UT Dallas Magazine - Winter 2012 - (Page 20)

Nobel Laureates at UT Dallas, Present and Past Founded just over 40 years ago by a trio whose declared intention was to provide North Texas with a major research university, UT Dallas has been on a sometimesimpatient mission to meet its destiny. Building a foundation of excellence out of thin air has meant finding faculty whose accomplishments would support and attract other highly qualified individuals, both students and colleagues. UTD has made a point of bringing Nobel Prize winners to its campus and fostering interactions between eminent researchers and students, beginning with the fondly recalled Dr. Polykarp Kusch, a member of the physics faculty from 1972 to 1982. In 1955, Kusch shared the Nobel Prize in physics. An annual campus lecture series, “Concerns of the Lively Mind,” bears his name. The University’s second Nobel laureate, the late Dr. Alan G. MacDiarmid, was instrumental in creating the University’s NanoTech Institute, which was named in his honor in 2007. MacDiarmid, who shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2000, was the James Von Ehr Distinguished Chair in Science and Technology and a professor of physics and chemistry. Also a member of the National Academy of Sciences, he was known for starting his lectures by saying: “Science is people.” Dr. Russell Hulse, who currently serves as a regental professor and associate vice president for strategic initiatives, shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in physics with his thesis advisor. He leads a program for community-based science education through the University’s Science and Engineering Education Center. “My career in science began as a youngster who was captivated by how science opened his eyes to the fascinating world around him. That fascination eventually led to an exciting scientific adventure as a graduate student and a discovery for which I was awarded a Nobel Prize,” Hulse said. “The experience of receiving the Nobel led me to a new focus on bringing the excitement and adventure of science to a new generation of kids and adults through community-based science education.” OTHER ACCOLADES In addition to three Nobel laureates among its faculty, UT Dallas currently has four members of the National Academies: • Dr. Ray Baughman, director of the Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute and Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry, National Academy of Engineering. • Dr. Brian J.L. Berry, Lloyd Viel Berkner Regental Professor in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, 2005 recipient of the Vautrin Lud Prize, National Academy of Sciences. • Dr. David E. Daniel, president of UT Dallas, National Academy of Engineering. • Dr. Don Shaw, emeritus professor of electrical engineering, National Academy of Engineering. 20 utdallas.edu http://www.utdallas.edu

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of UT Dallas Magazine - Winter 2012

UT Dallas Magazine - Winter 2012
Contents
On Campus
From the Lab
Arts and Culture
Courtside Success
Athletics
Research Is Teaching
Town and Gown
In Your Footsteps: An Alumni Perspective
Alumni Notes
In Memoriam
Hindsight

UT Dallas Magazine - Winter 2012