AUSTIN, Texas--Two faculty members at The University of Texas at Austin have been elected fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
They are Dr. J. Tinsley Oden, an associate vice president for research and director of the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES), and Dr. Mark Kirkpatrick, a professor in the Section of Integrative Biology.
The academy, founded in 1780, recognizes international achievement in science, the arts, business and public leadership. The organization has brought together the nation's leading figures from universities, government, business and the creative arts to exchange ideas and promote knowledge in the public interest.
In addition to leading ICES, which supports broad interdisciplinary research and academic programs in computational engineering and sciences, Oden holds professorships in the Cockrell School of Engineering and the Department of Mathematics. He has been a pioneer in the research of mathematics and computational mechanics. His research focuses on the development of computational methods for multi-scale modeling, which has applications in semiconductor manufacturing and computer models for the adaptive control of laser therapies for cancer.
He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and several scientific, engineering and professional societies and has received recognition from universities in the United States and around the world.
Kirkpatrick, the T.S. Painter Centennial Professor, focuses his research on a broad range of topics in evolutionary biology. He and his collaborators are investigating the role sexual selection plays in the evolution of new species. Kirkpatrick has published extensively on sexual selection and speciation, among many other topics in evolution. He was a Guggenheim Fellow, a Presidential Young Investigator and won the American Society of Naturalists President's Award in 1998.
With the election of Oden and Kirkpatrick, the university has 34 fellows in the academy.
Two others with strong ties to the university were among the 212 people named academy fellows in 2008. They are:
Peter O'Donnell, president of the O'Donnell Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on enhancing education in Texas, including projects at The University of Texas at Austin.
Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive of Dell Computer Corp. He founded the company as a student at the university.
Other 2008 fellows include James Baker, former United States Secretary of State; filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen; and Marlan O. Scully, director of the Center for Theoretical Physics, Texas A&M University.
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