College of Natural Sciences Experts


Scott J Aaronson

Scott J Aaronson

Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
aaronson@cs.utexas.edu

Expertise: Quantum computers; computational complexity theory; theoretical computer science

Eric V Anslyn

Eric V Anslyn

Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
anslyn@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 0068

Expertise: Developing chemical sensors for real-world applications such as detecting counterfeit wine, spirits and olive oil

Taft E Armandroff

Taft E Armandroff

Director, McDonald Observatory, McDonald Observatory, College of Natural Sciences
taft@astro.as.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 3300

Chandrajit L Bajaj

Chandrajit L Bajaj

Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
bajaj@cs.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5133, +1 512 471 8870

Expertise: Image Processing, Computer Graphics, Geometric Modeling, Computational Biology & Bioinformatics, Data Analysis & Visualization. In one project, he's developing chemical imaging techniques that could enable earlier cancer detection by identifying the chemical make-up of individual cells in a biopsy. In another, he models the 3D structures of HIV and other viruses to search for drugs that might be a good fit.

Brett J Baker

Brett J Baker

Associate Professor, Department of Marine Science, College of Natural Sciences
brett_baker@utexas.edu

Expertise: He uses DNA sequencing technologies and computational analyses to discover marine microbes that can't be cultured in the lab and reconstruct their evolutionary histories. Keywords: metagenomics, transciptomics, proteomics, marine microbial communities.

Thomas G Barnes

Thomas G Barnes

Research Affiliate - Research Fellow, McDonald Observatory, College of Natural Sciences
tgb@astro.as.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 1301

Expertise: Astronomy; variable stars; stellar distance scales; Cepheid variable stars; observatory management; National Science Foundation; optical and infrared astronomy; extraterrestrial life

Aprile D Benner

Aprile D Benner

Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
abenner@prc.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 1964

Expertise: Human development; adolescence and young childhood; social, emotional, and cognitive growth and maturation of young people

Danielle A Berg

Danielle A Berg

Assistant Professor, Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
daberg@austin.utexas.edu

William M Best

William M Best

Research Associate, Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
wbest@utexas.edu

Joydeep  Biswas

Joydeep Biswas

Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
joydeepb@cs.utexas.edu

Expertise: robotics, artificial intelligence, autonomous service mobile robots, long-term autonomy, machine perception, planning, failure recovery for autonomous mobile robots, human-robot shared autonomy

Carlos  Botero

Carlos Botero

Associate Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
carlos.botero@austin.utexas.edu

Expertise: Botero’s research is broadly interested in how organisms cope with and adapt to fluctuating environments. His lab’s work is currently focused on understanding the evolutionary causes and consequences of enhanced cognition as well as the variety of forces that drive the evolution of human culture. The lab is also involved in collaborative efforts to understand and predict organismal responses to climate change.

Brendan P Bowler

Brendan P Bowler

Assistant Professor, Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
bpbowler@astro.as.utexas.edu

Michael  Boylan-Kolchin

Michael Boylan-Kolchin

Professor, Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
mbk@astro.as.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 3343

Expertise: Cosmology and galaxy formation; dark matter physics; near-field cosmology; high-redshift galaxies; globular clusters; cosmological structure formation; cosmic reionization

Simon J Brandl

Simon J Brandl

Assistant Professor, Department of Marine Science, College of Natural Sciences
simon.brandl@austin.utexas.edu

Expertise: Simon Brandl is a fish ecologist who studies the ecology, evolution, and functional role of fishes. He is particularly interested in some of the most common, but difficult to see fish known as “cryptobenthic fishes”, or just “cryptos.” These fishes, such as gobies and blennies, are small and live on the bottom of many ecosystems, such as coral reefs or the local oyster reefs. While they are often overlooked, they are extremely abundant in tropical coastal ecosystems worldwide, account for almost 1/10 of all vertebrate diversity on Earth, and feed many of the larger species we care about. Insight into these types of fish will help researchers better understand the role fish have in marine ecosystems.

