News
First Stars and Black Holes
Stampede2 supercomputer simulates star seeding, heating effects of primordial black holes.
Stars Shed Light on Why Stellar Populations Are So Similar in Milky Way
Scientists have uncovered what sets the masses of stars, a mystery that has captivated astrophysicists for decades. Their answer? Stars, themselves.
Graphene Synapses Advance Brain-Like Computers
Researchers from UT Austin have developed synaptic transistors for brain-like computers using the thin, flexible material graphene. These transistors are similar to synapses in the brain, that connect neurons to each other.
How Novel Encryption Methods Are Making a Future of Online Privacy Possible
Privacy has become increasingly valuable and rare as technology has become more closely integrated with our lives. Private information retrieval (PIR) protocols allow you to retrieve information through an encoded …
Researchers Aim to Make Computer Networks Easier to Change on the Fly
It's hard to make changes to the software running on a computer network while it's in use—and that can make it harder to respond quickly to a cyberattack. The National Science Foundation has awarded a grant to …
Wide View of Early Universe Hints at Galaxy Among the Earliest Detected
Two new images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope show what may be among the earliest galaxies ever observed. Both images include objects from more than 13 billion years ago, and one offers a much wider field of …
New Mexico Mammoths Among Best Evidence for Early Humans in North America
About 37,000 years ago, a mother mammoth and her calf met their end at the hands of human beings. Bones from the butchering site record how humans shaped pieces of their long bones into disposable blades to break …
Manuel Rausch Wins NIH R01
Manuel Rausch, an assistant professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at UT Austin, has received a prestigious R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health in the amount of $3.9M.
Do Autonomous Driving Features Really Make Roads Safer?
In recent years, more vehicles include partially autonomous driving features, such as blind spot detectors, automatic braking and lane sensing, that are said to increase safety. However, a recent study by researchers …
First-ever View of a Hidden Quantum Phase in a 2D Crystal
By using a suite of advanced spectroscopic tools, scientists at MIT and UT Austin have for the first time captured snapshots of a light-induced metastable phase hidden from the equilibrium universe.
Features
100,000 and Counting
A new record has been set by the Oden Institute’s Center for Computational Materials for calculating the energy distribution function, or “density of states,” for over 100,000 silicon atoms, a first in computational materials
From Regletas To Fusion Reactors - Profile Irene Gamba
It’s 1963 in Mar del Plata and Irene M. Gamba, first grader, is on a stage, a mess of colorful blocks before her. A grown-up voice calls out, “Siete divido por dos,” and Irene’s hands are a blur. After a moment, she …
Do Fun and Challenging Things
How John-Paul Clarke’s Rules of Life Led Him to Become an Aviation Expert and Track and Field Official.
A Biological Makerspace
In early 2020, scientists at UT Austin were deep into building a unique facility on the Forty Acres, a turbo-charged, biotech playground with a focus on rapid scientific discovery. The biological foundry, as it was …
Charging Ahead
From the economy to the environment, from public health to national security, the energy options available to us help shape our lives. Fortunately, chemists and physicists, in collaboration with engineers and others …
Endless Power - George Biros
Many computational scientists begin as mathematicians. Theirs is a community that believes our salvation lies in the universal language of numbers. Many societal problems, particularly those where we must predict …
Devleena Samanta Invents Ways to Detect Molecules in Living Cells
Devleena Samanta joined the Department of Chemistry in fall 2021 as an assistant professor. She designs and synthesizes nanoscale materials to address challenges in biology and medicine, and she's passionate about …
Akhil Surapaneni: Advancing Brain Tumor Treatments
Akhil Surapaneni is a part of a larger team of doctors, engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin conducting a study investigating how to move critical brain functions away from surgical sites.
A Lifelong Researcher - Robert van de Geijn
Pivotal figure at the Oden institute may have retired from UT Austin but still as busy as ever.
Gregory Rodin: The Intuitive Mathematician
To Gregory Rodin, intuition is everything. The newly retired Professor Emeritus of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at UT Austin and a core faculty member at the Oden Institute for …
Recognition
Three UT PGE Professors Win International SPE Awards
The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) has recognized Dr. Matt Balhoff, Dr. Kishore Mohanty and Dr. Kamy Sepehrnoori with three of its most prestigious international awards.
