ANNUAL REPORT 2015–2016 - University of Texas at … · Scott Aaronson’s research focuses on the capabilities and limits of quantum computers and, ... Quantum Computing Since

ANNUAL REPORT 2015–2016

MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

Dear College of Natural Sciences Community and Friends,

At The University of Texas at Austin, the College of Natural Sciences continues to lead in making world-changing discoveries, establishing pathways for excellence in science education and telling the stories about how scientifi c breakthroughs at UT improve lives and our knowledge of the universe.

Key accomplishments of 2015–16 include:• The 21st Century Undergraduate Education Task Force and the 21st Century

Graduate Education Task Force completed their reviews and off ered recommendations for bold transformation in our approaches to education.

• Renovations on the 1929 west wing of Welch Hall were completed, and renovations to the 1978 wing entered the detailed design phase.

• Our Texas Institute for Discovery Education in Science published research showing the College’s Freshman Research Initiative increases graduation rates and the likelihood of students completing a STEM degree.

• An assistant dean was appointed to help support and promote the engagement and career pathways for our non-tenure-track teaching faculty.

• The Council for Diversity Engagement student group took the lead in community-building eff orts for all underrepresented students in the College.

• We expanded capacity in the Biology Scholars Program, Women in Natural Sciences and all three College honors programs.

• Graduate program stipends across the College were increased.• Senior faculty were recruited through the Provost’s Faculty Investment Initiative,

which is nucleating future areas of research and transforming departments.• Two external recruits joined the College as department chairs.• The Center for Infectious Disease was renamed in honor of public health

champion and alumnus John Ring LaMontagne.

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In the year ahead, we will continue to focus on:• Implementing curriculum changes identifi ed by the two 21st Century

Education working groups, to best prepare our undergraduate and graduate students for life after UT;

• Ensuring our buildings—including our largest academic facility, Welch Hall — are equipped for cutting-edge research and meaningful educational experiences for our students;

• Hiring outstanding faculty leaders and enhancing diversity in our faculty. • Attracting the best science and math graduate students, from a diversity of

backgrounds, to UT Austin;• Increasing philanthropic contributions to support CNS priorities; and• Planning for the next frontiers of scientifi c research in the College, especially

as it pertains to the next fi ve years.

Linda HickeDean, College of Natural Sciences

The College of Natural Sciences works to provide research-enhanced education and educationally connected research. The strategic priorities that guide the College Strategic Plan and which provide a framework for this annual report include: developing scientifi c leaders, promoting world-changing discovery and communicating our impact to Texas, the nation and the world. A detailed summary of progress on the strategic plan, including updates from the 2015–2016 year, can be found at: cns.utexas.edu/strategic-plan/progress.


AT A GLANCE

361 tenured and tenure-track faculty

+1New National Academy of Sciences Member

+3New Academy of Distinguished Teachers Members

1,387graduate students

10Students Awarded National Science Foundation Research Fellowships

10,802undergraduates

2,111Class of ’16 graduates

DEVELOPING SCIENTIFIC LEADERS

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FACULTY LEADERS

Tenure-Track Faculty by Department

2015–2016 Total

ASTRONOMY 23

CHEMISTRY 28

COMPUTER SCIENCE 42

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND FAMILY SCIENCES 15

INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY 35

MARINE SCIENCE 14

MATHEMATICS 52

MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES 58

NEUROSCIENCE 25

NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES 9

PHYSICS 54

STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCES 2

TEXTILES AND APPAREL 4

Total 361

ANNUAL REPORT 2015–2016DEVELOPING SCIENTIFIC LEADERS

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New Faculty Joining the College

Scott J. Aaronson, Professor – Department of Computer ScienceScott Aaronson’s research focuses on the capabilities and limits of quantum computers and, more generally, on computational complexity and its relation to physics. He received his bachelor’s from Cornell University and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He did postdoctoral fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton as well as the University of Waterloo. Before coming to UT Austin, he spent nine years as a professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His fi rst book, Quantum Computing Since Democritus, was published in 2013 by Cambridge University Press. He’s received the National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award, the United States Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, and MIT’s Junior Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Vijay Chidambaram, Assistant Professor – Department of Computer ScienceVijay Chidambaram’s research focus is to ensure the reliability of applications in the rapidly changing landscape of storage and cloud computing. Specifi cally, he has contributed new reliability techniques in local and distributed storage systems and built frameworks for fi nding reliability bugs in applications. His work has resulted in patent applications by VMware, Samsung and Microsoft. He was awarded the Microsoft Research Fellowship in 2014 and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Alumni Scholarship in 2009. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2015 and went on to spend one year as a postdoctoral researcher in VMware Research before joining UT Austin.

