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Every Last Word
Dallas Innovates’ signature series capturing what leaders across North Texas are saying — in their own words — about innovation, impact, and what’s next.
Victor Acosta in the Veteran's Garden at SMU. [Photo: SMU]
The Last Word: Marine Veteran Victor Acosta on SMU’s Catalyst Transition Program
by David Seeley | 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.
by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Nov 9, 2022
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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by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Nov 8, 2022
This Friday, November 11, Orlando and Medal of Honor Recipient CSM Gary Littrell (U.S. Army, retired) will serve as co-grand marshals of the Veterans Day Parade in Dallas, to be held starting at 11 a.m. at City Hall Plaza.
It'll be a homecoming of sorts for Orlando. In 1973, his song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" became a global hit, reaching No. 1 in the U.S. and U.K. charts. Families of returning Vietnam War POWs adopted the song as their own, tying yellow ribbons on trees across America. Later in 1973, Orlando performed the song at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas at an event welcoming home returning POWs. with Bob Hope as host.
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by David Seeley |
Nov 7, 2022
On Friday night, The Dallas Fuel defeated the two-time world champions San Francisco Shock to become the 2022 Overwatch League Champions, winning the best-of-seven series 4-3. The finale played out live onstage in front of thousands of fans at the Anaheim Convention Center in California, and was streamed on YouTube for a live audience of an estimated 325,000-plus concurrent viewers.
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University of North Texas assistant professor Calvin Henard, left, with professor Ana Paula Alonso. [Photo: Leo Gonzalez/UNT]
The Last Word: UNT’s Calvin Henard on Engineering a Bacteria that ‘Eats’ Greenhouse Gases
by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report | Nov 3, 2022
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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by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Nov 2, 2022
Through its flagship TXU Energy brand, Vistra is offering what it calls a "first-of-its-kind plan that uses electric vehicle data to allow free home charging—every day—and provides power backed by 100% renewable sources for all home energy needs."
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by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Nov 1, 2022
The Prix Galien USA Committee honored excellence and innovation in life sciences during the Prix Galien USA Forum and 16th annual Prix Galien Awards Gala last week at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
One big winner was BioLabs, which has a 37,000-SF coworking and shared wet lab space at the Biotech+ Hub at Pegasus Park in Dallas, along with other locations across the U.S. and in France and Germany.
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by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Oct 31, 2022
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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[Image: Rootstocks/istockphoto]
Every Last Word: Quotes About All Things North Texas
by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report | Oct 28, 2022
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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by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Oct 21, 2022
The next time you see Luka Doncic slam home a dunk at a Dallas Mavericks game, he'll be doing more than helping his team win in the new NBA season. He'll also be scoring $50 to help create opportunities for young adults across Dallas-Fort Worth.
TIAA and the Mavericks are teaming up on Dunks for Equity, a program supporting educational and professional equity for all.
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by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Oct 20, 2022
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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by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Oct 19, 2022
Caballero—a three-time Guinness Book of World Records holder for most current annual home sale transactions through MLS by an individual sell-side real estate agent—should know a thing or two about interest rates. And he says the recent spikes have got Texas home builders "scrambling."
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2022 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy recipients include, L to R starting at second from left: Kenyan industrialist Manu Chandaria; Lyda Hill; Lynn Schusterman; Dolly Parton; and Stacy Schusterman. [Photo: Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy]
The Last Word: Carnegie Medal Recipient Lyda Hill on Why More Women Are Needed in Science and Medicine
by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report | Oct 17, 2022
In a ceremony Thursday night in New York City, Hill received a 2022 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy along with fellow recipients Dolly Parton, Manu Chandaria, and Lynn and Stacy Schusterman.
Dallas Innovates wrote about Hill's honor back in August. She was recognized by the Carnegie Medal for supporting women in STEM fields and inspiring girls to be interested in STEM careers, in addition to being recognized for investments in the life sciences, including cancer and mental health research and treatment; conservation; and empowering community-based nonprofits to maximize impact, the organization said.
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by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Oct 14, 2022
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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by David Seeley |
Oct 13, 2022
UT Dallas says that black-hat modifications to integrated circuits—known as "hardware trojans"—can disrupt wireless networks and leak sensitive data. And as wireless phones and other devices evolve, the threat is only expected to grow.
But two UT Dallas engineers are on the case—and they've got a three-year, $1 million National Science Foundation grant to help solve it.
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by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Oct 11, 2022
Waymo, the self-driving truck unit from Google parent Alphabet Inc., has hauled over 1 million pounds of Modelo and Corona beer from Dallas to Houston in autonomously driven trucks, reports David Welch of Bloomberg News.
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