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SMU professor Harsha Gangammanavar is leading a multidisciplinary team to develop algorithms that improve complex energy systems—like the management of the energy grid under intermittent renewable power.

DOE Awards SMU-Led Research Team $2M Grant for Algorithms Improving Complex Energy Systems

by | Nov 14, 2022
SMU researchers aim to help address problems in the broad area of computational mathematics for sustainability—such as the management of the energy grid under intermittent renewable power. The research is aimed at developing new algorithms for materials design, bioengineering, and power grid applications.

Researchers will use SMU's high-performance computing system—enhanced with an NVIDIA DGX SuperPODTM—as well as the supercomputing resources at Argonne National Laboratory.
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Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas Name STEM Center Executive Director
by | Nov 12, 2022

Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas announced Jennifer Makins has been appointed as executive director of the STEM Center of Excellence at Camp Whispering Cedars, a year-round, hands-on learning environment that provides students from kindergarten through 12th grade with an opportunity to explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through family events, girl-focused programs, and field trips....

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The Last Word: Marine Veteran Victor Acosta on SMU’s Catalyst Transition Program
by | Nov 10, 2022
Acosta served as a Marine amphibious assault vehicle operator in posts from Somalia to Haiti to Jordan before coming home to the U.S.—and seeking his place in the civilian workforce. “I gained a life experience that enabled me to see the world differently,” he said in a statement about his Marine service.
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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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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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Meet the Finalists: The Innovation Awards 2023, Presented by Dallas Innovates and D CEO
by | Nov 3, 2022
Now in its fourth year, the program from Dallas Innovates and D CEO honors 68 disruptors and trailblazers driving a new vision for innovation in North Texas. Finalists will be recognized in the January/February issue of D CEO magazine and online at DallasInnovates.com. Winners will be revealed at an exclusive awards event in January.
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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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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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DI People: Globe Life, Keurig Dr Pepper, ORCA AG, and More Make Leadership Moves
by | Oct 28, 2022
In this week’s roundup of hires, promotions, and accolades in North Texas, you’ll also find news from National HME, Brinker International, Robin Autopilot, GlassView, TPG, Weitzman, and others.
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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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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.

Cities across the U.S. use this technology to help make decisions about our urban forests—which encompass all the trees and shrubs that exist on public and private land within each city....

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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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DI People: Optic Gaming, Ziosk, Dr Pepper Keurig, and More Announce Leadership Moves
by | Oct 21, 2022
In this week’s roundup of hires, promotions, and accolades in North Texas, you’ll also find news from Advent International, Stellar, Stream Realty Partners, The Citizenry, Sabre Corp., SB Architects, and others.
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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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