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From the College of Natural Sciences
Meet Lawrence Garvin, II, Class of 2018

Meet Lawrence Garvin, II, Class of 2018

Lawrence Garvin, II

As a kid, Lawrence Garvin, II loved football. His dream was to be like Vince Young and play for the Longhorns. But in high school, Garvin became fascinated by neuroscience and decided his path was to be a doctor. Garvin kept his sights on The University of Texas at Austin as his top school. He was drawn to its pre-med track and partnership with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Eight students receive prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Eight students receive prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Four graduate students and four undergraduates have received prestigious NSF Graduate Fellowships.

​The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship to 30 University of Texas at Austin students, including four graduate students and four undergraduates from the College of Natural Sciences.

Planet Probes, All the Rage Now, Have Deep Roots at UT Austin

Planet Probes, All the Rage Now, Have Deep Roots at UT Austin

Photo courtesy of NASA.

Update: In October 2019, exoplanet research by scientists at Princeton and the University of Geneva was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Read on to learn about the UT connection to pioneering the search for planets beyond our solar system.

Leafcutter Ants' Success Due to More Than Crop Selection

Leafcutter Ants' Success Due to More Than Crop Selection

A rare peak inside the garden of a leafcutter ant colony reveals the queen (center-left), brood, and an extensive matrix of fungal hyphae that form both the nest structure and the insects' exclusive diet. Public domain image by Alex Wild, for the University of Texas at Austin's "Insects Unlocked" project.

A complex genetic analysis has biologists re-evaluating some long-held beliefs about the way societies evolved following the invention of agriculture—by six-legged farmers.

Chemistry Educator Selected for Texas 10 Honor

Chemistry Educator Selected for Texas 10 Honor

Fatima Fakhreddine teaches during TIP Chemistry Jumpstart in 2017. The class gave incoming TIP freshmen a head start by allowing them to meet their professor, brush up on basic chemistry ideas, and hear from a panel of past chemistry students on how to do well in the class.

Dr. Fatima Fakhreddine of the College of Natural Sciences has been selected as one of The Alcalde's Texas 10 for 2018. Nominated by alumni and celebrated in the Texas Exes publication, the Texas 10 are dedicated educators who have had an unforgettable impact on the lives of students. Fakhreddine and the other winners this year were chosen from a pool of more than 100 nominees.

AIDS Research by Alum Left Lasting Impact

AIDS Research by Alum Left Lasting Impact

André "Andy" Nahmias in 1948, with an Alexandria, Egypt newspaper, mentioning his scholarly pursuits at UT Austin.

André Nahmias (BA '50, MA '52) first encountered what he calls "the ecstasy of discovery" when he was a University of Texas at Austin student. In the intervening decades as an infectious disease research pediatrician, he made a number of discoveries that benefited people with various bacterial and viral infections.

Anti-Alcoholism Drug Shows Promise in Animal Models

Anti-Alcoholism Drug Shows Promise in Animal Models

Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have successfully tested in animals a drug that, they say, may one day help block the withdrawal symptoms and cravings that incessantly coax people with alcoholism to drink. Photo credit: Shutterstock.

Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have successfully tested in animals a drug that, they say, may one day help block the withdrawal symptoms and cravings that incessantly coax people with alcoholism to drink. If eventually brought to market, it could help the more than 15 million Americans, and many more around the world who suffer from alcoholism stay sober.

The Physics of Rapidly Spreading Cancer

The Physics of Rapidly Spreading Cancer

Using a computer simulation that models the physical and chemical interactions of cancerous cells (colored dots), researchers discovered that over time, tumors develop a distinctive two-part structure: slow moving cells moving randomly in a dense core (blue and purple), surrounded by a band of cells moving faster and more directly outward (green, yellow, red). Arrows indicate direction of motion. The image at right is the same tumor cut in half to reveal the inner structure. Image credit: Anne Bowen, Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Scientists have recently discovered a method in cancer's madness. Before now, they've been perplexed by how cancer cells, growing alongside healthy cells, often spread much faster into surrounding tissue than randomness would dictate. It's as if cancerous cells are intentionally moving directly outward, invading healthy tissue.

Creating Truly Autonomous Systems is Goal of $7.5 Million Engineering Project

Creating Truly Autonomous Systems is Goal of $7.5 Million Engineering Project

An MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) prepares to land after a mission in Afghanistan. Photo credit: U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson.

Thanks to a Department of Defense grant, researchers are planning for a future when unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have the ability to fly themselves in emergency situations.

Five Natural Sciences Faculty Receive NSF CAREER Awards

Five Natural Sciences Faculty Receive NSF CAREER Awards

Assistant professors Michael Boylan-Kolchin, Vijay Chidambaram Pillai, Scott Niekum, Simon Peter and Eric Price were selected for the NSF's most prestigious award in support of early-career faculty.

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