Caroline Farrior, Assistant Professor – Department of Integrative BiologyCaroline Farrior’s research in plant ecology focuses on how competition among individual plants for resources infl uences the prominence of important plant traits in the environment, a topic with important implications for the stability and resilience of ecosystems amid climate change. Farrior uses a combination of theoretical and empirical approaches in her work, which has applications for science’s understanding of the global carbon cycle and predictions related to climate change. Farrior received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2007 and her Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2012. She then spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Princeton Environmental Institute and completed a fellowship at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, before joining the faculty at UT Austin this fall.


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Qixing Huang, Assistant Professor – Department of Computer ScienceQixing Huang’s research spans computer vision, computer graphics, computational biology and machine learning. In particular, his recent focus is on developing machine learning algorithms (particularly deep learning) that leverage Big Data to solve core problems in computer vision, computer graphics, and computational biology. He is also interested in statistical data analysis, compressive sensing, low-rank matrix recovery and large-scale optimization, which provide a theoretical foundation for much of his research. Huang obtained his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2012. From 2012 to 2014, he was a postdoctoral research scholar at Stanford. He has also interned at Google Street View, Google Research and Adobe Research.

Philipp Krähenbühl, Assistant Professor – Department of Computer SciencePhilipp Krähenbühl’s research spans the fi elds of computer vision, machine learning, and computer graphics, with a special focus on deep learning. He is particularly interested in learning rich visual representations from a minimal amount of human supervision. Krähenbühl obtained his Ph.D. from Stanford University and his B.S. from ETH Zurich. Before joining UT Austin, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.

Daniel Leahy, Professor and Chair – Department of Molecular BiosciencesDaniel Leahy researches molecular mechanisms of cell signaling. As a structural biologist, he examines the processes by which proteins and other molecules behave within living systems. Relying on X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy, he has studied molecular mechanisms that regulate growth in normal and malignant cells and how specifi c anticancer drugs work to shed light on the eff ectiveness of diff erent therapies for cancers of the lung, breast, colon and gastric system. Leahy received his Ph.D. in biophysics from Stanford University and his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Yale University. He conducted postdoctoral research at Columbia University and was previously a professor of biophysics and biophysical chemistry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Dana Moshkovitz, Associate Professor – Department of Computer ScienceDana Moshkovitz’s research is in theoretical computer science, focused largely on the limitations of approximation algorithms and probabilistic checking of proofs. She completed her Ph.D. at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Her thesis co-won the Nessyahu Prize for best math Ph.D. thesis in Israel in 2009, and part of this work was awarded the Foundations of Computer Science 2008 Best Paper. Moshkovitz went on to spend two years at Princeton University and the Institute of Advanced Study before joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an assistant professor in late 2010. She is the recipient of MIT’s Jerome Saltzer Teaching Award.


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Simon Peter, Assistant Professor – Department of Computer ScienceSimon Peter conducts research in operating systems and networks, in particular focusing on data-center performance and energy effi ciency. He received his Ph.D. from ETH Zurich in 2012 and an M.Sc. from the Carl-von-Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany in 2006. Before joining UT Austin, he was a research associate at the University of Washington from 2012-2016. For his work on the Arrakis high I/O performance operating system, he received the Jay Lepreau Best Paper award (2014) and the Madrona prize (2014). He has conducted further award-winning systems research at various locations, including Microsoft Research in Silicon Valley and Cambridge, Intel Labs and the University of California, Riverside.

Andrew Potter, Assistant Professor – Department of PhysicsAndrew Potter is a theoretical physicist investigating quantum phases of matter, phase transitions, and non-equilibrium dynamics in electronic materials and cold atomic gases. His research combines ideas from quantum fi eld theory, topology and quantum information science to build basic organizing principles for understanding quantum materials and how to harness their capabilities for electronic, magnetic and optical device or quantum communication and computing applications. Potter obtained his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013, followed by three years as a Moore Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

Chris Rossbach, Assistant Professor – Department of Computer ScienceChris Rossbach’s research focuses on operating system and architectural support for emerging hardware, particularly those that leverage concurrency. His work involves exploring mechanisms that enable systems to take advantage of concurrency to improve performance and that simplify the development of parallel programs. His approach is to identify future changes in technology and user needs, considering new operating system and architectural mechanisms and abstractions that can potentially address these needs, simplify the system, or improve performance. Rossbach received his Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin in 2009. Since then, he has worked as a postdoctoral researcher at UT Austin, a researcher at Microsoft Research Silicon Valley, and a senior researcher at VMware Research Group.