Molly S Bray

Molly S Bray

Department Chair, Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
mbray@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 3958

Expertise: Child and Adolescent Health, Epigenetics, Health & Medicine, Nutritional Sciences

Jennifer S Brodbelt

Jennifer S Brodbelt

Department Chair, Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
jbrodbelt@cm.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 0028, +1 512 471 0041

Expertise: development and application of mass spectrometry for identifying biomarkers related to cancer, heart disease, metabolic disorders and more

Edward J Buskey

Edward J Buskey

Department Chair, Marine Science, College of Natural Sciences
ed.buskey@utexas.edu
+1 361 749 3102, +1 361 749 3104

Expertise: Biological oceanography; marine ecology; marine plankton; harmful algal blooms (red tides brown tides); behavior and sensory perception of marine organisms; bioluminescence

Catherine  Calder

Catherine Calder

Professor, College of Natural Sciences
calder@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 475 8802

Expertise: Spatial statistics, Bayesian modeling and computation, and statistical network analysis. Focused on applications in the environmental, social, and health sciences.

David  Cannatella

David Cannatella

Department Chair, Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
catfish@utexas.edu
+1 512 453 1620

Expertise: My team and I investigate the evolution of amphibians. Some areas of interest are the higher-level phylogeny of amphibians, biodiversity of Neotropical frogs, signal evolution in frog mating calls, behavioral ecology of poison frogs, and relationship of bioinformatics and systematics. I am also the Associate Director for Biodiversity Collections in the Department of Integrative Biology.

Caitlin M Casey

Caitlin M Casey

Associate Professor, Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
cmcasey@utexas.edu
+1 512 471 6449

Expertise: galaxy formation and evolution, galaxy clusters, starbursting galaxies, extragalactic, James Webb Space Telescope, JWST

Swarat  Chaudhuri

Swarat Chaudhuri

Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
swarat@cs.utexas.edu

Expertise: artificial intelligence, AI, formal methods, safe autonomous systems, trustworthy machine learning, automated reasoning, programming languages, compilers, program synthesis

James R Chelikowsky

James R Chelikowsky

Professor, Department of Physics, College of Natural Sciences
jrc@utexas.edu
+1 512 232 9083

Expertise: Quantum models for functionalized nanostructures; simulations of liquids and crystal growth; simulated images from probe microscopies; defects in oxides; materials informatics; high performance algorithms for the electronic structure problem.

John  Chisholm

John Chisholm

Assistant Professor, Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
chisholm@austin.utexas.edu

Anita L Cochran

Anita L Cochran

A&P (Part-Time), McDonald Observatory, College of Natural Sciences
anita@astro.as.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 1471

Expertise: Astronomy, our solar system (particularly comets, asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects); origins of planetary systems; optical spectroscopy; McDonald Observatory

Laura L Colgin

Laura L Colgin

Professor, Department of Neuroscience, College of Natural Sciences
colgin@mail.clm.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 6361, +1 512 232 6564

Expertise: behavior, cell biology, learning and memory, synaptic biology and small circuits, integrative neuroscience

Sarah M Collins

Sarah M Collins

Assistant Professor of Instruction, Department of Statistics and Data Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
smcollins@utexas.edu

Expertise: Statistics

Molly E Cummings

Molly E Cummings

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
mcummings@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 6243, +1 512 471 5163

Expertise: sensory ecology, genomic response, evolution, biodiversity, organismal biology, behavior

Bryan W Davies

Bryan W Davies

Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
bwdavies@utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5535

Expertise: infectious diseases, microbial behavior, peptides, antibodies

Jaimie N Davis

Jaimie N Davis

Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
jaimie.davis@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 0971

Expertise: child and adolescent health, nutritional sciences, obesity, behaviour

Leszek F Demkowicz

Leszek F Demkowicz

Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Cockrell School of Engineering
leszek@oden.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 4199

Expertise: Computational Acoustics and Electromagnetics; hp-Adaptive Finite and Boundary Element Methods; Applied Functional Analysis

