GUARDIANS OF THE ENERGY: To help safeguard the nation’s energy sector, UTSA and Idaho National Laboratory have signed an agreement to facilitate collaborative academic and research programs in cyber and critical infrastructure protection. The agreement will include increased internship and postdoctoral opportunities, and joint appointments of cyber-focused researchers, allowing UTSA faculty and INL staff to conduct collaborative research programs, with projects and personnel located on both the UTSA and INL campuses.

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NERVES OF STEEL: The UTSA Steel Bridge Team competed in the 2018 National Student Steel Bridge Competition, winning the inaugural Frank J. Hatfield Ingenuity Award for unique bridge design. The team of 12 civil engineering students also placed fourth in construction speed.

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LEAD THE WAY: The UTSA College of Business’s Center for Professional Excellence is launching a new series of executive education programs. They will range from three-hour workshops to 12-month certificate programs and include topics from cryptocurrency and blockchain to leadership training. The Leadership Institute kicks off August 16 with coursework beginning the first week of September.

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RISE AND SHINE: With a goal to assist under-represented students in attaining doctoral degrees in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, UTSA has received a five-year, $7.7 million grant to support the Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement from the National Institutes of Health.

The program is designed to ensure that talented and motivated minority or disadvantaged students are able to obtain the experience and skills they need to succeed in research-intensive careers.

Students in RISE pursue their own original research and present their findings at scientific conferences while they are enrolled at UTSA. That experience introduces the students to a broad range of scientific disciplines and exposes them to networking opportunities with representatives of some of the nation’s top research universities.

“We are proud that the RISE program will continue to launch our undergraduate and Ph.D. students into high-level careers that improve the nation’s health, education, safety, and economy,” says Gail Taylor, assistant program director.

“As medicine continues to rapidly evolve,” says U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, “I’m glad to see San Antonio emerging as a leader in educational opportunities to create the next generation of medical professionals.”

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HONOR THY TEACHERS: Two UTSA faculty members have been selected to receive the 2018 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award from The University of Texas System. T. Jackie Cuevas, an assistant professor in the Department of English, and Jennifer Dilley ’08, a lecturer in the Department of History, will each receive an unrestricted check for $25,000. They are among 27 educators from UT System’s 14 academic and health institutions receiving the prestigious annual honor.

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A FAB FUTURE: The Urban Future Lab, an interdisciplinary think-and-do-tank and research lab housed in UTSA’s College of Architecture, Construction and Planning, is undertaking a pilot program on San Antonio’s South Side. In collaboration with Southside First Economic Development Council, the lab’s leadership aims to establish solid underpinnings to distinguish between solvable problems, myth, and how the symbiosis between the two translates into actionable objectives to further economic revitalization and community development.