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From the College of Natural Sciences
Natural Sciences Faculty Win Awards for Teaching, Inspiring Students

Natural Sciences Faculty Win Awards for Teaching, Inspiring Students

Several faculty in the College of Natural Sciences have been named the recipients of University-wide awards for their efforts to motivate and educate students at The University of Texas at Austin.

5 Tips to Get the Most Out of Four Years of Undergrad Research

5 Tips to Get the Most Out of Four Years of Undergrad Research

Five graduating seniors share their tips for getting the most out of undergraduate research. Photo credit: Vivian Abagiu.

So you've been accepted to UT Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You've heard that doing research as an undergraduate will give you a leg up academically and in your career (really, research proves it). But how do you find a research lab to work in? How do you maximize the opportunity to work alongside some of the world's leading scientists and mathematicians? What do you do if you're on the brink of a big discovery, and then an overzealous cleaning crew throws out the colony of slugs it took you three months to raise and train in the lab?

Donation to UT Will Expand View of the Universe

Donation to UT Will Expand View of the Universe

Artist’s concept of the Giant Magellan Telescope, shown with beams creating artificial guide stars that the telescope’s adaptive optics system will use to compensate for turbulence in the atmosphere, ensuring extremely clear images. (GMTO Corporation)

David Booth, co-founder and executive chairman of Austin-based Dimensional Fund Advisors and a visionary philanthropist, has committed a $10 million gift to The University of Texas at Austin. His philanthropic investment will be used to advance Texas Science and the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). Once completed, the GMT will be the world's largest telescope and have the capability to provide unprecedented views of the universe.

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Meet the 32 Dean's Honored Graduates for 2019

Meet the 32 Dean's Honored Graduates for 2019

Dean's Honored Graduate is the highest honor awarded to graduating seniors in the College of Natural Sciences. Honorees exhibit excellence in the classroom as well as substantial achievement in scientific research, an independent intellectual pursuit, or exceptional service and leadership to the college and university. These outstanding students are among the graduating seniors also receiving College of Natural Sciences Distinctions this year.

National Instruments Co-Founders Inducted into Inventors Hall of Fame

National Instruments Co-Founders Inducted into Inventors Hall of Fame

Paul Goldbart, Dean of the College of Natural Sciences, and Sharon Wood, Dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering, (back row, right) were among a group celebrating UT Austin alumni Jeff Kodosky and James Truchard at the National Inventors Hall of Fame induction ceremony May 2.

National Instruments co-founders James Truchard and Jeff Kodosky, who founded one the country's pioneering technology companies while working at The University of Texas at Austin, have been selected as 2019 inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Together, the two software pioneers invented LabVIEWTM (Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench) — a programming language that revolutionized the way engineers and scientists measure, test and control applications.

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Natural Science Students and Faculty Win Graduate School Awards

Natural Science Students and Faculty Win Graduate School Awards

Lisa Piccirillo, Yang Huo and Aprile Benner

The University of Texas at Austin's Graduate School has announced the 2019 winners of its professional and student awards, which include two graduate students and one faculty member from the College of Natural Sciences. Generously underwritten by the University Co-op, the awards recognize excellence in graduate academics, teaching and professional services.

Natural Sciences Students Sweep Outstanding Student Awards

Natural Sciences Students Sweep Outstanding Student Awards

Each year, Texas Parents honors a male and female Outstanding Student recipient and four Outstanding Student finalists who demonstrate exceptional leadership, scholarship, character and service. This year, all six are pursuing majors in the College of Natural Sciences, including the two award winners, Colton Becker and Jacqueline Gibson.

UT's Biodiversity Center Prepares to Learn from Falcon's Eggs

UT's Biodiversity Center Prepares to Learn from Falcon's Eggs

UT Austin's resident peregrine falcon, Tower Girl, has been laying eggs in her nest box in the UT Tower every year since 2016. This year, as in previous years, given the amount of time that has passed since their arrivals, the eggs will not hatch.

Ten Students Receive Prestigious Federal Graduate Research Awards

Ten Students Receive Prestigious Federal Graduate Research Awards

Six graduate students and four undergraduates have received prestigious federal graduate research awards. Pictured are Stephanie Valenzuela, Thao Thanh Thi Nguyen, Logan Pearce, Caitlyn McCafferty, Taha Dawoodbhoy, Ian Rambo, Hadiqa Zafar, Zoe Boundy-Singer, Griffin Glenn, and Ariel Barr.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have awarded prestigious graduate research awards to 48 University of Texas at Austin students, including ten from the College of Natural Sciences.

Faculty Members Receive Prestigious NSF CAREER Awards

Faculty Members Receive Prestigious NSF CAREER Awards

Carlos Baiz, Philipp Krähenbühl, Qiang Liu and Christopher Rossbach were selected to receive NSF CAREER awards.

Four faculty members from the College of Natural Sciences have received distinguished Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards totaling $2.1 million over 5 years from the National Science Foundation.

New Series Highlights World-Changing Math and Science Leaders

New Series Highlights World-Changing Math and Science Leaders

Some of the mathematicians and scientists featured in World Changers.

We in the College of Natural Sciences have launched World Changers, a new initiative that aims to celebrate a very special type of human in history: the scientist or mathematician who charted a path forward in which others could follow. 

Science—Coming to a Library Near You

Science—Coming to a Library Near You

Graduate student Emily Rees is among the UT Austin scientists who share their research with the public. Neighborhood Science is a new offering that connects researchers with local libraries. Photo credit: Vivian Abagiu.

Graduate students at UT Austin have been sharing their work with the public at the successful and popular program Science Under the Stars for ten years. Now, with a new offshoot offering called Neighborhood Science, the students, primarily from the top-ranked ecology, evolution and behavior program, are working to connect even more of the Austin community to science by bringing their informative and entertaining talks––on topics ranging from superheroes to singing mice––right into Austin Public Libraries.

Mathematics’ Highest Prize Awarded to UT Austin’s Karen Uhlenbeck

Mathematics’ Highest Prize Awarded to UT Austin’s Karen Uhlenbeck

Dr. Uhlenbeck this week at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where she is a current Visitor in the School of Mathematics. Photo credit: Andrea Kane, Institute for Advanced Study

A professor emerita of mathematics at The University of Texas at Austin has received mathematics' top international award for the year. The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has named Karen Uhlenbeck its 2019 Abel Prize award winner.

Women in Natural Sciences Students to Start Global Projects this Summer

Women in Natural Sciences Students to Start Global Projects this Summer

This summer, Texas Science students will travel the world to tackle challenges in public health, poverty and sustainability, thanks to UT Austin's inaugural President's Award for Global Learning.

Two in CNS Receive President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award

Two in CNS Receive President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award

​Astronomer Keely Finkelstein and data scientist Kristin Harvey are among eight University of Texas at Austin faculty members named as recipients of the 2018-19 President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award. The award recognizes the university's educational innovators who demonstrate exceptional undergraduate teaching in the core curriculum, including signature courses, and engage with curriculum reform and educational innovation.