Cougar Milestones July 13, 2021
07/13/2021, 02:00:01 PM

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CLASS Assistant Professor Wins Prestigious
Beckman Young Investigator Award

Assistant Professor of Psychology Beau Alward has received the Beckman Young Investigator (BYI) Award by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. The BYI Program provides research support to the most promising young faculty members in the early stages of their academic careers in the chemical and life sciences, particularly to foster the invention of methods, instruments and materials that will open up new avenues of research in science. 

Alward’s research is based on a model system for studying social behavior using the African cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni. “With social disorders, like autism, people suffer from an inability to respond to social cues. The cool thing about fish is that they are excellent at responding to social cues," said Alward. “The goal is to get a foundation of data where we can say ‘In this species we find a number of these genes and cells are related to their ability to respond to social cues,’ and then we can examine if they are also implicated in autism and other social disorders.”


Three Faculty Members Receive Society of Exploration Geophysicists Honors and Awards

Assistant professor of geophysics Jiajia Sun is one of three recipients of the J. Clarence Karcher Award, given “in recognition of significant contributions to the science and technology of exploration geophysics by a young geophysicist of outstanding abilities.” Geology Professor Paul Mann won the award for Best Paper published in the joint SEG and American Association of Petroleum Geologists journal Interpretation in 2020. Geophysics Research Professor Leon Thomsen won Best Paper Presented at the 2020 SEG Annual Meeting

Top row: Jijia Sun and Paul Mann
Bottom row: Leon Thomsen


Texas Public Health Association Honored UH College of Optometry

One student and three faculty members received honors for their work in the field of Optometry. Tammy Nguyen, class of 2023, received the Distinguished Student Service Award. Dr. Janet Garza received the Outstanding Faculty Leadership Award for exemplifying outstanding leadership. Dr. Jan Bergmanson received the Visionary Award for contributions in groundbreaking innovation in vision care. Dr. Jennifer Deakins  received the Distinguished Service Award. This is the highest honor the Vision Care Section can bestow.

Top row: Tammy Nguyen and Dr. Janet Garza
Bottom row: Dr. Jan Bergmanson and Dr. Jennifer Deakins


Engineering Professor Wei-Chuan Shih has been awarded $2.6M from the National Institute of Health for his project, “Streamlined and comprehensive circulating tumor exosome profiling by microfluidic arrayed nanoplasmonic sensors and actuators."

Recent CLASS Ph.D. alumna Lindsay N. Amaral has been awarded an American Council of Learned Societies’ 2021 Leading Edge Fellowship with Hunger Free America for the project "SNAP Outcomes: How Public Benefits Impact Recipients’ Lives." 

C. T. Bauer College of Business Professor George O. Gamble has received the highest honor granted by the American Accounting Association. He earned the AAA J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook/Deloitte Foundation Prize in the undergraduate category.

Paula Myrick Short
Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, UH System
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, UH

provost@uh.edu | 832-842-0550

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