Thibaud Taillefumier, Assistant Professor – Neuroscience and MathematicsTaillefumier’s research in applied mathematics and theoretical neuroscience focuses on the emerging collective properties and possible design principles of neural networks. His approach combines ideas from optimization theory and stochastic dynamics on questions at the nexus of information theory and non-equilibrium thermodynamics, to better understand the nature of neural computations. Originally trained in mathematical physics at Ecole Polytechnique in France, Taillefumier completed his Ph.D. in biophysics at The Rockefeller University in 2012. Before joining UT Austin, Taillefumier was an Associate Research Scholar at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University.


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David Taylor, Assistant Professor – Department of Molecular Biosciences Taylor’s research focuses on how macromolecular machines assemble and function. His current interests include understanding the structural basis for CRISPR RNA-guided adaptive immunity in prokaryotes and genome maintenance and double-strand DNA break repair in eukaryotes. To accomplish these goals, he directly visualizes the structures of these protein-nucleic acid complexes using cryo-electron microscopy. Taylor received his Ph.D. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University in 2013, followed by two years as a Damon Runyon postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

Davarajan “Dave” Thirumalai, Professor and Chair – Department of ChemistryDave Thirumalai is a theoretical chemist whose research spans biophysics, chemical physics, soft matter, and system biology. He has published more than 325 peer-reviewed journal articles on topics ranging from Alzheimer’s disease to cancer, and he has won multiple research awards for theoretical chemistry and biophysics. He received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Minnesota and his M.Sc. from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India. He was a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University in New York and later joined the faculty at the University of Maryland.

Lauren Yeager, Assistant Professor – Department of Marine ScienceLauren Yeager is an ecologist whose research focuses on understanding how global climate change is altering patterns in marine biodiversity, and what these altered patterns mean for associated ecosystem functions and services. She employs food web, landscape and macroecology approaches to examine how humans aff ect coastal systems at multiple levels (e.g., individual, population, community and ecosystem) via altered environmental conditions, changes in habitat pattern, and/or removal of key species by overharvest. After completing her Ph.D. at Florida International University in 2013, she held a postdoctoral appointment at the Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Science Foundation’s National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center.

Faculty scheduled to join the College in the year aheadGregory Durrett, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer SciencePhilip Isett, Assistant Professor, Department of MathematicsJoseph Neeman, Assistant Professor, Department of MathematicsNgoc Tran, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics


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Major Faculty Research and Teaching Awards

2015–2016 Faculty Research Award RecipientsMember of the National Academy of Sciences James Bull | Department of Integrative BiologyFellows of the American Mathematical Society Natasa Pavlovic | Department of Mathematics Alexis Vasseur | Department of MathematicsFellows of the National Academy of Inventors George Georgiou | Department of Molecular Biosciences Jonathan Sessler | Department of ChemistryInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellows Lorenzo Alvisi | Department of Computer Science Risto Miikkulainen | Department of Computer ScienceEducation Commission of the States Distinguished Senior Fellow Uri Treisman | Charles A. Dana Center and Department of MathematicsPresidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers Keji Lai | Department of PhysicsAlfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellows Brett Baker | Department of Marine Science Jeff Danciger | Department of MathematicsNew Horizons in Physics Breakthrough Award Prize Raphael Flauger | Department of Physics


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Cottrell Scholar, Research Corporation for Science Advancement Michael Rose | Department of ChemistryCarl Friedrich Siemens Research Award Harold Zakon | Departments of Integrative Biology and Neuroscience Philip J. Morrison | Department of PhysicsHumboldt Research Award Mike Downer | Department of PhysicsAuff enberg Medal Eric Pianka | Department of Integrative BiologyNASA Group Achievement Award Taft Armandroff | Department of AstronomyAmerican Chemical Society 2016 Award in Theoretical Chemistry Dave Thirumalai | Department of ChemistrySemiconductor Industry Association University Research Award Grant Willson | Department of ChemistryPioneer Prize of the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Björn Engquist | Department of MathematicsThomson Reuters’ 2015 Highly Cited Researcher Allan MacDonald | Department of Physics2015 Pedler Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry Mike Krische | Department of ChemistryThe Susie Bayarri Award James Scott | Department of Statistics and Data Sciences2016 D. O. Hebb Distinguished Scientifi c Contributions Award, American Psychological Association David Crews | Department of Integrative BiologyDistinguished Fellow, the Botanical Society of America Don Levin | Department of Integrative Biology2015 Wilhelmine Key Distinguished Lecturer Award Mark Kirkpatrick | Department of Integrative BiologyDistinguished Engineer of the Association for Computing Machinery Warren Hunt | Department of Computer ScienceAutonomous Agents Research Award Peter Stone | Department of Computer ScienceSimons Foundation Investigator in Theoretical Computer Science David Zuckerman | Department of Computer Science2015 Grace Murray Hopper Award Brent Waters | Department of Computer ScienceLifetime Contribution Award of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Nancy Moran | Department of Integrative BiologyAndré Lichnerowicz Prize in Poisson Geometry Travis Schedler| Department of Mathematics


