AUSTIN, Texas—The Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation has honored University of Texas at Austin physicist Melvin E. L. Oakes with a 2003 Piper Professor Award in recognition of his dedication to teaching.
Oakes is one of 15 recipients of Piper Professorships this year from the San Antonio-based Piper Foundation, which began giving the awards in 1958. Another University of Texas at Austin recipient this year is Charles Ramirez Berg, a professor of radio, television and film.
Oakes, who studies plasma physics and controlled fusion, earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Louisiana State University in 1958 and a doctor’s degree in the field from Florida State University in 1964. He came to The University of Texas at Austin as a research scientist that year, and rose to become a full professor in 1975. He has shifted attention in more recent years to undergraduate education.
A member of the university’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers, Oakes has earned numerous other teaching honors, including a Presidential Teaching Excellence Award in 1986, the Jean Holloway Teaching Award in 1992 and a Texas Exes Teaching Excellence Award in 1997.
For more information contact: Barbra Rodriguez, College of Natural Sciences, 512-232-0675.
