Education

 

 

 

The Last Word: UTA’s Maria Konsta-Gdoutos on Getting a $1.5M NSF Grant to Turn Concrete Into a Clean Source of Energy

Konsta-Gdoutos is exploring a way to turn one of the world's biggest polluters—concrete, which accounts for at least 8% of global energy-related CO2 emissions—into a source of clean, renewable energy. “We will pioneer TE-CO2NCRETE, a thermoelectric carbon-neutral concrete, that will exhibit a high carbon dioxide uptake potential and storage capacity,” Konsta-Gdoutos said in a statement. “Engineering the nanostructure of concrete also will allow the material to capture thermal energy from the surroundings and convert it into usable electrical energy, leading to the development of a novel technology for renewable electricity and higher efficiency power source.”
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Perot Family’s $50M Gift Boosts UT Southwestern’s Medical Scientist Training Program
by | Nov 9, 2022
The Perot family’s support will expand the number of students admitted to UT Southwestern's dual-degree program as well as research disciplines in which they study, to include biomedical engineering, computational biology, bioinformatics, and data science. The funding will enhance the curriculum and experiences of Medical Scientist Training Program students and increase efforts to recruit students from elite U.S. colleges, including top international students who want to stay in the U.S. for their careers.
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DI People: Dynata, AMN Healthcare, Mary Kay Announce Moves at the Top
by | Nov 4, 2022
In this week’s roundup of hires, promotions, and accolades in North Texas, you’ll also find news from Allied Electronics & Automation, Cooksey Communications, Stream Data Centers, NexBank, McKissack & McKissack, Zirtue, and more.
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The Last Word: UNT’s Calvin Henard on Engineering a Bacteria that ‘Eats’ Greenhouse Gases
In his lab at the BioDiscovery Institute, Henard engineers methanotrophic bacteria to convert methane gas into bioplastics, biofuels, and other products. While they're at it, the methanotrophs also consume carbon dioxide, another key ingredient causing climate change. With a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation and the Agile BioFoundry, a national labs consortium, Henard has begun a three-year study into the beneficial bacteria, which can lead to a more sustainable way to produce fuels, plastics, and chemicals than by using petroleum.
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The Dallas 100: SMU Cox Unveils Its Ranking of the Fastest-Growing Private Companies in DFW

by | Nov 3, 2022
Collectively, the 100 privately held companies contributed $9 billion to the Dallas-Fort Worth economy from 2019 to 2021—creating over 12,000 jobs with average sales growth of 141%. Irving-based ShiftKey, which connects healthcare professionals with healthcare facilities that have immediate shift vacancies, took the top spot in the annual rankings. Here's the complete list.
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With New Center, UT Dallas Researchers Are Looking into the Molecular Causes of Pain
With a five-year, $11.3 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, researchers at UT Dallas' new Human Nociceptor and Spinal Cord Molecular Signature Center are digging into the causes of chronic pain and new ways to treat it. The center's leader, Dr. Ted Price, says the data generated "will fundamentally change the way that we think about pain and how we develop therapeutics."
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The Last Word: UT Dallas’ Dr. Jung-Mo Ahn on Creating a New Cancer-Fighting Molecule
Dr. Ahn is working on something very small that may have a profound, lifesaving impact on something hugely dangerous. In collaboration with UTSW Medical Center professor Dr. Ganesh Raj and UTHSC San Antonio's Ratna Vadlamudi, Ahn has created a molecule that can kill an array of cancers, including an aggressive form of breast cancer. The goal of the molecules is to prevent molecular “handshakes” between proteins that can cause out-of-control cell growth that spreads cancer further.
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UT Dallas to Host Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers’ 2023 Conference
by | Oct 31, 2022
The GCEC has over 200 university members from across the U.S. and around the world. At its annual conference, the centers work together to share best practices, develop programs and initiatives, and collaborate and assist each other to advance, strengthen, and celebrate the role of universities in teaching tomorrow's entrepreneurs. "We look forward to our peers from entrepreneurship centers all over the world joining us to learn, connect, grow, and better our efforts in the entrepreneurship space," says UTD's Dresden Goldberg.
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THE LAST WORD on Dallas Innovates. Find "who said what" in our collection of quotes on Dallas-Fort Worth Innovation.