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2015–2016 Faculty Teaching Awards Recipients

Academy of Distinguished TeachersLorenzo Alvisi | Department of Computer ScienceVolker Bromm | Department of AstronomyUri Treisman | Department of Mathematics

Minnie Stevens Piper Professor AwardUri Treisman | Department of Mathematics

Regents Outstanding Teaching AwardsAnita Latham | Biology Instructional Offi ce, 2015Jennifer Moon | Biology Instructional Offi ce, 2015Michael Drew | Department of Neuroscience, 2016

President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Amanda Hager | Department of MathematicsAnita Latham | Biology Instructional Offi ceCalvin Lin | Department of Computer ScienceDavid Vanden Bout | Department of Chemistry

Dads’ Association Centennial Teaching FellowshipsAmanda Hager | Department of Mathematics, 2015 Fatima Fakhreddine | Department of Chemistry, 2016

Provost’s Teaching FellowsArturo de Lozanne | Department of Molecular BiosciencesJen Moon | Department of Molecular Biosciences

Texas Exes’ “Texas 10” Teaching AwardOckhee Bego | School of Human Ecology Textiles and Apparel Division, 2015Inderjit Dhillon | Departments of Computer Science and Mathematics, 2015Laura Lashinger | Department of Nutritional Sciences, 2016


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GRADUATE STUDENT LEADERS

The College is working with departments to identify, recruit and admit the highest-performing students into 15 graduate programs across the College. With fewer graduate students now entering these programs, departments have been able to increase stipend levels to support the work of these high-achieving students.

Total Number of Graduate Students (Ph.D. and Master’s) in CNS

Ph.D.

Master’s

1,300

1,100

900

700

500

300

2006–2007

2007–2008

2008–2009

2009–2010

2010–2011

2011–2012

2012–2013

2013–2014

2014–2015

2015–2016

GRAD

UATE

STU

DENT

S

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Major Graduate Student Awards in 2015–16:

2015–16 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Awardees:Hannah Turner | MathematicsJames Sanders | Chemistry Zachary Philips | Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Alexandra Nishida | Microbiology Sinclaire Manning | AstronomyJessica Luna | AstronomyAlexander Boulgakov | Cellular and Molecular Biology

2015–16 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention:Melissa Meyerson | Chemistry Megan Mehaff ey | ChemistryClaire McWhite | Cellular and Molecular Biology Benjamin Kidder | AstronomyBriana Indahl | AstronomyCaroline Davis | Cellular and Molecular Biology Austin Cole | Cellular and Molecular Biology Roberto Cofresi | NeuroscienceJoshua Black | Microbiology James Bachman | Chemistry Bryan Wygant | ChemistryCarolyn Whiting | Microbiology Anna Warden | NeuroscienceSydney Sherman | Astronomy

NIH National Research Service Award Predoctoral FellowsGizelle Robinson | Cellular and Molecular Biology Laura Ferguson | NeuroscienceAnthony Lacagnina | Neuroscience

HHMI International Student Research FellowshipJagruti Pattadkal | Neuroscience

NSF East Asia and Pacifi c Summer Institute AwardJoshua Lonthair | Marine Science James Brewster | Chemistry

DOE – Nuclear Energy, Integrated University Program FellowshipRobert Fimognari | Chemistry


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American Chemical Society – Division of Organic Chemistry Graduate FellowshipZach Kasun | Chemistry

Japan Student Services Organization ScholarshipHiroki Sato | Chemistry

ITO Foundation for International Education Exchange FellowshipTatsuhiro Tsukamoto | Chemistry

Simons Award for Graduate Students in Theoretical Computer SciencePravesh Kothari | Computer Science

Google Ph.D. Fellowship in Distributed ComputingNatacha Crooks | Computer Science

Dept. of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families – Child Care Research ScholarAryi Ansari | Human Development and Family Sciences


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UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT LEADERS

Eff orts to ensure every student receives guidance, information, and community support to help them progress in their degree plans have proven eff ective in the College. In the last year, CNS had its largest number of graduates ever, as well as the highest four-year graduation rate on record. It welcomed its largest-ever freshman class for the 2016–2017 year.


