Category: Faculty

Physicist Alexei Safonov and biologist Joseph Sorg are among the 19 campus-wide faculty announced October 8 as Texas A&M University's 2020 class of Chancellor Enhancing Development and Generating Excellence in Scholarship (EDGES) Fellows — mid-career faculty who are making significant marks in their disciplines as promising researchers and educators.

Texas A&M physicist Ed Fry has been selected to receive The Oceanography Society's 2020 Jerlov Award, named for ocean optics research pioneer Nils Gunnar Jerlov and presented every two years to recognize significant advancements in ocean optics and outstanding achievements in interdisciplinary ocean science research.

Four of the 10 Hagler Institute for Advanced Study Fellows for 2020-21 will be affiliated with Texas A&M Science, including an expert in mass spectrometry and related phenomena, instrumentation and analysis; a pioneer in fruit physiology and ripening and signal transduction systems; a science, technology and policy advocate for low-carbon and negative-emissions science; and a theoretical chemical physicist who studies molecules using short pulses of light.

Congratulations to Texas A&M physicist and Mitchell Institute Director Bhaskar Dutta, who has been elected as a 2020 Fellow of the American Physical Society in recognition of advances in knowledge through original research and publication, innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology, and significant contributions to the teaching of physics or service.

Congratulations to Texas A&M statistician and department head Brani Vidakovic, who has been appointed as the inaugural holder of the H.O. Hartley Chair in Statistics honoring the founder and first director of statistics at Texas A&M.

Congratulations to Texas A&M biologist Asha Rao, who has been named a 2020 Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence — the eighth recipient in Texas A&M College of Science history of the university's highest recognition for classroom performance.

Texas A&M astronomer and 2019-20 Council of Principal Investigators chair Darren DePoy will work closely with individual faculty and across the college's five departments to enhance research throughout Texas A&M Science in his new administrative role as associate dean for research.

Branislav Vidakovic, a professor of statistics at Georgia Tech and the current program director for statistics in the National Science Foundation's Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, has been appointed as head of Texas A&M Statistics, effective August 15.

Congratulations to Texas A&M mathematician and lead undergraduate advisor Heather Ramsey '02, one of two 2020 recipients of the John J. Koldus III Faculty and Staff Achievement Award presented annually by the Texas A&M Division of Student Affairs to honor deserving individuals for their strong interest in overall student development and success.

Congratulations to Texas A&M physicist and Cyclotron Institute member Ralf Rapp, one of four faculty named to Texas A&M's 2020 class of University Professorship holders, a distinction established in 2019 to recognize, elevate and amplify faculty achievement and impact.

A Texas A&M-sized thanks and gig 'em to Texas A&M chemist Ganesa Gopalakrishnan, the organic chemistry artist affectionately known as "G.G.," who is retiring May 31 after four decades of educating, encouraging and inspiring an estimated 25,000 Texas A&M students.

Twelve research projects — including four led by Texas A&M Science faculty — have been chosen for funding as part of The Texas A&M University System National Laboratories Office’s multi-element program to increase engagement between researchers from the A&M System and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

May 14 marked the untimely passing of Texas A&M Regents Professor and Distinguished Professor of Statistics Cliff Spiegelman, a leader in statistical and environmental forensics and a champion for the use of statistics and its many applications to help free innocent people, reevaluate history and develop sharper analytical tools to benefit society.

Three College of Science faculty are among the university's 24 recipients of the 2020 Distinguished Achievement Award recognizing exemplary efforts in teaching, research, student relations, administration, extension and outreach, staff and graduate mentoring.

Congratulations to Texas A&M University's latest National Academy of Sciences member, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Karen Wooley — the most recent faculty member to earn the prestigious accolade while at Texas A&M since fellow Distinguished Professors Marcetta Darensbourg and Ron DeVore were elected to the Academy in 2017.