SMU Tower Center Blog Originally Posted: November 9, 2018 Highland Capital Management Tower Scholar Noelle Kendall ’19 is majoring in biological sciences and earning minors in chemistry and french in addition to her Tower Scholars Program minor in public policy and international affairs. We asked her about her experience as a Highland Capital Management Tower Scholar and about why science and public policy matter to her. READ MORE
SMU Video Originally Posted: July 10, 2018 “SMU makes my passion for accounting and biology easy to maneuver. SMU’s approach to interdisciplinary study has shaped me into a more critical thinker who can approach a problem from both business and scientific perspectives. And as I prepare for medical school, my dual degree plan gives me a competitive edge. I am able to pursue diverse internship opportunities, including those that focus on the business and clinical aspects of health care.” — W. Holt Garner, Accounting and Biology double major and Chemistry minor. https://youtu.be/eqww8B51c0E
SMU Magazine Originally Posted: July 1, 2018 Peng Tao, assistant professor in SMU’s Department of Chemistry, received the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award to support his research in fighting antimicrobial resistance. Tao’s innovative strategy involves developing computational methods and an advanced theoretical framework to predict protein evolution. “There are a special group of proteins called beta-lactamases in bacteria causing infections,” explains Tao. “The main function of these proteins is destroying antibiotics. And these proteins evolve very quickly leading to so-called ‘superbugs’. We are developing theoretical models to understand how these proteins carry out their functions as machines and predict how these machines may evolve when encountering new antibiotics. If successful, our models could be used by other researchers and pharmaceutical companies to develop new generation of antibiotics with [...]
Dedman College News Originally Posted: July 26, 2018 KIPP at SMU is a free 5-week college experience for students entering their junior or senior year at a KIPP charter school. During the summer, participants will live on campus at SMU, take one college level course with University faculty, earn college credit and live the life of a college student. These specific students were from all across Texas and had a variety of academic interests. Professor Zoltowski discussed some of the research he's currently conducting in the chemistry department. KIPP, which stands for Knowledge Is Power Program, is a charter school company that works to close the college graduation gap between students from rich and poor families. The schools are usually in ZIP codes with large [...]
Dedman College News Originally Posted: June 12, 2018 Peng Tao, Assistant Professor in SMU’s Department of Chemistry, was awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award to support his research in fighting antimicrobial resistance. Dr. Tao’s innovative strategy involves developing computational methods and an advanced theoretical framework to predict protein evolution. “There are a special group of proteins called beta-lactamases in bacteria causing infections,” explains Dr. Tao. “The main function of these proteins is destroying antibiotics. And these proteins evolve very quickly leading to so-called ‘superbugs’. We are developing theoretical models to understand how these proteins carry out their functions as machines and predict how these machines may evolve when encountering new antibiotics. If successful, our models could be used by other researchers and pharmaceutical companies [...]
Humanity in Action Originally Posted: May 6, 2018 Humanity in Action has selected Southern Methodist University's Kenneth Martin for one of the 2018 Humanity in Action Fellowship programs in Europe and the United States. 67 students and recent graduates were selected for the 2018 Fellowship programs out of an extremely competitive pool of 564 applicants from universities and colleges across the United States. Martin will participate in the Warsaw Fellowship program. Martin will join Fellows from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Germany, Greece, France, the Netherlands, Poland and Ukraine. Intensive and demanding, the Humanity in Action Fellowship programs brings together international groups of university students and recent graduates to explore past and present examples of resistance to intolerance, with a goal of encouraging future leaders to be engaged citizens and responsible [...]
SMU News Originally Posted: May 2018 Benjamin H. Chi, a biochemistry, health and society major, is SMU’s first Schwarzman Scholar. The Schwarzman program provides a one-year master’s degree in global affairs from Tsinghua University in Beijing. When SMU senior Benjamin Chi travelled to the city of Harbin in northern China for diabetes research in 2016, it signaled a major milestone in his growing passion for healthcare. Now a senior, he’s headed back to China after graduation for a master’s degree in global affairs from Tsingua University, courtesy a prestigious Schwarzman Scholarship. The Schwarzman Scholars program is modeled on the Rhodes Scholarship, which was founded in 1902 to promote international understanding and peace. Schwarzman Scholars live in Beijing for a year of study and cultural immersion, attending [...]
D CEO Originally Posted: April 2018 “Everybody who thinks enough of their teeth to get them checked, should get their eyes checked,” says the familiar-looking man in the blue scrubs. Dr. Jeffrey Whitman is responding after I tell him I can’t remember the last time I got my eyes examined, even though I get an annual physical and my teeth cleaned every six months. I started using cheap reading glasses on my 40th birthday, nearly 25 years ago. I’m using my cheap glasses now to order lunch at Cindi’s New York Deli and Bakery on North Central Expressway north of Royal Lane, across the highway from the new multimillion-dollar Key-Whitman Eye Center, where Whitman is president and chief surgeon. We both order the chicken [...]
SMU Magazine Originally Posted: Spring 2018 Issue Growing up in Overland Park, Kansas, Samuel Gage Weber became fascinated with science by watching Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. The first 3-D animated feature film made outside Hollywood was directed by SMU alumnus John Davis ’84. Weber, whose mother is a nurse, imagined being Jimmy Neutron while he played with a child’s chemistry set. Later, when he stumbled upon the Harry Potter novels and films, he says, his interest in science became intertwined with magic. In seventh grade, after Weber heard a neurologist speak to his class about the wonders of the brain, he began to make the connection between science and medicine. While his fellow students were enthralled with the brain-shaped gummies she passed around the class, Weber [...]
Dallas Innovates Originally Posted: January 9, 2018 For decades, Alex Lippert dreamed of creating a hologram akin to the one in the first Star Wars film, where R2-D2 shows a light image of Princess Leia. At 35, Lippert had a “eureka” moment to use molecules that switch from colorless to fluorescent when ultraviolet light hits them. Lippert, an assistant chemistry professor at Southern Methodist University, in July announced that he had done the hologram one better by building projection technology that creates a three-dimensional display viewable from any direction. “It doesn’t require moving parts. It uses low-power light sources, which are safer than other displays that employ intense lasers. And, we were able to fabricate the first-generation prototype for under $5,000,” he said. Armed with [...]