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Undergraduate Enrollment by Major in 2015–16

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

COMPUTER SCIENCE

BIOCHEMISTRY

MATHEMATICS

NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT & FAMILY SCIENCES

CHEMISTRYPHYSICS

PUBLIC HEALTH

TEXTILES & APPAREL

NEUROSCIENCE

MEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE

ASTRONOMY

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

MAJ

ORS

3099

1779

1420

1020831

670 668449

295 261 26380 76 71

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0

Graduating Class of 2016 – Undergraduate Degrees Awarded

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

COMPUTER SCIENCE

MATHEMATICS

BIOCHEMISTRY



CHEMISTRYPHYSICS

PUBLIC HEALTH

TEXTILES & APPAREL

NEUROSCIENCE

ASTRONOMY

MAJ

ORS

B.S.A.

B.S.

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2015–16 Fall & Spring Graduates

*self-reported demographic data comes from the graduates who completed the graduation surveyTotal Number of Graduates 2,371Male/Female 51% Female; 49% MaleUnderrepresented Minority 22%Transferred into CNS 34%Internship 60%Participated in FRI 27%Graduated in 4 Years 70% Self-Reported Pathways after Graduation B.S. B.S.A./B.A.Seeking/Secured a Job 59% 54%Health Professions School 21% 27%Graduate School 14% 9%Other (military, Peace Corps, etc.) 7% 10% Major Undergraduate Student Awards in 2015–16:Barry M. Goldwater Scholar Honorable Mention Victor Lam | B.S. Biology Kayla Leonard | B.S. Astronomy and B.S. PhysicsNSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program Fellow Celia Beron | B.S. BiologyNSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program Honorable Mention Taylor Hoyt | B.S. Astronomy Surya Raghavendran | B.S. MathematicsRhodes Scholar Finalist Patrick Haley | B.S. Computer Science

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PROMOTING WORLD-CHANGING DISCOVERY

AT A GLANCE

6 papers published in Nature and Science

1929 west wing of Welch Hall renovation completed

RenamedCenter for Infectious Disease in honor of John Ring LaMontagne

More than $102 Million in sponsored research funding

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SELECTED HIGH-PROFILE PUBLICATIONS

The ATLAS Collaboration, G. Aad et al., with T. Andeen and P.U.E. Onyisi (2015) Search for high-mass diboson resonances with boson-tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at √s =8 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Journal of High Energy Physics 12 (055).

J. Kim and A. Bard (2016) Electrodeposition of Single Nanometer-Size Pt Nanoparticles at a Tunneling Ultramicroelectrode and Determination of Fast Heterogeneous Kinetics for Ru(NH3)(6)(3+) Reduction. J. Am. Chem. Soc.138(3): 975-979.

M. Cammarata, R. Thyer, J. Rosenberg, A. Ellington and J. Brodbelt (2015) Structural Characterization of Dihydrofolate Reductase Complexes by Top-down Ultraviolet Photodissociation Mass Spectrometry. J. Am. Chem. Soc.137(28): 9128-9135. T. Zhang, Y. Hu, W. Jiang, et al. and Z.J. Chen (2015) Sequencing of allotetraploid cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. acc. TM-1) provides a resource for fi ber improvement. Nature Biotechnology 33:531-537.

C. Zheng, K.W. Bieri, Y. Hsiao and L.L. Colgin (2016) Spatial sequence coding diff ers during slow and fast gamma rhythms in the hippocampus. Neuron 89(2):398-408.

T.A. Triplett, K.T. Cardenas, J.N. Lancaster, Z. Hu, H.J. Selden, G. Jasso, S. Balasubramanyam, K. Chan, L. Li, X. Chen, A.M. Marcogliese, U.P. Dave, P.E. Love and L.I.R. Ehrlich (2016) Dendritic cells in the tumor microenvironment directly support T-All growth through IGF1R activation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 113(8): E1016-25.

K.W. Ko, M.W. Rasband, V. Meseguer, R.H. Kramer and N.L. Golding (2016) Serotonin modulates spike probability in the axon initial segment through hyperpolarization and cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels. Nature Neuroscience 19(6):826-834.

L.N. Katz, J.L. Yates, J.W. Pillow and A.C. Huk (2016) Dissociated functional signifi cance of decision-related activity in the primate dorsal stream. Nature 535(7611): 285–288.

S.J. Joo, L.N. Katz and A.C. Huk (2016) Decision-related perturbations of decision-irrelevant eye movements. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 113 (7): 1925-1930.

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ANNUAL REPORT 2015–2016PROMOTING WORLD-CHANGING DISCOVERY

T. Liang, W. Zhang, T. Chen, K. Nguyen and M. Krische (2015) Ruthenium Catalyzed Diastereo- and Enantioselective Coupling of Propargyl Ethers with Alcohols: Siloxy-Crotylation via Hydride Shift Enabled Conversion of Alkynes to pi-Allyls. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 137(40):13066-13071.

