Content about College of Natural Sciences
Linda Hicke, the newly appointed dean of the College of Natural Sciences, said she is looking forward to just about everything that Austin has to offer.
“The scope and activities and the happenings of the University are fundamental and exciting,” Hicke said. “I’m looking forward to Austin itself and I’ve heard tremendous things about the town.”
Linda Hicke, newly appointed dean of the College of Natural Sciences
After the second largest energy company in the world recently invested nearly $4 million in the University, the money will be used to research new energy technologies.
Students working towards degrees in the science field do not have to restrict their future job options to working in a lab or doctor’s office, said a bank official in a lecture Tuesday.
At a large public university such as UT, teaching is important. We have 38,000 undergraduates enroll in classes each year to learn, and the University spends money attracting professors who do their best to make classes worth students’ tuition.
Efforts to save the Glen Rose dinosaur tracks from extinction and to preserve them for generations to come are in the works because of the Texas Natural Science Center and outside donors.
The British Petroleum oil and gas company donated $40,000 to the Help Save the Tracks campaign, said Susan Romberg, spokeswoman for the Texas Natural Science Center. The center’s goal is to raise $1 million for the preservation of the dinosaur tracks.
A recent update to the periodic table of elements will not affect the College of Natural Sciences in any significant way, said associate chemistry professor David Vandenbout.
Jerry Brand’s algae collection, with nearly 2,800 specimens in all, is more than just pond scum. The diverse range of organisms is part of a growing multi-hundred billion dollar industry, used to produce anything from supplements to ice cream thickener to dental impressions and most recently, alternative biofuel, he said.
Former UT President Larry Faulkner said he hopes to spend the rest of his life as a member of UT faculty at the dedication ceremony Thursday for the Larry R. Faulkner Nanoscience and Technology Building, which was named in his honor in August 2010.
The Natural Sciences Council sponsored a faculty panel Friday highlighting the importance of public funding for investigative research. The group noted that the National Science Foundation, the federal organization responsible for disbursing billions of dollars per year in research grant funding, has seen its budget cut in recent years.
Anybody who watched the 2009 feature film “2012” was exposed to many scientific inaccuracies about how the world may end, according to a College of Natural Sciences presentation.
In an attempt to bring more students and organizations together to learn about opportunities offered on campus, the College of Natural Sciences has put together Natural Sciences Week, a fun and informing series of events for everyone across campus to participate in.
Memories directly affect day-to-day actions and therefore help predict the futures, said Alison Preston, an assistant psychology and neurobiology professor.
The National Science Foundation awarded an estimated $3 million Materials Interdisciplinary Research Team grant to a team at the Texas Materials Institute, a collaborative institute between the Cockrell School of Engineering and the College of Natural Sciences.
A new program will train College of Natural Sciences students to market their ideas and start their own companies in the future, said W. Arthur Porter, a new dean of the college who will develop the initiative.
Porter will be instated as the natural sciences associate dean for innovation and science enterprise on Sept. 1. He was hired by interim dean David Laude in efforts to begin integrating entrepreneurship into the college, Porter said.
UT’s two largest schools, the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Natural Sciences, chose to tackle required budget cuts in very different ways, and both stand by their tactics.
The College of Liberal Arts offered a second round of retirement incentives to eligible professors last month in direct response to continuing budget cuts that started in 2009, said Assistant Dean for Business Affairs Jamie Southerland.
A working business office, patient rooms and equipment for remote diagnosis fill the new Health Information Technology Learning Center in the Norman Hackerman building.
The center opened Monday in an area that was empty two months ago. It serves as the space for students to earn a Health Information Manager and Exchange Specialist certificate, which allows students to work with electronic health records systems.
David Laude will take over as the interim dean for the College of Natural Sciences in August.
Laude, a distinguished professor and senior associate dean for academic affairs, received the appointment last week.
He will replace Mary Ann Rankin, who was dean for 17 years, in August. Rankin worked with Laude to develop several programs such as UTeach and the Freshman Research Initiative, Laude said.
Data on UT System faculty spending, earning, research production and course enrollment could mislead the public about the so-called productivity of professors and researchers in the system, a UT faculty chair said.
The UT System Board of Regents created the task force on excellence and productivity in February. Upon their request, the UT System created the 820-page document containing faculty names, their tenure status and course enrollment numbers and released it to the task force on May 5.
Austin, known as one of the primary hubs of the video game industry, may soon find the next generation of game artists, designers and programmers studying within the walls of UT this fall.
Bruce Porter, chair of the computer science department, sent an email to computer science students this week announcing a new game design curriculum at UT. The game development program is a collaborative effort between the College of Natural Sciences, the College of Fine Arts and the College of Communication, each of which will be offering their own courses in game design.
The group was the first of the College Tuition and Budget Advisory Councils to submit a proposal to its college, and a meeting Friday indicated that the students and administrators have similar goals. The Senate of College Councils created such a committee for each college in anticipation of drastic budget cuts across the University this year. The goal of the councils is to create a more transparent budget conversation between students and administrators in the face of about $66 million in additional legislative cuts to the University.
Seven UT faculty members were named for a $5,000 award for teaching excellence.
Established in the fall of 1980, the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award honors five professors in the College of Liberal Arts and one in the College of Natural Sciences. This year, however, six liberal arts professors and one natural sciences professor were selected for the award.
One of the honorees, Steven Friesen, a religious studies professor, said all teachers have their own individual style when it comes to running their classrooms.
