Your Gifts at Work
Every gift — public and private, large and small — helps provide the means for The University of Texas at Austin to conduct innovative research and programs, all of which are helping us change the world. Here are just a few ways we’re making a global impact. Great Innovators in History: Bridget Scanlon Bridget Scanlon is revolutionizing our understanding of water resources used for irrigation and food production to find new, more sustainable ways to mitigate the impacts of droughts and feed the nation. > Full story Great Innovators in History: Karl Gebhardt Somehow, dark energy is defying what we think we know about gravity — instead of slowing down as it expands ever outward, the universe appears to be speeding up. Astrophysics professor Karl Gebhardt is helping lead a new scientific revolution: the quest to understand dark energy and its effect on the universe. The results could rewrite the laws of gravity. > Full story Great Innovators in History: Adela Ben-Yakar One of the challenges of fighting cancer is that the process of destroying cancer cells can also damage surrounding healthy tissue. But what if we could battle cancer one cell at a time? Faculty member Adela Ben-Yakar, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has developed a “microscalpel” that can destroy a single cancer cell while leaving nearby healthy cells intact. Ben-Yakar’s technique uses a laser to produce extremely brief high-energy pulses of light that sear a targeted cell so quickly and accurately that the laser’s heat has no time to escape and damage neighboring cells. Ben-Yakar is now working to shrink the probe’s diameter to the size of the endoscopes used for laparoscopic surgery. > Full story Fighting Childhood Obesity with Hands-on Education An after-school pilot program at UT Elementary School is helping to expand students’ diets to include nutritious foods and instill a desire to eat healthy and lower student obesity rates. An after-school pilot program at UT Elementary School is helping to expand students’ diets to include nutritious foods and instill a desire to eat healthy and lower student obesity rates. Students learn basic cooking skills and introductory gardening through Garden to Table lessons, a component of the WellNest program, an extension of the school’s Healthy Families Initiative. Additionally, the WellNest program incorporates physical activity three days a week. Two days a week students work with the school’s physical education instructor and one day a week with coaches from Ignite a Dream, an Austin-based nonprofit that administers a team practice in either tennis or soccer. According to data taken over the past three years, the prevalence of being overweight and obese among students has gone from 63 percent down to 50 percent since introducing the Healthy Families Initiative. > Full story > How we’re helping change the world Creating an Insulin Pill to Replace Shots For those who suffer from diabetes, insulin pills could replace necessary injections, thanks to new research by chemical and biomedical engineers at The University of Texas at Austin. For those who suffer from diabetes, insulin pills could replace necessary injections, thanks to new research by chemical and biomedical engineers at The University of Texas at Austin. This breakthrough research brings insulin pills closer to reality by addressing the problem of how pills can survive stomach acids to later deposit their contents in the opposing alkaline environment of the small intestine. Dr. Nicholas Peppas, professor of biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, and pharmaceutics at UT, has developed a polymer hydrogel that can quickly transport insulin through stomach acids and then actually linger in the small intestine where insulin needs to be ingested. Research efforts like this at the Cockrell School of Engineering can continue with your support. > Full story > How we’re helping change the world Detecting Skin Cancer with a Pen-Size Probe When skin cancer is suspected, the next step is an invasive biopsy. But what if light could be used to detect skin cancer? When skin cancer is suspected, the next step is an invasive biopsy. But what if light could be used to detect skin cancer? An assistant professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering, James Tunnell, is developing a pen-size probe that would do away with the need for a biopsy. Weak pulses of light are emitted from the tip onto the skin or tissue and then recaptured by the probe and sent back to a computer system for analysis. The light measures the cellular and molecular signatures of skin cancer. In the United States, more than 1 million new cases occur annually, according to the National Cancer Institute. Early funding for developing the device has come from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation. > Full story > How we’re helping change the world Tackling Climate Change Through Computer Modeling How to address rising seas and climate change? The Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences is poised to answer this challenge — and others — with the next pillar of scientific inquiry: computer modeling. These are the questions of our time: How to conquer the twin killers of heart disease and cancer? How to respond to the global energy crisis? How to address rising seas and climate change? How to make sweeping changes in advanced materials and nano-manufacturing that will fuel the U.S. economy? How to mend a crumbling health-care system? These challenges demand the swift action that only technology can offer. The Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences is poised to answer these challenges with the next pillar of scientific inquiry: computer modeling. With help from W.A. “Tex” Moncrief and an anonymous donor, ICES has launched the National Initiative for Simulation-Based Engineering and Sciences. Funds will be invested in new and existing faculty and will support students working on interdisciplinary teams addressing these problems. > Full story > How we’re helping change the world Recruiting the Next Generation of Earth Scientists The Jackson School of Geosciences has teamed up with major corporations, foundations, and individuals for GeoFORCE Texas, the country’s largest K-12 pipeline program inspiring the next generation of earth scientists. The United States faces a shortage of earth scientists — the professionals who find energy, safeguard water, and help plan for natural disasters. The Jackson School of Geosciences has teamed up with major corporations, foundations, and individuals for GeoFORCE Texas, the country’s largest K-12 pipeline program inspiring the next generation of earth scientists. GeoFORCE recruits high school students of all backgrounds while targeting public schools in Houston and Southwest Texas, which have predominantly minority populations. Each summer, students travel with teachers to geologically significant locations around the country. GeoFORCE will educate 640 students in 2009. Ninety-seven percent of the seniors graduating from GeoFORCE this year are expected to attend college. > Full story > How we’re helping change the world

Your Gifts at Work

Every gift — public and private, large and small — helps provide the means for The University of Texas at Austin to conduct innovative research and programs, all of which are helping us change the world. Here are just a few ways we’re making a global impact.

Great Innovators in History: Bridget Scanlon

Bridget Scanlon is revolutionizing our understanding of water resources used for irrigation and food production to find new, more sustainable ways to mitigate the impacts of droughts and feed the nation.

> Full story

Great Innovators in History: Karl Gebhardt

Somehow, dark energy is defying what we think we know about gravity — instead of slowing down as it expands ever outward, the universe appears to be speeding up. Astrophysics professor Karl Gebhardt is helping lead a new scientific revolution: the quest to understand dark energy and its effect on the universe. The results could rewrite the laws of gravity.

> Full story

Great Innovators in History: Adela Ben-Yakar

One of the challenges of fighting cancer is that the process of destroying cancer cells can also damage surrounding healthy tissue. But what if we could battle cancer one cell at a time? Faculty member Adela Ben-Yakar, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has developed a “microscalpel” that can destroy a single cancer cell while leaving nearby healthy cells intact. Ben-Yakar’s technique uses a laser to produce extremely brief high-energy pulses of light that sear a targeted cell so quickly and accurately that the laser’s heat has no time to escape and damage neighboring cells. Ben-Yakar is now working to shrink the probe’s diameter to the size of the endoscopes used for laparoscopic surgery.

> Full story

Why Give To UT?

Your Gifts at Work

Great Innovators in History: Bridget Scanlon

Great Innovators in History: Karl Gebhardt

Great Innovators in History: Adela Ben-Yakar

Fighting Childhood Obesity with Hands-on Education

Creating an Insulin Pill to Replace Shots

Detecting Skin Cancer with a Pen-Size Probe

Tackling Climate Change Through Computer Modeling

Recruiting the Next Generation of Earth Scientists

GIVING TO UT