C. H. Liu, L. Zhou, G. Chen and R.M. Krug (2015) Battle between infl uenza A virus and a newly identifi ed antiviral activity of the PARP-containg ZAPL protein. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 112(45): 14048-14053.

D. Wu, X. Li, L. Luan, X. Wu, W. Li, M. Yogeesh, R. Ghosh, Z. Chu, D. Akinwande, Q. Niu and K. Lai (2016) Uncovering Edge States and Electrical Inhomogeneity in MoS

2 Field Eff ect Transistors, Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences USA 113(31): 8583-8588.

G. Zheng, Q. Qin, W.C. Clark, C. Yi, C. He, A.M. Lambowitz and T. Pan (2015)Effi cient and quantitative high-throughput transfer RNA sequencing. Nature Methods 12(9): 835-837.

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S. Silas, G. Mohr, D.J. Sidote, L.M. Markham, A. Sanchez-Amat, D. Bhaya, A.M. Lambowitz and A.Z. Fire (2016) Direct CRISPR spacer acquisition from RNA by a natural reverse transcriptase-Cas1 fusion protein. Science 351(6276): 932

C. Wan, B. Borgeson, S. Phanse, F. Tu, K. Drew, G. Clark, X. Xiong, O. Kagan, J. Kwan, A. Bezginov, K. Chessman, S. Pal, G. Cromar, O. Papoulas, Z. Ni, D.R. Boutz, S. Stoilova, P. C. Havugimana, X. Guo, R.H. Malty, M. Sarov, J. Greenblatt, M. Babu, W.B. Derry, E.R. Tillier, J.B. Wallingford, J. Parkinson, E.M. Marcotte and A. Emili (2015) Panorama of ancient metazoan macromolecular complexes. Nature 525 (7569):339–344.

P. Khandelwal, E. Liebman, S. Niekum and P. Stone (2016) On the Analysis of Complex Backup Strategies in Monte Carlo Tree Search. International Conference on Machine Learning.

A.H. Moeller, A. Caro-Quintero, D. Mjungu, A.V. Georgiev, E.V. Lonsdorf, M.N. Muller, A.E. Pusey, M. Peeters, B.H. Hahn and H. Ochman (2016) Cospeciation of gut microbiota with hominids. Science 353(6297): 380-382.

M. Okhovat, A. Berrio, G. Wallace, A.G. Ophir and S.M. Phelps (2015) Sexual fi delity trade-off s promote regulatory variation in the prairie vole brain. Science 350 (6266): 1371-1374 A.L. Lea and M. J. Ryan (2015) Irrational mate choice revealed by túngara frogs. Science 349(6251): 964-966. H. Li, H. Zhang, A. Lammer, M. Wang, X. Li, V. Lynch and J. Sessler (2015) Quantitative self-assembly of a purely organic three-dimensional catenane in water. Nature Chemistry 7(12): 1003-1008.

S. Lee and S.S. Stevens (2016) Spliceosomal intronogenesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 113(23): 6514-6519.

E. Chattopadhyay and D. Zuckerman (2016) Explicit Two-Source Extractors and Resilient Functions. 48th Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing.

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SPONSORED RESEARCH TRENDS

Distribution of 2015–2016 CNS External Funding

27%NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

19%NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

9%DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

3%DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

12%OTHER FEDERAL

1%INDUSTRY

13%NON-PROFIT

5%STATE

2%OTHER

9%FOUNDATION

External Research Expenditure by Department

UNIT 2015–2016 Average per Faculty

Marine Science $7,205,520 $514,680

Neuroscience $12,473,635 $498,945

Chemistry $11,997,995 $428,500

Statistics & Data Sciences $809,597 $404,799

Molecular Biosciences $23,390,360 $403,282

Nutritional Sciences $3,058,429 $339,825

Physics $15,649,672 $289,809

Integrative Biology $8,498,328 $242,809

Computer Science $9,466,930 $225,403

Astronomy $3,912,032 $170,088

Mathematics $4,414,968 $84,903

Human Dev/Family Sciences $1,193,275 $79,552

Textiles & Apparel $230,293 $57,573

Totals: $102,301,034 $283,382.3723


BUILDING RENOVATIONS

The New Welch Hall: A Home for Innovative Education and ResearchJust in time for the fall 2016 semester, the north wing of Welch Hall renovations were completed. This project adds signifi cantly to the College’s teaching space: two ‘active learning’ classrooms, two Freshman Research Initiative labs, analytical chemistry teaching laboratories and the ‘Sandbox’—an innovative experimental learning environment. This renovation also creates 17,500 square feet of state-of-the-art research laboratories for synthetic, analytical and physical chemistry.