Postdoc Wins Prestigious H. D. Landahl Mathematical Biophysics Award
Dr. Chengyue Wu, postdoctoral research fellow at the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, has been awarded the 2023 H. D. Landahl Mathematical Biophysics Award from the Society of Mathematical Biology.
Postdoc Takes Home the 2022 Householder Prize
Heather Wilber, postdoctoral fellow at the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, has been awarded the 2022 Householder Prize for her dissertation, “Computing Numerically with Rational Functions.”
Thomas J.R. Hughes Receives Two Major Awards
Thomas J.R. Hughes has been awarded the William Benter Prize in Applied Mathematics by the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) for his significant contributions to applying mathematics to solving cross-disciplinary problems.
PharmE3D Labs Earn National and International Accolades
Researchers in UT Austin College of Pharmacy’s Pharmaceutical Engineering and 3D Printing (PharmE3D) Labs have earned a bevy of national and international awards for their work in pharmaceutical drug delivery and 3D …
UT Austin Geographers Receive Kirk Bryan Award
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have been awarded the Kirk Bryan Award, from the Geological Society of America (GSA).
Nielsen Named One of Five National Academies Early-Career Research Fellows
Kristin Nielsen, assistant professor at UT Marine Science Institute, will use her expertise to investigate how climate change is altering the potential for dietary contaminant exposure in remote Alaskan communities.
3 UT Faculty Members Win Fulbright Scholar Awards
Three faculty members of The University of Texas at Austin have received 2022-2023 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program awards from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Distinguished Researcher Award 2022 Goes to Rachel Ward
Rachel Ward has been selected as the 2022 recipient of the Peter O’Donnell Distinguished Researcher Award by the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences.
Jason McLellan Named Finalist for Blavatnik National Award
University of Texas at Austin molecular biosciences professor Jason McLellan was selected as a finalist for the 2022 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists.
Undergraduates
Natural Sciences Graduates Win Mitchell Awards
Students and recent graduates in the College of Natural Sciences were awarded the George H. Mitchell Award for Academic Excellence this spring. These awards honor students in STEM and other categories, with generous …
Students Share Passion for Science at Undergraduate Research Forum
Each spring, the College of Natural Sciences holds its annual Undergraduate Research Forum, and last month's event showcased over 250 individual and team research presentations.
Pharm Fresh: Amaka Epoh
As part of Research Week 2022, the Office of Undergraduate Research hosted the Longhorn Research Poster Session in the Texas Union Ballroom on April 20, 2022. Students presented more than 180 research posters on …
Undergraduate Research Played Role in Paper Tied to Early Career Award
When they joined the Luminators stream of the Freshman Research Initiative, alumni Tyler King, Alex Bard, Joe Espinoza, Desmond Schipper and Ohri Esarte Palomero all expected to have experiences in chemistry research …
Graduating Senior David Sarabia Found Passion for Research in FRI
A first-generation undergraduate student from Mexia, Texas, David Sarabia is among the seniors graduating this month. On his way to receiving his bachelor of science degree in chemistry, Sarabia participated in the …
Students Collaborate on Aircraft Systems Design
Lift and Drag Queens and Assuming Incompressible – for those familiar with senior aircraft design at UT Austin’s Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics (ASE/EM), these clever team names …
Three Undergraduate Students Named 2022 Goldwater Scholars
Three undergraduate students from the College of Natural Sciences have been awarded the 2022 Barry Goldwater Scholarship, a prestigious national scholarship given to students pursuing careers in the natural sciences …
Two UT Austin Students Receive Prestigious Schwarzman Scholarship
Isabel Ayala, an Asian studies and government senior, and Brendon Mak, a mechanical engineering senior, will pursue one-year master’s degrees in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
All That Jazz: Improving Automated Piano Note Transcription
Any fan of jazz music can attest to the beauty of musical improvisation. However, many famous improvisational piano pieces aren't recorded in sheet music. “There's a lot of music that exists in the world that doesn't …
Art History Students Examine "Mystery Objects" from Leo Steinberg Prints
Art History students come into the major hoping and expecting to learn more about, well, art and its history. But what does it mean to actually get your hands on different works of art, conduct research and make your …