Jaquelin P Dudley

Jaquelin P Dudley

Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
jdudley@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 8415, +1 512 779 7769

Expertise: Animal viruses; retroviruses; breast cancer; oncogenes; transcription regulation; retroviral vectors; leukemia; communication

Kenneth H Dunton

Kenneth H Dunton

Professor, Department of Marine Science, College of Natural Sciences
ken.dunton@utexas.edu
+1 361 749 6728, +1 361 749 6744

Expertise: marine science, Arctic, seagrass, climate change, global warming, food webs, marine ecology, ecosystem dynamics

David J Eaton

David J Eaton

Professor, Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs
eaton@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 8959, +1 512 471 8972

Expertise: Eaton has written on rural water supply, international water resource conflicts, energy management, environmental problems of industries, management of emergency medical services, applications of mathematical programming to resource problems, insurance, and agriculture. His research focuses on sustainable development in international river basins, evaluation of energy and water conservation programs, and prevention of pollution. Eaton's current research concerns U.S.-Mexico environmental cooperation, new methods for evaluation of air pollution emissions, joint management by Palestinians and Israelis of shared groundwater, and water conservation in Texas; conservation, energy, pollution, water & wastewater

Lauren I Ehrlich

Lauren I Ehrlich

Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
lehrlich@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 7080, +1 512 475 7125

Expertise: COVID-19, immunology, T cells, T cell leukemia, autoimmune disease

Andrew  Ellington

Andrew Ellington

Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
andy.ellington@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 3424, +1 512 471 6445

Expertise: Directed evolution; ribozymes; biotechnology; chemical and biological warfare detection

Peter H English

Peter H English

Assistant Professor of Instruction, Biology Instruction Office, College of Natural Sciences
english@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 6560

Andrew J Esbaugh

Andrew J Esbaugh

Associate Professor, Department of Marine Science, College of Natural Sciences
a.esbaugh@austin.utexas.edu
+1 361 749 6835

Expertise: Marine science; effects of climate change, toxins and ocean acidification on fish; fish physiology; environmental physiology; respiratory gas exchange; acid-base and osmoregulatory balance; the evolution of physiological systems; aquatic toxicology;

Caroline E Farrior

Caroline E Farrior

Associate Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
cfarrior@utexas.edu
+1 512 232 6922, +1 512 232 6933

Expertise: plant communities, hydraulic strategy, carbon allocation in forests, sequential resource limitation

Karen L Fingerman

Karen L Fingerman

Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
kfingerman@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 0618

Expertise: adolescene and young adulthood, adult development, aging, culture, interpersonal relationships, parenting and caregiving

Steven L Finkelstein

Steven L Finkelstein

Professor, Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
stevenf@astro.as.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 1483

Expertise: galaxies, black holes, James Webb Space Telescope, JWST, early universe

Ilya J Finkelstein

Ilya J Finkelstein

Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
ifinkelstein@cm.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 1394

Expertise: COVID-19 mutations, cancer, genomic instability and maintenance

Keely D Finkelstein

Keely D Finkelstein

Associate Professor of Instruction, Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
keelyf@astro.as.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 3339

Norma L Fowler

Norma L Fowler

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
nfowler@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 1295, +1 512 471 4546

Expertise: My students and I are currently pursuing a variety of questions in several areas of plant population biology and plant ecology. These areas include (1) the dynamics and regulation of plant populations; (2) competitive and facilitative interactions between plants and their consequences for community structure and for species distributions across their landscape; (3) the effects of herbivory and of fire on plant population dynamics, plant-plant interactions, community structure, and landscape-scale distributions. We address these topics using a variety of plant species (grasses, forbs, woody plants) and communities, including central Texas savannas and woodlands. Field, greenhouse, and garden experiments, descriptive field studies, and theoretical models are among the techniques we have used. A number of our current projects have conservation applications, including the preservation of an endangered annual forb and the management of woodland preserves. Please see our research webpages for more information.