The renovation in the largest wing of the building—the 1978 wing, which runs along Speedway—is in its design phase. This project will include all new mechanical systems, modern research and teaching labs, and an updated student space in the grand concourse. The fi rst phase of construction is scheduled to begin in May 2017 and should be completed in early 2019. The second and fi nal phase of the renovation should be completed in early 2020.

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Norman Hackerman Building AdditionsThe Welch ’78 renovation has triggered two additional projects that are currently underway in the Norman Hackerman Building (NHB). Mechanical and programming considerations of the Welch 1978 wing renovation require moving the old greenhouse on the roof and the biochemistry and FRI labs from the third fl oor.

A 4,300 square foot space on the fi rst fl oor of NHB is being fi nished out to provide a new home for the biochemistry teaching laboratory and a new FRI lab. These spaces will be ready for students by May 2017.

A modern research greenhouse also will be constructed on the roof of NHB. This new facility, which replaces the old greenhouse on the roof of Welch, will support the research needs of our plant biologists for years to come.

Patterson Hall: A Home for the Department of Integrative BiologyA new administrative suite for the Department of Integrative Biology is under construction on the fi rst fl oor of Patterson Hall. The newly renovated space will house offi ces for the department chair and staff , a conference room for faculty meetings and seminars, and an informal collaboration space for faculty and students.25


CREATING AND COMMUNICATING IMPACT

AT A GLANCE

25%average increase in STEM retention tied to Freshman Research Initiative

3,603 CNS alumni invested in the College in 2015–2016

1,100+media accounts featuring CNS experts

>100 submissions for annual Visualizing Science contest

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Freshman Research InitiativeThe decade-old Freshman Research Initiative (FRI) was the focus of a study published in CBE-Life Sciences Education (Rodenbusch et al., 2016) that represented the largest and most carefully controlled analysis to date of how participating in course-based undergraduate research experiences aff ects student outcomes. The study found that across all demographic groups students who participated in FRI were more likely to graduate college and to earn degrees in STEM disciplines. FRI, which is already being replicated on college campuses around the country:• increases a student’s likelihood of graduating with an undergraduate degree

from 66 to 83 percent, and• increases a graduate’s likelihood of earning a STEM degree from 71 to

94 percent.

Engaging AlumniThe College has more than 64,000 living alumni. These individuals, many with deep ties to the University, are responsible for key investments in the future of Natural Sciences at UT Austin.

Members of the College leadership team and the Offi ce of External Relations held Roadshow events in nine cities involving hundreds of alumni, as well as parents of current CNS students. By the end of the year 3,603 alumni had supported the College directly.

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ANNUAL REPORT 2015–2016CREATING AND COMMUNICATING IMPACT

Publicizing DiscoveriesCollege of Natural Sciences media tracking found that CNS faculty experts, graduate students and staff were covered in the press more than 1,100 times in the past year, more than a 50% increase over the prior year. Below are some select highlights of coverage in top news outlets.

“A Twist to How a Túngara Frog Finds Her Prince”New York TimesMike Ryan and Amanda Lea (graduate student), Integrative Biology

“The Strange Link between Global Climate Change and the Rise of the Robots”Washington PostRisto Miikkulainen, Computer Science

“Algebra Scores Prompt Second Look at Revamped Regents Exams”New York TimesUri Treisman, Mathematics

“How Fish Make Themselves Invisible—Mystery Solved”National GeographicMolly Cummings and Parrish Brady, Integrative Biology

“Why Tortillas May Hold The Key To Healthier Babies”NPRDean Appling, Molecular Biosciences

“Mosquitoes Could Spread Zika in Dozens of U.S. Cities”CBS NewsSahotra Sarkar, Integrative Biology

“What Aging Parents Want From Their Kids”The AtlanticKaren Fingerman, Human Development and Family Sciences

“Supermassive Black Holes May Be More Common Than Anyone Imagined”NPRKarl Gebhardt, Astronomy

“Five-Decade Study Reveals Fallout from Spanking Kids”CBS NewsElizabeth Gershoff , Human Development and Family Sciences

“Random Number Generator ‘Improved’”BBC NewsDavid Zuckerman, Computer Science

28


“How an Army of Oil-Eating Bacteria can Clean up the Gulf”Christian Science MonitorBrett Baker, Nina Dombrowski (graduate student), Marine Science

“Rare Translucent Blind Catfi sh Discovered in Texas”CBS NewsDean Hendrickson, Integrative Biology

“These Brand New Baby Exoplanets could Help us Understand where Worlds Come from”Washington PostAndrew Mann, Astonomy

“Some Microbes Have Been With Us Since Before We Existed”The AtlanticHoward Ochman, Integrative Biology

29


Visualizing ScienceMore than 100 scientifi c images were submitted to the College’s Visualizing Science contest, and winning images were displayed prominently in buildings around the UT campus.

