Campus Kudos
$250,000 Hertz Fellowship awarded to engineering student
Katie Maass, a senior chemical engineering student in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, has been awarded a five-year $250,000 Hertz Foundation Fellowship to pursue graduate research that will fight cancer and improve drug delivery. Maass is one of 15 students in the nation to receive the award out of 558 U.S. applicants. Recipients were selected based on intellect, ingenuity and potential to bring meaningful change to society.
Biology student awarded Truman Scholarship
Genevieve Allen, a Dean’s Scholars Honors Biology major at The University of Texas at Austin, has been selected as a 2011 Truman Scholar. Allen was recognized by the selection committee for her research on seasonal and pandemic influenza as well as her leadership work with the Dean’s Scholars Council and the Texas Public Health student organization.
Six assistant professors win CAREER Awards
Six assistant professors at The University of Texas at Austin received Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) awards totaling nearly $3 million from the National Science Foundation. The CAREER awards recognize promising young faculty and supports their research with five years of funding. The recipients are: Amit Bhasin, Constantine Caramanis, Christopher Ellison, Jung-Fu Lin, Mikhail Matz and Michael Walfish.
Texas Exes honor top students
Six students were selected this year to receive the President’s Leadership Award, which was established and endowed in 1985 by Frank Denius, an Austin attorney and former president of the Texas Exes. The award recognizes exceptional students who have taken on a leadership role while attending the university. This year’s recipients are: Audrey Najera, sophomore; David Forinash, junior; Derin Kiykioglu, junior; Shelby Carvalho, senior; Jimmy Talarico, senior; and Eugene Wood, senior. Recipients of the President’s Leadership Award, the Edward S. Guleke Student Excellence Award and the Student Employee of the Year Award were recognized at an event on April 4 at the Alumni Center.
Rick Barnes receives USBWA’s Good Guy Award
University of Texas at Austin men’s basketball head coach Rick Barnes has been selected to receive the Good Guy Award from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). The award honors both coaching excellence and cooperation with the news media.
Ronen Avraham’s column for The New York Times makes top 5 list
School of Law Professor Ronen Avrahma’s column “A market solution for malpractice” that appeared in The New York Times on March 28 appeared on The Atlantic’s roundup “Five best Tuesday columns.”
Press Mentions
Cnn.com: What Wal-Mart case means for women
March 31
Linda Mullenix, School of Law, wrote this opinion piece on the Wal-Mart employee class action case before the Supreme Court involving alleged gender discrimination.
USA Today: More college ‘hookups,’ but more virgins, too
March 31
The research of Mark Regnerus, Department of Sociology, is mentioned in this story on sex and relationships among young adults today.
NPR: Promoting marriage in the black community
March 24
Richard Reddick, Department of Educational Administration, appeared on the radio show “Talk of the Nation” where he discussed and answered caller questions about African-Americans and marriage.
Los Angeles Times via the Chicago Tribune Web site: Ancient tablet bears writing, to scientists’ surprise
April 2
Thomas Palaima, Department of Classics, cheered the discovery of a clay tablet bearing the earliest known writing in Europe found at an unexpected site in Greece, called Iklaina.
Chicago Tribune: Did Obama avert a bloodbath in Libya?
April 3
Alan Kuperman, LBJ School of Public Affairs, is a source in this opinion column on President Obama’s case for intervention in Libya.
CBS News: Beauty equals happiness, study says
March 31
Daniel Hamermesh, Department of Economics, is quoted in this story on his new research on beauty being linked to happiness.
WIRED: Poisonous lifestyle makes frogs more fit
March 29
Why are colorful, poisonous frogs the fittest? Biologists David Cannatella and Juan Santos offered their thoughts on the topic in this science story.
The New York Times: A market solution for malpractice
March 28
Ronen Avraham, School of Law, wrote this opinion piece on how private regulators could help with medical guidelines.
The New York Times: The man who hired Jackie Robinson
March 25
David Oshinsky, Department of History, reviewed the biography “Branch Rickey,” on the integration of major league baseball by Jimmy Breslin.
Houston Chronicle: Disaster in Japan: Solving energy riddle won’t be easy
March 21
Raymond Orbach, the Energy Institute, made the comment that more could be done to lower the risks associated with leading energy sources if funding for scientific research was a bigger priority.
Read the last edition of In the Know.
