(April 11, 2019) – Four UTSA researchers have each been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, totaling $2 million in new research funding for San Antonio’s largest public research university. CAREER Awards, one of the NSF’s most prestigious programs, helps UTSA advance closer to National Research University Fund (NRUF) eligibility.
UTSA’s 2019 CAREER Award recipients include:
To earn NRUF eligibility, UTSA must meet qualitative and quantitative targets such as restricted research expenditures, the quality of an institution’s faculty and its annual rate of doctoral degrees awarded. To evaluate the quality of an institution’s faculty for NRUF eligibility, Texas considers only the most prestigious professional achievements. NSF CAREER Awards are among those highly recognized honors.
“Through our various research excellence initiatives, the research culture on campus is evolving. The NSF Early CAREER award is a success marker in the research world, and is an amazing accomplishment by our esteemed faculty members. Their achievement elevates and promotes the quality of our faculty and the research conducted at UTSA to prospective students and peers alike,” said Bernard Arulanandam, UTSA interim vice president for research, economic development, and knowledge enterprise.
Dong’s NSF CAREER Award of $500,181 will support his project, “Holistic Assessment of the Impacts of Connected Buildings and People on Community Energy Planning and Management.” The funding will allow Dong to develop a new method of energy planning and management for smart communities and cities.
“This CAREER award will help me achieve my long-term career goal of advancing interdisciplinary research on sustainable and smart cities, where smart communities, people, grid, transportation, water systems and others interplay and to make a real world impact on energy efficiency and environmental sustainability,” said Dong.
Gatsis will further his research on electricity distribution networks and water distribution systems as part of his project, “Optimal Interdependent Operation of Electricity Distribution Grids and Water Distribution Systems in Smart Cities.” His $500,000 CAREER award will support the development of more reliable and cost-effective electricity and water delivery.
“It’s an honor to receive this award,” said Gatsis. “It will enable me to explore an exciting and timely research direction. This project also supports education through enhancement of the power engineering curriculum at UTSA.”
Guda was awarded $530,688 for his project, “Programming Vascularization by Design in Porous Composites,” which will generate new discoveries about how blood vessels grow.
“What we learn about how these vessels grow will allow us to design new biomaterials solutions for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine,” said Guda. “Understanding the underlying science could also potentially help us understand what goes wrong with vessel formation during cancer, when competent, structured networks of vessels are not formed.”
Wang will use his $492,358 CAREER award to develop techniques for better detection and repair of software bugs in his project, “Analysis and Repair of Build Scripts for DevOps Software Practice.” His research interests include enhancing software productivity and quality using more robust software build systems.
“By reducing the bugs in software build systems, my research will lead to more timely software release and software products of higher quality, which will benefit people who directly use or are involved in activities supported by the software,” said Wang.
The NSF CAREER Award supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. Unlike most research grants, this award requires both strong scholarly research and a significant plan for education and mentorship.
Eleven UTSA faculty have won CAREER Awards over the last five years.
Learn more about the NSF CAREER Award.
Learn more about UTSA’s strategic vision.
Celebrate UTSA’s 50th Anniversary and share social media posts about the 50th using the hashtag #UTSA50.
Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn.
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
The Racial Justice Book Club was established at UTSA by members of the campus community to explore social justice following acts of racial violence across the nation over the last few years. We are reading The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas by Monica Muñoz Martinez. We will meet every Wednesday in September and October at 2 pm on Zoom.
Virtual EventThe touring ensemble of five London actors will perform Shakespeare’s _Macbeth in the UTSA Recital Hall.
Recital Hall, Main CampusSession for parents to learn about how to prepare for their children's future in higher education.
Buena Vista Street. Building (BVB 1.326,) Downtown CampusCelebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at our very own street fair - Calle UTSA. We will have activities, performances, food, music, and piñatas to break open.
Student Union Paseo"La Plática" is a space for thoughtful dialogue to build a sense of connection among the Roadrunner Community by getting to know each other better and sharing what's on our minds and about ourselves to increase to increase awareness of diverse perspectives.
Virtual EventThis September 30, the Friday Series will feature Prof. Milena Ang, who will be presenting A Tren to Nowhere: Statistic Development and the Politics of Racial, a paper co-authored with Tania Islas-Weistein where they discuss Mexico's long history of state-led development projects that contribute to economic and racial inequality. The authors argue that despite professing racial justice, official discourses surrounding the Tren Maya reproduce existing symbolic and material forms of racism.
McKinney Humanities (MH 4.01.01,) Main CampusWe invite you to learn about the process of screenwriting and explore the intersection of identity and pursuing dreams from Jorge Ramirez-Martinez and Raymond Perez, screenwriters for the Selena: The Series, released on Netflix. They will discuss their careers and writing process, including how their identities as Mexican American and gay men have shaped their professional experiences.
Virtual EventThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education.
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to ending generations of discrimination and inequity. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