Brett BakerMarine Science

John KuehneMcDonald Observatory

Aaron FenyesMathematics

30


Melissa MeyersonChemistry

Pedro Fernando Morales-AlmazanMathematics

Culture Collection of Algae

31


COLLEGE BUDGET AND ENROLLMENT

32

2015–2016 Budget

External Research/Other, 42%

State Support, 32%

Tuition and Fees, 14%

Gifts & Endowments, 9%

Available University Fund, 3% $258

Million

2015–2016 Instructional Budget

Permanent Instructional Funds, 78.5%

External Programming, 3.7%

Faculty Leaves, 17.8%

$21.9 Million

33

ANNUAL REPORT 2015–2016COLLEGE BUDGET AND ENROLLMENT

Change in CNS Majors and Number of Seats Taught

Seats Taught

Number of Majors

110,000

105,000

100,000

95,000

90,000

85,000

80,000

75,000

13000

12000

11000

10000

9000

8000

7000

2006–2007

2005–2006

2007–2008

2008–2009

2009–2010

2010–2011

2011–2012

2012–2013

2013–2014

2014–2015

2015–2016

NUM

BER

OF S

EATS

TAUG

HT

MAJ

ORS

Number of CNS Majors (3-Year History)

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

COMPUTER SCIENCE

BIOCHEMISTRY

MATHEMATICS



CHEMISTRYPHYSICS

PUBLIC HEALTH

TEXTILES & APPAREL

NEUROSCIENCE

MEDICAL LABORATORY

ASTRONOMY

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

MAJ

ORS

4,000

3,500

3,000

2,500

2,000

1,500

1000

500

0

2013–20142014–20152015–2016

34


Seats Taught by Department (3-Year History)

ASTRONOMY

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

CHEMISTRY

COMPUTER SCIENCE


MARINE SCIENCE

MATHEMATICS

NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES PHYSICS

TEXTILES & APPAREL

SEAT

S30000

25000

20000

15000

10000

5000

0

STATISTICS & DATA SCIENCES

2013–20142014–20152015–2016

Ph.D. Program Enrollment (3-Year History)

ASTRONOMY

BIOCHEMISTRY

CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

CHEMISTRY

COMPUTER SCIENCE

ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION AND BEHAVIOR


MARINE SCIENCE

MATHEMATICS

MICROBIOLOGY

NEUROSCIENCE


PHYSICS

PLANT BIOLOGY

STUD

ENTS

200

150

100

50

0


2013–20142014–20152015–2016

35


Master’s Program Enrollment (3-Year History)

ASTRONOMY

BIOCHEMISTRY

CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

CHEMISTRY

COMPUTER SCIENCE

ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION AND BEHAVIOR


MARINE SCIENCE

MATHEMATICS

MICROBIOLOGY

NEUROSCIENCE


PHYSICS

PLANT BIOLOGY

STUD

ENTS

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0


2013–20142014–20152015–2016

TEXTILES & APPAREL

36


FUNDRAISING RESULTS

37

FUNDRAISING RESULTS

Annual Philanthropic Gifts

$50,000,000

$40,000,000

$30,000,000

$20,000,000

$10,000,000

$0

2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

Total Philanthropy

Non-Federal Research Gifts

Department/Unit Fundraising Totals

ASTRONOMY—MCDONALD OBSERVATORY

CHEMISTRY

ANNUAL FUND

COMPUTER SCIENCE

INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY

MATHEMATICS

MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES

MARINE SCIENCE INSTITUTE

NEUROSCIENCEPHYSICS

SCHOOL OF HUMAN ECOLOGY

STATISTICS

$3,000,000

$2,000,000

$1,000,000

$0

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

38

ANNUAL REPORT 2015–2016FUNDRAISING RESULTS

Advisory Council Contributions – Dean’s Discretionary Fund

2015–2016

95%Participation

of giving

Advisory Council Demographics

Age Range <3031–40

41–50

51–60

61–70

71–80

80+

Female, 30% Male, 70%

39

ANNUAL REPORT 2015–2016 FUNDRAISING RESULTS

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ANNUAL REPORT 2015–2016 - University of Texas at … · Scott Aaronson’s research focuses on the capabilities and limits of quantum computers and, ... Quantum Computing Since