Katherine  Freese

Katherine Freese

Professor, Department of Physics, College of Natural Sciences
ktfreese@utexas.edu

Expertise: Cosmology and astroparticle physics; dark matter; dark energy; dark stars; dark big bang; weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPS)

Lee A Fuiman

Lee A Fuiman

Associate Director for Fisheries and Mariculture Laboratory, Marine Science Institute, College of Natural Sciences
lee.fuiman@utexas.edu
+1 361 749 6795

Expertise: Dr. Fuiman's research includes both laboratory and field experiments on the behavioral and sensory capabilities of fish larvae. This approach has led to important insights into the change in vulnerability of larvae to predators during early life. He combines the behavioral approach with detailed studies of changing sensory and locomotor morphology to understand how behavior may be constrained. Dr. Fuiman also studies the effects of environmental variables (e.g., temperature and salinity) on a larva's capabilities. He incorporates field experiments to form ecological interpretations for the laboratory results. His research has now expanded to include assessment of sublethal effects of pollutants and their ecological interpretation.

Karl  Gebhardt

Karl Gebhardt

Department Chair, Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
gebhardt@astro.as.utexas.edu
+1 512 590 5206

Expertise: Astronomy, black holes, globular clusters, elliptical galaxies, galaxy clusters, dark energy, HETDEX, Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment

Kenneth W Gentle

Kenneth W Gentle

Professor, Department of Physics, College of Natural Sciences
k.gentle@mail.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 7581

Expertise: Plasma physics; fusion energy; environment & earth science.

George  Georgiou

George Georgiou

Professor and Cockrell Family Regents Chair in Engineering No. 9, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
gg@che.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 6975

Expertise: Engineering and preclinical/clinical development of human enzyme therapeutics for cancer treatment. Development of methods for the molecular-level understanding of antibody responses to immune challenge. Analysis of the antibody repertoire elicited by viral infection (e.g. HIV-1) and vaccination to aid the development of more efficient vaccines. Engineering of antibody therapeutics displaying enhanced ability to recruit cytotoxic leukocytes and blood proteins (complement) for the effective clearance of pathogens.

Elizabeth T Gershoff

Elizabeth T Gershoff

Director, Population Research Center, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
liz.gershoff@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 4800

Expertise: Child and youth development; adolescence; parenting; parental discipline; violence; early childhood education

Lawrence E Gilbert

Lawrence E Gilbert

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
lgilbert@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 2825, +1 512 471 4705

Expertise: Community ecology; wing pattern genetics; biological variance; imported fire ants/phorid fly interactions; butterfly/plant interactions

F  Gonzalez-Lima

F Gonzalez-Lima

Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts
gonzalezlima@utexas.edu
+1 512 475 8497, +1 512 937 8859
Spanish Speaker

Expertise: Neuroscience, neuroanatomy, neurobiology, physiological psychology, psychobiology, learning and memory, brain energy modulation, and neural mechanisms of behavior, transcranial laser stimulation of human cognitive and emotional functions

Vernita  Gordon

Vernita Gordon

Associate Professor, Department of Physics, College of Natural Sciences
gordon@chaos.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5187

Expertise: Experimental biological physics; multicellular systems; the role of physics and spacial structure in developmental and evolutionary systems.

Kristen L Grauman

Kristen L Grauman

Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
grauman@cs.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 9521

Expertise: artificial intelligence, computer vision, machine learning, machine perception, graphics, visualization, visual recognition, image and video search, video summarization, video analysis, first-person vision, embodied and multi-modal perception, interactive machine learning, object and activity recognition, unsupervised visual discovery, deep learning

Kristen M Harris

Kristen M Harris

Professor, Department of Neuroscience, College of Natural Sciences
kharris@utexas.edu
+1 512 944 0779

