Message from the Dean

Greetings from the College of Sciences. As classes began this spring, I was grateful for all the opportunities I had to witness the buoyant school spirit that returned to labs and classrooms across campus. It is always invigorating to see faculty and students come back at the start of a semester to do phenomenal work that will advance the sciences.

We started this year on a high note by celebrating the grand opening of San Pedro I. This $91.8 million, worldclass facility houses the university’s National Security Collaboration Center and the School of Data Science and will usher in a new era of high-tech education, research and innovation. I’m excited for this issue of Catalyst to spotlight how our college will play an integral role in this new facility, especially in the areas of artificial intelligence, computer science and mathematics.

One reason we are eager to utilize this new space to serve our students is because it offers a unique opportunity to grow diversity in the field of data science. UTSA’s School of Data Science is the first school of its kind in the country that will be offered at a Hispanic-serving institution. This important distinction will empower our college to help diversify the nation’s current generation of data science professionals, a cohort that will shape this emerging industry for decades to come.

Our college is contributing to several industries and disciplines by producing the next generation of leaders and scientists. During the 2021-22 academic year alone, nearly 1,000 students graduated from the College of Sciences—our largest number yet. Additionally, college enrollment broke new records this spring and exceeded 4,700 students, the highest ever recorded for a spring semester.

I also have to mention the amazing quality of faculty talent we are bringing on board to the College of Sciences. We have had a remarkable group of candidates apply for our open faculty positions, and I am very impressed with their skills and experience. I can’t wait to see what they will achieve and the scientific contributions they will make. Under their guidance and mentorship, our students are poised better than ever to discover tangible, real-world solutions and address society’s greatest challenges.

Ziqi Yu Chemistry

Data Plot Creator

Marcella Cornejo Computer Science

Lastly, I am incredibly thankful for the continued support we have received from our community of donors and alumni. Your contributions are paving the way for new discoveries that will advance science. Thank you again for helping us create secure, bold futures for our students and our community.

Sincerely,

DAVID R. SILVA, PH.D.

Distinguished Professor, Physics and Astronomy Dean, College of Sciences

u Students Samantha Oviedo (Chemistry), Jeff Dong (Computer Science), Tiffany Barker-Edwards (Earth and Planetary Sciences), Carli Peterson (Mathematics), Brianna Faz (Molecular Microbiology and Immunology) and Isabella Sarno (Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology) were announced as recipients of the 2022 Dean’s Fund for Excellence Awards. The awards recognize outstanding students from each department who best exemplify excellence in their given fields.

u Chiung-Yu Hung (Molecular Microbiology and Immunology) was named Innovator of the Year at the 2022 UTSA Innovation Awards. She is an expert in the field of Coccidioides, which causes San Joaquin Valley fever, an infectious fungal disease that affects the respiratory system. Focused on the development of therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines against Coccidioides infections, she is currently developing a human vaccine with recombinant antigen and mRNA technologies with recent funding from the National Institutes of Health.

u Jeffrey Hutchinson (Integrative Biology) is serving as principal investigator for a UTSA-led research coalition selected to receive a four-year, $1 million grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to establish the #EcoJEDI (justice, equity, diversity and inclusion) program, a citywide collaboration facilitating career readiness in food and agriculture sciences.

u Elizabeth Sooby (Physics and Astronomy) hosted researchers from partner institutions in Fundamental Understanding of Transport Under Reactor Extremes (FUTURE), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences that is studying the coupling effect between irradiation and corrosion.

u Lorenzo Brancaleon (Physics and Astronomy) received a two-year, $229,891 grant from the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Minority Leaders Research Collaborative Program. The funding will support Brancaleon’s research into the molecular aging process and UVinduced damage of retinal melanin, a pigmentation that plays an important role in the health of the retina.

u Aimin Liu (Chemistry) and his research team embarked on National Institutes of Health-funded research that could contribute to antibiotic and anticancer drug development. The biochemistry that the researchers learn from this study will enhance the understanding of a group of enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of natural products with antibiotic and anticancer properties.

u The UTSA-led Consortium on Nuclear Security Technologies (CONNECT) received a five-year, $5 million renewal grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration to educate and train the next generation of scientists and engineers, to provide innovative solutions to challenges related to nuclear security and to bolster the nation’s pipeline of underrepresented students prepared for research careers. College of Sciences CONNECT team members include Elizabeth Sooby (Physics and Astronomy), Kelly Nash (Physics and Astronomy) and Amanda Fernandez (Computer Science).

u The College of Sciences announced a new Ph.D. program named Developmental and Regenerative Sciences that will premiere in Fall 2023 and prepare students for careers in basic research in academia, clinical research in regenerative medicine or applied research in the biotechnology industry. The program is led by John McCarrey (Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology) and will provide new insights into fundamental mechanisms of embryonic and fetal development, how different cell types form and function, and how diseases develop when the biological mechanisms required to perform these normal bodily functions are disrupted.

u Stanton McHardy (Chemistry) along with Karinel Nieves-Merced and Michael Tidwell, special research associates at the Center for Innovative Drug Discovery (CIDD) and staff chemists at UTSA, are partnering with researchers from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Mays Cancer Center, both at UT Health San Antonio, to make compounds that may one day treat Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumors. The team recently was awarded $3 million by the National Cancer Institute.