Category: March 2020

A $5 million commitment from Heather and Ray W. Washburne ’84 and family will enhance the student experience and elevate SMU’s competitiveness by establishing the Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium. Located on Ownby Drive between Ford Stadium and the Binkley Parking Center, the Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium will house SMU’s men’s and women’s soccer teams, along with the track and field and cross-country teams.
“The Washburne family’s gift will enable us to continue to offer the best opportunities, resources and facilities to help our students succeed in all their endeavors,” SMU President R. Gerald Turner said. “The new Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium will not only create a new home for our student-athletes on par with the achievements of their programs, but it also will provide another venue where fans from across our community can come together to support our Mustangs.”
The Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium will stay true to the footprint of the current Westcott Field and the 400-meter outdoor track, which will be updated to meet the new facility’s standards. The new 2,577-capacity stadium will include a structure featuring locker rooms and a team meeting/conference room. In addition to complementing the central campus aesthetic, the stadium will welcome Mustang fans for home events.
Read more at SMU News.

James Quick will open the doors to a new era of research and interdisciplinary collaboration as inaugural dean of SMU’s newly created Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies.
SMU announced the creation of the Moody School in November 2019, made possible by a landmark $100 million gift from the Moody Foundation. The investment in graduate-level education is fueling SMU’s move to join the finest universities in the country in its development of research with impact, delivered by top-notch faculty and graduate students.
Quick, a volcanologist of international stature, joined SMU in 2007 as the University’s first Associate Vice President for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies, with the responsibilities of supporting increases in research activity and the number of students graduating with a Ph.D. Since his arrival, research expenditures has increased from $14 million a year to $42 million a year, and annual graduation of Ph.Ds has increased from 45 to more than 70.
Read more at SMU News.

The 2020 Simmons Luminary Award dinner and ceremony on Thursday, March 12 will honors organizations that have shown an extraordinary commitment to improving lives through education. This year’s recipients are: Big Thought, North Texas honoree; Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, regional honoree; and the Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching, national honoree.
More information and registration.

SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts will present its 27th annual Meadows at the Meyerson concert at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10 in the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. in Dallas. The event will feature works focused on stories and legends by Sibelius and Rimsky-Korsakov, performed by the critically acclaimed Meadows Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductor Paul Phillips. Meadows at the Meyerson supports talented Meadows students through the Meadows Scholars Program.
More information and tickets.

A multidisciplinary team of SMU researchers is working with Parkland Health and Hospital to create a statistical model to predict which patients are at risk for developing diabetes five to 10 years before they exhibit symptoms.
Diabetes and pre-diabetes affect an astonishing 43 percent of the country’s population at a cost of $237 billion in treatment and $90 billion per year in indirect costs such as absenteeism. The U.S. spends more treating diabetes than the entire GDP of Portugal.
The earlier the disease is caught, the more likely treatment costs will be kept down. But testing is expensive and time consuming, so providers need to be wise about who they test. Usually, the patients who receive a diabetes test already have a symptom, meaning the chances of reversal are low and treatment costs are more likely to be high.
Read more.

InSight is the first mission dedicated to looking deep beneath the Martian surface, and SMU’s Matt Siegler is one of the scientists who will ultimately help determine what heat flow probe measurements mean for the composition of the planet’s interior.
A new understanding of Mars is beginning to emerge, thanks to the first year of NASA’s InSight lander mission. Findings described in a set of six papers published recently reveal a planet alive with quakes, dust devils and strange magnetic pulses.
Among Insight’s science tools are a seismometer for detecting quakes, sensors for gauging wind and air pressure, a magnetometer and a heat flow probe designed to take the planet’s temperature.
Read more at SMU Research.

Enjoy these quick links to great photos, stories and more about the people, programs and events making an impact on the Hilltop.
Photos: Cox 100 celebration picnic
It’s not too late: TEDxSMU on March 5–6
Former Mustangs prepare for NFL draft
Perkins Summit for Faith and Learning, March 26–28
Laura Wilson to receive Literati Award on March 28
From small-town Texas to Mumbai, India
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