Expertise: Knowing the dimensions and connectivity of synapses is fundamental to understanding function. In the brain, more than 90% of synapses occur on dendritic spines. These tiny protrusions from the surface of dendrites measure about 1 micrometer in length. Dendritic spine structure is clearly important for normal brain function because when brain function is impaired, such as in conditions of mental retardation, epilepsy, and stroke, the dendritic spines are either gone, or have highly distorted shapes and sizes. Our goal is to elucidate structural components involved in the cell biology of learning and memory. We study long-term potentiation (LTP) and its complement, long-term depression (LTD), in the developing and mature hippocampus because these phenomena have many of the physiological characteristics that are expected for learning and memory in the brain. Our working hypothesis is synaptic plasticity that serves to modify synapses in the creation of new memories competes with homeostatic mechanisms that serve to prevent saturation of synaptic strength and neuropathology. Our focus has been on dendritic spines because they are the major postsynaptic targets of excitatory axons throughout the brain and because their structure and composition serve both synaptic plasticity and stabilizing homeostatic mechanisms.

Justin W Hart

Justin W Hart

Assistant Professor of Practice, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
hart@cs.utexas.edu

Expertise: artificial intelligence, general purpose service robots, intelligent robotics, autonomous human-robot interaction, human-computer interaction, robot self-modeling, semantic mapping

Keith  Hawkins

Keith Hawkins

Associate Professor, Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
keithhawkins@utexas.edu
+1 512 471 1309

Expertise: Galactic & stellar archaeology; Chemical composition of stars; stellar spectroscopy; Galactic structure

Dean  Hendrickson

Dean Hendrickson

Curator, Ichthyology, College of Natural Sciences
deanhend@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 9774

Expertise: Hendrickson focuses on the ecology and evolutionary history of fishes, primarily in the arid southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

Graeme A Henkelman

Graeme A Henkelman

Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
henkelman@utexas.edu
+1 512 769 3180

Expertise: Energy conversion and storage; fuel cells; chemical reactions at surfaces; novel catalysts; battery materials.

David L Herrin

David L Herrin

Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
herrin@utexas.edu
+1 512 471 3843

Expertise: Microalgae and minialgae; biofuels; genetic modification; chlamydomonas.

David M Hillis

David M Hillis

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
dhillis@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5792

Expertise: Molecular evolution; vertebrates; systematics; evolution of viruses; endangered species; amphibians; reptiles; fishes; mammals; birds; molecular biology; DNA; genetics

Simon M Humphrey

Simon M Humphrey

Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
smh@cm.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 0312

Expertise: Catalysis; materials science; nanoscience and nanotechnology; polymer chemistry; surface chemistry.

Alexander  Huth

Alexander Huth

Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
huth@cs.utexas.edu

Expertise: artificial intelligence; AI; decoding words from thoughts; machine learning; natural language processing; large language models; generative AI; understanding how the brain processes language and represents meaning

Brent L Iverson

Brent L Iverson

Dean, School of Undergraduate Studies
iversonb@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 750 0519

Expertise: Biotechnology; bioorganic chemistry; organic chemistry; molecular biology; drug and diagnostic development

Robert K Jansen

Robert K Jansen

Director, Plant Resources Center, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
jansen@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 8827

Expertise: Molecular systematics and evolution; evolution and systematics of the asteraceae; chloroplast DNA evolution; origin and evolution of oceanic island floras; role of hybridization on the extinction of rare species

Shalene  Jha

Shalene Jha

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
sjha@austin.utexas.edu

Expertise: Jha studies the interactions between pollinators (predominantly bees), plants and the landscape. Her work offers insights into supporting declining populations of native pollinators.

Shardha  Jogee

Shardha Jogee

Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, College of Natural Sciences
sj@astro.as.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 1395

Expertise: Astronomy, galaxy evolution, Hubble Space Telescope, galaxy surveys (GEMS, GOODS, Hubble Ultra Deep Field, STAGES), ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/Sub-millimeter Array)

Thomas E Juenger

Thomas E Juenger

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
tjuenger@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 5751

Expertise: Phenotypic evolution, physiological genomics and evolution in C3 (Brachypodium) and C4 (Panicum) grasses.

