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From the College of Natural Sciences
Willson Presented with National Medal
U.S. President George W. Bush (R) presents C. Grant Willson (L) with a National Medal of Technology and Innovation during an East Room ceremony at the White House September 29, 2008 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images North America) Chemistry Professor C. Grant Willson was given a National Medal of Technology and Innovation yest...
$12.5 million National Science Foundation grant to fund UTeachEngineering program for educators
AUSTIN, Texas—The University of Texas at Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineering, College of Natural Sciences and College of Education have been awarded $12.5 million by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to prepare educators to teach engineering to Texas high-school students. “With this grant, the NSF is building on the university’s successful ...
Chemist Mahal Receives NIH New Innovator Award
AUSTIN, Texas—Dr. Lara K. Mahal, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, is one of 31 researchers nationally to receive a 2008 New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She will use the 5-year, $1.5 million grant to decode how sugar molecules on cell surfaces encode information such as cell type and health. This m...
Oldest Living Lineage of Ants Discovered in the Amazon
AUSTIN, Texas—A new species of blind, subterranean, predatory ant discovered in the Amazon rainforest by University of Texas at Austin evolutionary biologist Christian Rabeling is likely a descendant of the very first ants to evolve. The new ant is named Martialis heureka, which translates roughly to “ant from Mars,” because the ant has a combinat...
Michael Marder to Receive Massey Award for Excellence in Teacher Education
AUSTIN, Texas – Michael Marder, professor of physics, associate dean for science and mathematics education, and co-director of UTeach in the College of Natural Sciences, has been selected as this year’s recipient of the Elizabeth Shatto Massey Award for Excellence in Teacher Education. The Massey Award recognizes a “teacher of teachers,” one who in...
Dedication, Demonstration of World's Most Powerful Laser
Event: U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and University of Texas at Austin President William Powers Jr., will dedicate the Texas Petawatt Laser on Thursday. Scientists will demonstrate aspects of the laser during the event. The Tower will be lit orange during the evening to commemorate this event. When: Thursday, Aug. 28, 11:30 a.m. – 12:...
Discovery Opens Door For Drugs To Fight Bird Flu, Influenza Epidemics
AUSTIN, Texas—Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Rutgers University have reported a discovery that could help scientists develop drugs to fight avian flu and other virulent strains of influenza. The researchers have determined the three-dimensional structure of a site on an influenza A virus protein that binds to one of the human...
Blast from the Past: J.T. Patterson
Professor Emeritus of Zoology John T. Patterson (1878-1960) in the lab. Photo (date taken unknown) appeared in The Daily Texan Nov. 21, 1950. Courtesy of the Center for American History. Back in the days when John T. Patterson was rambling around in the Hill Country west of Austin hunting for pregnant armadillos, he often encountered “hill people”...
Life on the Outside: J. Craig Wheeler
J. Craig Wheeler Professor of AstronomyNovelist and Movie Star Astrophysics professor J. Craig Wheeler was daydreaming when the idea for his novel, The Krone Experiment, came upon him. “I was an assistant professor at Harvard, and I was at one of the colloquia they held at the old library,” says Wheeler. “The idea just hit me. I don’t even rememb...
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