Speed named assistant VP for community engagement in DDCE
Shannon Speed, associate professor of anthropology, has been named assistant vice president for community engagement in the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE). Speed is the director of the DDCE Community Engagement Center in East Austin and is responsible for community partnerships through the Community Engagement Incubator, the Volunteer and Service Learning Center, the [...]
RTF professor's documentary, "Tattooed Under Fire" premieres nationwide
"Tattooed Under Fire," the documentary film produced and directed by Radio-TV-Film Professor Nancy Schiesari, premiered on more than 25 public television stations nationwide beginning Nov. 8. The film focuses on the River City Tattoo Parlor, a place near Fort Hood where many of the war-bound and returning soldiers go under the needle. For those joining [...]
Cancer research funded for $11.6 million
The Department of Biomedical Engineering is among a consortium of leading research entities selected to receive up to $11.6 million from the National Cancer Institute to establish a center to conduct innovative cancer research. The new center will be called the Center for Transport Oncophysics. The goal of the five-year initiative is to engage trans-disciplinary [...]
Nursing professor elected 2009 Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing
Sharon Horner, professor of nursing, has been elected a 2009 Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, an organization that promotes health policy and practice. The academy is composed of about 1,500 nursing leaders in education, management, practice and research. Fellows are chosen annually to recognize their efforts in advancing the profession of nursing.
Researchers studying switchgrass receive $4.6 million from USDA
Researchers who are working with scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have received a $4.6 million grant to explore how switchgrass, a native prairie grass and promising source of biofuel, will fare under future climate change. Tom Juenger, associate professor of integrative biology, and Christine Hawkes and Tim Keitt, faculty in the School [...]
Prof gets grant to develop better technology for blood screening
Jennifer Brodbelt, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has received a $734,068 grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a new method for rapidly screening blood samples for biomarkers. Biomarkers are small molecules that indicate the presence of a particular physiological condition, typically a disease. The new method, if successful, could prove useful not [...]
Pharmacy professor receives two-year, National Institutes of Health grant
Professor of Pharmacy Andrea Gore has received a two-year, $841,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the transgenerational effects of environmental contaminants on neurological and reproductive development. The research may help in developing public policy and prevention and wellness intervention programs.
Texas Parents present Outstanding Student Awards
Texas Parents named Cecilia Lopez and Liam O'Rourke recipients of its 2009 Outstanding Student Awards. The four Outstanding Student finalists were Mykel Estes, Sarah Lawson, Keshav Rajagopalan and Lauren Ratliff. The Mike Wacker Award recipients were Lindsey Carmichael and Spencer Cook. The Staff Merit Award winners were Rosielinda Almaguer, Jim Bollas, Bob Childress, Benjamin Grall [...]
Barnes receives Outstanding Woman in Science Award
The Geological Society of America, in partnership with Subaru, has awarded Jaime Barnes, assistant professor at the Jackson School of Geosciences, its annual Outstanding Woman in Science Award. The award honors women who have "impacted the field of the geosciences in a major way based on their Ph.D. research."
Six receive Robert C. Jeffrey Benefactor Award from College of Communication
Six people have been recognized by the College of Communication with the Robert C. Jeffrey Benefactor Award for their contributions of time, labor and philanthropy. The honorees include Isabella Cunningham, chair of the Department of Advertising; Kevin Hegarty, vice president and chief financial officer; Chris Mattson, director of the Mattsson-McHale Foundation and a member of [...]
Andrew Whinston named Distinguished Fellow at INFORMS
Andrew Whinston, professor in the Department of Information, Risk and Operations Management, has been named a Distinguished Fellow at the annual meeting of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). INFORMS is the largest professional society in the world for the field of operations research. Whinston was named Distinguished Fellow in the [...]
Six faculty members receive President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award
Six faculty members have been selected to receive the President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award for 2009-2010 for demonstrating a consistent level of excellence in teaching. The award recipients will be recognized during an academic awards dinner during the spring semester and each will receive a $5,000 honorarium provided through contributions from university supporters of the [...]
Health Affairs vice provost named to Institute of Medicine
William M. Sage, vice provost for health affairs and the James R. Dougherty Chair for Faculty Excellence in Law, has been elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Sage is among 65 new members and five foreign associates whose elections to the IOM were announced in conjunction with the institute's 39th annual meeting. Election to [...]
Robert Koons elected to Phi Beta Kappa Society senate
Robert C. Koons, professor of philosophy, has been elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society senate. Koons, who has taught at the university for 22 years, will serve a six-year term. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1978 at Michigan State University. Koons earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles.
UT Receives $6 Million to Study Carbon Storage
The university will use $6 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Texas General Land Office to identify state-owned areas underlying the Gulf of Mexico where carbon dioxide can be stored safely and economically. This study is the first in the U.S. to investigate the potential for permanent underground storage of [...]
Professor Joins Center for Politics and Governance as Fellow
LBJ School of Public Affairs Professor Benjamin Sasse has joined the Center for Politics and Governance as a Center for Politics and Governance Fellow. Sasse, who recently was assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the Department of Health and Human Services, will teach a number of courses for the center and help develop new [...]
Cynthia Buckley Awarded a $960,345 National Science Foundation Grant
Cynthia Buckley, chair of the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies and associate professor in the Department of Sociology, has been awarded a $960,345 grant from the National Science Foundation for her project titled "People, Power and Conflict in the Eurasian Migration System." The project will assess how international migration affects human security and patterns [...]
Hogg Foundation's Frost Promoted, Appointed to Academic Position
Attorney, educator and executive Dr. Lynda Frost has been named director of planning and programs at the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health and appointed as a clinical associate professor in the Department of Educational Administration. As a clinical associate professor, Frost will work with doctoral students in the department's educational policy and planning program. She [...]
Professor Wins "Ig Nobel" for Study of Pregnant Women
Anthropologist Liza Shapiro and two fellow researchers won an Ig Nobel Prize — dedicated to "achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think" — for a 2007 study on the evolutionary reasons pregnant women don't tip over. By studying 19 pregnant women, they discovered that a woman's lumbar, or lower back, curve [...]
Presidential historian named director of the LBJ Library and Museum
Presidential historian Mark K. Updegrove has been named the new director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, effective Oct. 11. Updegrove is the author of two major works on the presidency, “Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House,” which won the Book of the Year Silver Medal Award for Political [...]
