, for example, could contribute to companies working in regenerative medicine, or a food science program could help manufacturers in that niche.

“Locally, that might be working with the citrus industry or berry farmers,” he said.

Another obvious area for cooperation is businesses seeking highly trained employees.

“One of the missions of any university is to train students,” Lyon said.

He said he wants to deepen and intensify that effort so that Schmid students focus in their subject areas while working across disciplines to broaden their experience and solve a range of hypothetical problems.

Students could work together “like a small company to solve grand challenges,” he said, moving from the science core of an issue to include data elements, business strategy, operations and eventually marketing and selling solutions to customers.

Prior to 2008, all science majors and graduate programs were part of Chapman’s Wilkinson College, which encompasses humanities and social sciences.

That year, Chapman launched Schmid, founded a physics department, and stepped up work in computational sciences—an area Lyon said could be of use to companies doing big-data work.

Chapman two years ago paid $20 million for two Irvine Spectrum buildings totaling 166,000 square feet and committed another $24 million to renovating them for educational use.

It founded the Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences earlier this year, named Janeen Hill its new dean, and recruited Lyon.

The Crean College’s pharmacy school more recently announced a $500,000 grant from the Allergan Foundation to fund scholarships for five pharmacy students.

Chapman added to Crean College’s new Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus in July, purchasing a third building worth about $21 million and approximately 129,000 square feet.

Enter Lyon.

He is the youngest of five children and developed an interest in science while hanging out in laboratories with an older brother who was pursuing a doctorate.

His wife, Alene, develops and writes technical training materials.

They have two children, a son who is 14 and an 11-year-old daughter.

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