Every Last Word: Quotes About All Things North Texas

Read “who said what” in our roundup of quotes about all things North Texas, including ENO8's Jeff Francis; MyndVR's Chris Brickler and Ted Werth; Axxess' John Olajide; the Urban Land Institute's Ron Pressman; Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson; the Mavs Foundation's Katie Edwards; UT Arlington's Yi Hong; HomeUSA.com's Ben Caballero; ParkHub's George Baker Sr.; and more.
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New Workshops Help Plano ISD Parents Learn to Save for Success
by | Oct 25, 2022
Plano ISD partners with Capital One for the Savings Success program to take some of the myths out of money and turn them into financial facts.
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UNT Geographers Get $1.5M NSF Grant to Explore Tech’s Impact on Urban Forests

University of North Texas faculty members Alexandra Ponette-González and Matthew Fry will soon launch a a five-year study—backed by a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation—to explore how digital tools like i-Tree influence urban forest sustainability and equity....

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SMU Is Bringing Its ‘Innovative Biotech Research’ to Pegasus Park
by | Oct 24, 2022
The Biotech+ Hub at Pegasus Park in Dallas has been attracting more and more life science startups and university teams. Now a whole herd of Mustangs are about to stampede there. The SMU Institute for Computational Biosciences at Pegasus Park will have space at the 23-acre development. SMU researchers from a variety of disciplines will be focusing on bio-scientific discoveries, leveraging advanced computational algorithms and technologies.

"We're excited to give SMU faculty this new opportunity to pursue world-changing research for good and to do so in close proximity to a broad range of academic, medical, corporate, and non-profit collaborators," says SMU Provost Elizabeth Loboa. "We're excited to give SMU faculty this new opportunity to pursue world-changing research for good and to do so in close proximity to a broad range of academic, medical, corporate, and non-profit collaborators," says SMU Provost Elizabeth Loboa.
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The Last Word: UT Arlington’s Yi Hong on Landing $400K to Develop New ‘Bioactive Materials’ for Heart Research

Hong has received the Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association, receiving $400,000 in research funding support for five years. The award is given to established investigators in rapid growth phases of their careers, whose accomplishments continue to show promise. Hong's promise centers around his research on new "bioactive materials" to mimic the natural state of a body for heart research. That's important because cardiovascular disease remains the world's No.1 killer in the world, claiming nearly 18 million lives per year, UT Arlington says.
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Students Get $185K in Funding for Fledgling Businesses at UT Arlington’s MavPitch Competition
by | Oct 19, 2022
UT Arlington students have bright business ideas—from hydrogen-powered drones to 3D-printed concrete homes to K-pop themed T-shirt lines. The university shone a light on 10 of them—along with $185,000 in total funding—at the finale of the MavPitch Business Competition. “We use the generous awards and other resources to encourage, grow, and mentor these fledgling student-run firms,” says UTA's Jeffrey McGee.
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DI People: Perot Jain, nVenue, Resource Royalty, Visit Dallas, and Hunt Cos. Make Moves
by | Oct 14, 2022
Resource Royalty Names New Chief Executive Officer

Resource Royalty LLC, a Dallas-based oil and gas company, promoted Beth Good from CFO to CEO. The promotion follows the announcement that Bob Howard would be stepping down to assume the role of chairman....

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The Last Word: Google’s James Harding on the Promise Shown at the HackDFW Marathon
The eighth annual HackDFW, powered by Say Yes to Dallas and presented by Google, connected hundreds of aspiring technologists to several Fortune 100 companies. It was a unique 48-hour marathon that challenged more than 550 people from 80 universities. Tech teams created ways to innovatively tackle waste management, climate change, better understand decisions from the Supreme Court, and much more.
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