Awards/Accolades/Grants

Presidential Awardees:

Stuart Birnbaum, associate professor of geological sciences, wins Teaching Excellence for Tenured Faculty

Carola Wenk, assistant professor of computer science, wins Teaching Excellence for Tenure-Track Faculty

Joseph Stein, lecturer in mathematics, wins Teaching Excellence for Non-Tenure-Track Faculty

Charles Wilson, professor of biology, wins Research Achievement for Tenured Faculty

Carlos Garcia, assistant professor of chemistry, wins Research Achievement for Tenure-Track Faculty

Weining Zhang, associate professor of computer science, wins Excellence in University Service for Tenured Faculty

Weldon Hammond, professor of geological sciences, wins Excellence in Community Service for Tenured Faculty

Eric Swanson, professor of geological sciences, wins Core Curriculum Teaching for Tenured Faculty

Ronald Brashear, lecturer in mathematics, wins Core Curriculum Teaching for Non-Tenure-Track Faculty

Qing Yi, assistant professor of computer science, received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award

Jefferey von Ronne, assistant professor of computer science, received a National Science Foundation CAREER award

Cong-Gui Zhao, associate professor of chemistry, joined the editorial board of the Open Natural Products Journal

Thomas Forsthuber became a chartered member of the National Institutes of Health Hypersensitivity, Autoimmune, and Immune-Mediated Diseases Study Section 2008

George Negrete, professor of chemistry, awarded patent for “Compositions and Methods Related to Fatty Cyclic Amino Acid Derivatives,” Oct. 21, 2008. This patent describes the synthesis and applications of a novel class of lipids that are prepared from amino acids asparagine, cysteine, and serine. The new lipids are being investigated as additives to modify nanosphere properties in ways that potentially make them better carriers of medicines.

Garry Cole, professor of biology, and Chiung-Yu Hung, research associate professor, awarded patent for “Attenuated Vaccine Useful for Immunizations against Coccidioides spp. Infections,” Feb. 2, 2008. This patent uses an attenuated mutant of Coccidioides posadasii (generated by deletion of three genes (CTS2, CTS3 and ARD1) as a live vaccine.)

Karl Klose, professor, member of organizing committee for the American Society for Microbiology Biodefense Meeting, and coordinated the session on “synthetic genomes,” February 2008 in Baltimore, Md.

Janakiram Seshu, assistant professor, was invited to speak at the Gordon Research Conference, Biology of Spirochetes, 2008, in Ventura, Calif.

Alumni:

Matthew Grunstra, Ph.D. in environmental science and engineering ’08, appointed assistant professor of earth and mineral science at Penn State

Toan Nguyen, M.S. in mathematics ’06, appointed assistant professor at Brown University beginning 2010.  Visiting Instituit de mathematique de Jussieu at Universite Paris for a year.

Yijuan Lu, Ph.D. in computer science ’08, appointed assistant professor at Texas State University.

Grants:

Cong-Gui Zhao, “Enantioselective Synthesis of Phosphinate Derivatives” for National Institutes of Health, 2009, $1,035,165

Ravi Sandu, “A Framework for Managing the Assured Information Sharing Lifecycle” for Unviersity of Maryland, 01/12/09, $200,000

Karl Klose, “Sigma 54 and Vibrio cholerae Pathogenesis” for National Institutes of Health, 01/07/09, 2009 $148,070

Edwin Barea-Rodriguez, “Minority Ph.D. Recruitment and Retention in the Department of Biology at UTSA” for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, 12/12/08, $4,000

Kay Robbins, “Teaching Computing to Biologists Through Data Visualization” for the National Science Foundation, 12/2/08, $146,646

Andrew Tsin, “Adaptive Optics and Retinal Imaging: Constructing a Prototype for a Diagnostic Instrument” for UTSA, 12/1/08, $25,000

Bernard Arulanandam, “CPAF Induced CD4+T Cell Mediated Immunity against Chalmydia” for National Institutes of Health, 11/28/08, $361,250

Clint Whaley, “Technical Proposal in Reply to RFP #H98230-06-R-0914 for ATLAS” for National Science Agency, 11/10/08, $115,499

Chonglin Chen, “Novel Low Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell” for Department of Energy, 10/20/08, $52,710

Martha Lundell, “Hormone Signals, Genome Integrity and Longevity” for Albert Einstein College of Medicine/National Institutes of Health, 10/12/08, $86,521

Greg White, “Implementation of the Community Cyber Security Maturity Model” for Department of Homeland Security, 09/27/08, $3,999,999

Turgay Korkmaz, “Prioritization-Based QoS Support with Attack Resilience in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks” for Department of Army–Army Research Office, 09/24/08, $587,872

Aaron Cassill, “San Antonio Mathematics and Science Education Partnership” for National Science Foundation, 09/17/08, $300,000

Donald Kurtz, “Supplements for Functional Studies Based on High Resolution Structures” for National Institutes of Health, 09/12/08, $59,897

Charles Wilson, “Rhythmicity and Synchrony in the Basal Ganglia: Project 3” for Northwestern University, 09/10/08, $198,460

Carlos Garcia, “Analysis of Oleander Extracts by Capillary Electrophoresis” for Nerium Biotechnology, Inc., 09/09/08, $150