Timothy H Keitt

Timothy H Keitt

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
tkeitt@utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5004

Expertise: Keitt is an expert on the ecological impacts of a proposed border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Su Yeong  Kim

Su Yeong Kim

Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
su.yeong.kim@utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5524, +1 512 475 6014

Expertise: Development of children of immigrants in the United States, with a focus on children of Chinese and Mexican origin; parenting; parent-child relationships

Adam R Klivans

Adam R Klivans

Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
klivans@cs.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 9790

Expertise: His research interests lie in machine learning and theoretical computer science, in particular, Learning Theory, Computational Complexity, Pseudorandomness, Limit Theorems, and Gaussian Space. He also serves on the editorial board for the Theory of Computing and Machine Learning Journal.

Adam L Kraus

Adam L Kraus

Associate Professor, Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
alk@astro.as.utexas.edu

Travis J Laduc

Travis J Laduc

Curator, Herpetology, College of Natural Sciences
travieso@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 475 6339

Expertise: Reptiles and amphibians, biodiversity, evolution, ecology

Keji  Lai

Keji Lai

Associate Professor, Department of Physics, College of Natural Sciences
kejilai@physics.utexas.edu
+1 512 475 9128

Expertise: Energy-harvesting materials; experimental condensed matter physics; nanoscale electromagnetic imaging; complex oxides; nano-materials; transport in low-dimensional systems.

David A Laude

David A Laude

Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
dalaude@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 2154

Expertise: As the graduation champion for The University of Texas at Austin, Laude is an expert on using data, academic support and incentives to help ensure that students succeed as undergraduates and graduate on time.

Edward G Lebrun

Edward G Lebrun

Research Scientist, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
elebrun@mail.utexas.edu

Expertise: Invasive ant species; tawny crazy ants; fire ants; sustainable biocontrol of invasive ants;

Heather  Leidy

Heather Leidy

Associate Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
heather.leidy@austin.utexas.edu
+1 573 825 2620

Zhanfei  Liu

Zhanfei Liu

Professor, Department of Marine Science, College of Natural Sciences
zhanfei.liu@utexas.edu
+1 361 749 6772

Expertise: Marine organic compounds are produced in the ocean surface through photosynthesis and are modified by bacteria or zooplankton; some are preserved by interaction with minerals. Dr. Liu’s research investigates the source, distribution, and changes of organic compounds in marine environments. Knowing geochemical behaviors of organic compounds is critical for a better understanding of global carbon cycle and nutrient dynamics. Dr. Liu is also interested in geochemical behaviors of petroleum hydrocarbons in marine environments. More recently, he's turned his attention to nurdles, small bits of plastic that are increasingly appearing in marine environments, to find out what toxins they may be absorbing and passing along to wildlife.

John E Luecke

John E Luecke

Professor, Department of Mathematics, College of Natural Sciences
luecke@math.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 4176

Expertise: topology; knot theory

Allan H Macdonald

Allan H Macdonald

Professor, Department of Physics, College of Natural Sciences
macd@physics.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 7960, +1 512 232 9113

Expertise: Graphene; spintronics; cold metal atoms; quantum hall systems; nanoparticles.

Edward M Marcotte

Edward M Marcotte

Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
marcotte@utexas.edu
+1 512 232 3919, +1 512 471 5435

Expertise: biochemistry, cancer, computational biology, drug discovery, systems and synthetic biology

Michael P Marder

Michael P Marder

Executive Director - UTeach, Department of Physics, College of Natural Sciences
marder@chaos.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 3612

Expertise: Fracture; deformation of materials; computational materials science; condensed matter physics; nonlinear dynamics; teacher preparation; discovery learning; Uteach.

