Research Prizes and Honors
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MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PROFESSOR APPOINTED TO U.S. ARMY SCIENCE BOARD
The Secretary of the Army has appointed Dr. Delbert Tesar, mechanical engineering professor at The University of Texas at Austin, to a three-year term as a member of the U.S. Army Science Board. This advisory body is composed of individuals from the private sector, academia, the retired flag officer ranks, and non-U.S. Department of Defense government agencies. The board conducts multiple-level meetings to enable members to review U.S. Army science development, become better educated on U.S. Army issues, and advise U.S. Army managers on relevant scientific and technological matters.
Professor Tesar directs the Robotic Research Group at the university where he develops advanced component and system technology for intelligent machines and robotics.
News and Information
THOMAS W. GILLIGAN APPOINTED DEAN OF MCCOMBS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Dr. Thomas W. Gilligan, the E. Morgan Stanley Chair in Business Administration; professor of finance and business economics; and interim dean from February 2006 to April 2007 at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business in Los Angeles, has been appointed dean of the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin.
The appointment of Gilligan is effective Sept. 1, said Dr. Steven Leslie, provost at The University of Texas at Austin. He said the selection of Gilligan followed a nationwide search by an 18-member committee headed by Dr. Michael Granof, a professor in the McCombs School of Business.
Gilligan will replace Dr. George W. Gau, whose six-year appointment as dean of the business school ends in August.
Gilligan, who received his B.A. degree with honors from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, and doctoral degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis, has held positions at the University of Southern California as vice-dean for undergraduate and doctoral education and chair of the Department of Finance and Business Economics. He also has been a visiting professor at the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, and at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business in Stanford, CA. Gilligan’s areas of interest are microeconomics, applied price theory, industrial organization, antitrust economics and public choice.
QuotedUT Researchers in the News
A sampling of recent quotes by university faculty members and researchers. To be included in this section, let Research Alert know when you or a colleague have been quoted.
Washington Post
July 14, 2008
HEADLINE: Older Americans May Be Happier Than Younger Ones
Since 1972, researchers have conducted 50,000 detailed interviews with Americans. The questions of the General Social Survey are repeated year after year to enable researchers to detect trends and to make comparisons among groups and to see how the same people changed over time. One asks whether they are very happy, pretty happy or not too happy.
The studies present an interesting puzzle, said Catherine Ross, a sociologist at the University of Texas at Austin. [The] finding that older adults are generally happier than younger ones seems superficially at odds with many studies that have found that older people are at higher risk for depression and other mental health problems.
“A lot of research in different areas finds the elderly have higher levels of depression, so it looked as though mental health was bad among the elderly,” she said. “What this study does is say, ‘Yeah, it is not that the elderly have negative emotions, but that when they are negative, they are passive.'”
“The reason we think the elderly have higher levels of depression is not because they have higher levels of negative emotions but that they have higher levels of passivity,” Ross said.
“Young people–the very people we think from the stereotype are best off–in fact have high levels of anger and anxiety and also high levels of depression, compared to middle-aged adults.”…”The image of youth or young adulthood as the best time of life is probably not an accurate stereotype.”
Research Opportunities
Important University Research Deadlines
–DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Joint Solicitation for The OFES-NNSA Joint Program in High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas
Deadlines: Letter of Intent, Aug. 18, 2008; Application, Sept. 11, 2008
–ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Indoor Environments: Reducing Public Exposure to Indoor Pollutants
Deadline: Sept. 10, 2008
Climate Change and Allergic Airway Disease
Deadline: Oct. 1, 2008
–NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
Collaborative Research Grants
Deadline: Nov. 5, 2008
Scholarly Editions Grants
Deadline: Nov. 5, 2008
–NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
Molecular Libraries Screening Instrumentation
Deadlines: Letter of Intent, Sept. 2, 2008; Application, Oct. 2, 2008
Research on Causal Factors and Interventions that Promote and Support the Careers of Women in Biomedical and Behavioral Science and Engineering
Deadlines: Letter of Intent, Sept. 21, 2008; Application, Oct. 22, 2008
Social Neuroscience of Aging
Deadlines: Letter of Intent, Sept. 30, 2008; Application, Oct. 31, 2008
Neurological Sciences Academic Development Award
Deadline: Oct. 12, 2008
Paul B. Beeson Career Development Awards in Aging
Deadlines: Letter of Intent, Oct. 3, 2008; Application, Nov. 3, 2008
–NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships
Deadline: Oct. 8, 2008
Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Deadline: Oct. 15, 2008
Social and Behavioral Dimensions of National Security, Conflict, and Cooperation
Deadlines: Letter of Intent, Sept. 30, 2008; Full Proposal, Oct. 30, 2008
Materials World Network: Cooperative Activity in Materials Research Between U.S. Investigators and their Counterparts Abroad
Deadline: Nov. 17, 2008
Mathematical Biology Program
Deadline: Jan. 13, 2009
Developmental and Learning Sciences
Deadline: Jan. 15, 2009
–OTHER FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
Dumbarton Oaks Fellowships in Byzantine Studies, Pre-Columbian Studies, and Garden and Landscape Studies
Junior Fellowships, Fellowships, and 2009 Summer Fellowships
Deadline: Nov. 1, 2008
Research Project
[Let Research Alert know about your research projects.]
BUCKLING OF NANOSTRUCTURES
FACULTY: Rui Huang, assistant professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, principal investigator; Paul Ho, research professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, co-principal investigator
AGENCY: National Science Foundation
AMOUNT: $159,138
This project integrates experiments, modeling, and simulations to study buckling mechanical behavior at the nanometer scales. The objective is to correlate experimental observations of buckling nanometer-sized structures to mechanical properties of materials at the nanoscale. As a result, this project will open a new line of methodology for characterization of nanoscale structures and materials.
Specifically, three intriguing buckling phenomena at the nanoscale will be investigated, including swell-induced buckling of polymer nanolines, buckling of single crystal silicon nanolines under indentation, and cooperative buckling of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes. The research team includes two investigators with complementary expertise in conducting experiments and creating simulations. Collaboration has been established with an experimental group at National Institute for Standards and Technology for the study of polymer nanolines, with a particular interest in the effects of three-dimensional confinement at the nanoscale on the swelling and deformation of polymers.
Nanoindentation and compression tests will be conducted to study the interactions of parallel Si nanolines and vertically aligned carbon nanotubes along with the properties of contact, friction, and fracture at the nanoscale. The research from this project will advance fundamental understanding of mechanical behavior at the nanoscale, which is critically important in the development of nanostructures for engineering applications, and thus has a broader impact on nanoscience and nanotechnology. Educational activities will be incorporated within the research project to enhance its societal impacts, which include training of graduate and undergraduate students and outreach to underrepresented groups. The research results will be broadly disseminated to the academic community as well as the general public.
