Wake Downtown classes began in January 2017, marking the start of a new era for Wake Forest University. Science education has been reimagined with unique undergraduate programs in engineering and biomedical sciences that offer STEM-centered courses grounded in the liberal arts. Students might start the day in a popular first-year seminar that explores the analytical methods of Sherlock Holmes, and spend the afternoon in a drug discovery and design class.
Course offerings for Spring 2017 include 18 courses from nine college departments. Science classes focus on molecular biology, organic chemistry and biochemistry. But STEM students can also cultivate their creative talents with classes like Bioinspiration and Biomimetrics (an interdisciplinary entrepreneurship and biology course), Practices of Citizenship (which explores the role of imagination, invention and discourse in the making of citizens), or Creativity and Innovation (linking inquiry to innovative project development).
The Wake Forest tradition of experiential and engaged learning continues at Wake Downtown. Students in Professor Uli Bierbach's organic chemistry lab work on separating components of a drug using chromatography.
Creative thinkers are effective problem-solvers. Wake Forest professor Jan Detter teaches Creativity and Innovation at Wake Downtown, asking her students to take a single shoe and write a story about its owner.
In true Wake Forest fashion, Wake Downtown provides an ideal educational environment where the potential of our students is met with endless opportunity. With state-of-the-art labs and classrooms inside reincarnated factory buildings, Wake Downtown is located next to the new main campus of the Wake Forest School of Medicine – not only to give our students proximity to those labs and research spaces, but also because our undergraduates will collaborate with School of Medicine faculty in coursework and research.