Scholarship encourages CofC students to ‘Do Science’ in memory of former dean

To honor the impact of Mike Auerbach, former dean of the School of Sciences and Mathematics (SSM), more than 60 donors contributed to establish the Dr. Michael J. Auerbach “Do Science” Scholarship to assist SSM majors at the College of Charleston. The fund, started as an annual scholarship, grew into an endowment in just over a year. Now the legacy of Auerbach as a champion to “do science” will live on indefinitely.

“Mike was such an advocate for students doing research,” says James Deavor, professor, interim department chair of chemistry and biochemistry, and long-time Auerbach colleague. “He got turned on to science when he did research as an undergraduate. Without that opportunity back then, he may never have gone down that path and what a loss that would have been for us. The more students that can be exposed to research, the greater the chance they will make science a career, and the better off the world will be. That was Mike’s goal. This scholarship helps keep that goal moving forward.”

Mary Kule, a geology major, was the first recipient of the Dr. Michael J. Auerbach “Do Science” Scholarship in the 2020-21 academic year. Her marine ecology research at the College led to a summer student fellowship with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in summer 2021.

“I am very honored to be the first recipient of the Auerbach “Do Science” scholarship,” says Kule. “This, along with other aid I received ultimately allowed me time to succeed in my scientific research interests because it relieved financial stress. I was able to pursue an independent study investigating geomorphological variability in coastal environments that I could not have previously managed while working as many as four jobs a semester! I am encouraged by the support that has been provided to myself and other women in STEM made available by the School of Sciences and Mathematics at the College.”

Mike Auerbach was a distinguished professor and dean of the School of Sciences and Mathematics from 2010 until his retirement in July 2018. He was the driving force behind the completion of the School of Sciences and Mathematics Building on the corner of Calhoun and Coming streets, the $60 million renovation of the Rita Liddy Hollings Science Center (RITA) and the programming of the College’s field research stations at Stono Preserve. He also served as chair of the Department of Biology from 1996 to 2000.

Prior to his tenure at the College, Auerbach served on the faculty of the Department of Biology at the University of North Dakota from 1983 to 1996. He made additional professional contributions to the science community including serving as executive director of the Division of Earth and Ecosystems Sciences at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada; program director of ecological studies for the National Science Foundation; and Lady Davis Postdoctoral Fellow in field plant ecology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.

Auerbach passed away in 2019 at age 66 after a battle with lung cancer and is survived by his beloved wife Nitsa Dagan-Auerbach and son Daniel. He was a fierce advocate for the School of Sciences and Mathematics and its students and faculty. His intellectual and financial contributions will benefit generations to come.

Auerbach’s research mentor was Professor Douglas Futuyma, who also greatly influenced Auerbach’s pursuing degrees in plant ecology. It was while doing field research at Hebrew University that he met his wife.

“Mike’s most cherished moments of his career were in the field,” says Dagan-Auerbach. “As a young professor at North Dakota, he took a group of students to Costa Rica. They kept in touch for years, and most of them pursued careers in the sciences. No classroom experience could replace what he learned out there. This is why he started the summer research program at SSM. Students always remember the professor who helped define their future. Our hope is that this scholarship will help build that bridge between students and faculty.”

That bridge is certainly the case for Grace Lowe ’21, a meteorology and physics double major, and recipient of the Auerbach “Do Science” Scholarship for 2021-22 academic. The first privately funded scholarship the Spartanburg, S.C. native has received at the College has enabled her to pursue her passion for meteorology. In partnership with SSM faculty, she is helping to create a broadcast studio in RITA, the building Auerbach championed at the end of his CofC career, for meteorology students to hone their skills and develop their “weather package” — a two-to-three-minute demo that can be sent to television studios looking to hire.

“It means the world to me to have received the Auerbach Scholarship,” says Lowe. “Receiving the scholarship has enabled me to do something I’m passionate about, and that’s helping to grow the meteorology program – the only one in South Carolina. I’ve wanted to be a meteorologist since I was eight, when a tornado went through my hometown. To be able to communicate science to an audience and to educate people about the weather is wonderful. I love RITA, and I’m so glad I get to work in there every day.”

Thanks to Auerbach’s “Do Science” Scholarship, his contributions to the College, its students and faculty will continue to live on.