Roberto  Martin-Martin

Roberto Martin-Martin

Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
robertomm@cs.utexas.edu

Expertise: artificial intelligence, robotics, computer vision, machine learning, perception

Mikhail V Matz

Mikhail V Matz

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
matz@mail.utexas.edu
+1 512 992 8086

Expertise: climate change, ecology, epigenetics, evolution

Richard A Matzner

Richard A Matzner

Professor, Department of Physics, College of Natural Sciences
matzner2@physics.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5062

Expertise: Cosmology; general relativity; computational astrophysics; satellite dynamics; large-scale computation

Michael  Mauk

Michael Mauk

Professor, Department of Neuroscience, College of Natural Sciences
mauk@utexas.edu
+1 512 232 3978

Expertise: Mechanisms of learning and plasticity, Information processing in the cerebellum, Computer simulation of cerebellum

Jason  McLellan

Jason McLellan

Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
jmclellan@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 1906

Expertise: Jason S. McLellan specializes in understanding the structure and function of viral proteins, including those of coronaviruses. His research focuses on applying structural information to the rational design of vaccines and other therapies for viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. McLellan and his team collaborated with researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Vaccine Research Center to design a stabilized version of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which is a key element in at least four COVID-19 vaccines to have either reached Phase 3 clinical trials or been approved for emergency use (those from Pfizer and BioNTech; Moderna; Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceutica; and Novavax). McLellan also co-developed a vaccine candidate for RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) that is currently in human trials.

Lauren A Meyers

Lauren A Meyers

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
utpandemics@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 4950

Expertise: infectious disease epidemiology, evolutionary dynamics, molecular evolution, viruses, bacteria, RNA, mathematical modeling, computer simulation, bioinformatics, flu, Ebola, Zika, malaria

Risto P Miikkulainen

Risto P Miikkulainen

Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
risto@cs.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 7316, +1 512 471 9571

Expertise: artificial intelligence, neural networks, natural language processing, computer vision, evolutionary intelligence, neuroevolution, bioinformatics, computational biology, machine learning, cognitive science, computational neuroscience

Jennifer  Moon

Jennifer Moon

Professor of Instruction, Biology Instruction Office, College of Natural Sciences
jen.moon@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 4011

Expertise: genetics, regulation of gene expression, basic biology, plant biology, teaching in higher ed

Raymond J Mooney

Raymond J Mooney

Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
mooney@cs.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 7316, +1 512 471 9558

Expertise: artificial intelligence, bioinformatics and computational biology, machine learning, natural language processing

Nancy A Moran

Nancy A Moran

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
nancy.moran@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 5701

Expertise: insect and bacterial genomics and evolution, symbiosis, microbiology, molecular biology, biodiversity

Caroline V Morley

Caroline V Morley

Assistant Professor, Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
cmorley@utexas.edu
+1 512 471 1402

Expertise: atmospheres of exoplanets, the search for extraterrestrial life, brown dwarfs, extrasolar planets, James Webb Space Telescope, JWST

Charles B Mullins

Charles B Mullins

Professor, McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering
mullins@che.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5817

Expertise: Materials chemistry for energy studies regarding solar photoelectrocatalysis; catalysis of nano-structured surfaces; materials for lithium-ion battery electrodes.

Julian B Munoz

Julian B Munoz

Assistant Professor, Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
julianmunoz@austin.utexas.edu

Lisa  Neff

Lisa Neff

Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
lneff@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 475 6886

Expertise: family, close relationships, marriage, adult behaviour, human development

Howard  Ochman

Howard Ochman

Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
howard.ochman@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 5666

Stella S Offner

Stella S Offner

Associate Professor, Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
soffner@astro.as.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 3853

Expertise: star formation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, numerical simulations, computational methods & hydrodynamics, astrostatistics, astrochemistry

Yale N Patt

Yale N Patt

Professor, Chandra Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
patt@ece.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 4085

Expertise: Microprocessor architecture in the many core era; Parallelism and superscalar processor design; Seriously heterogeneous chip multiprocessors; How to help students learn

Amy  Pavel

Amy Pavel

Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
apavel@cs.utexas.edu

Expertise: artificial intelligence, graphics and visualization, human-computer interaction, natural language processing, human-AI interaction, accessibility, video & augmented reality/virtual reality, machine learning

Shelley M Payne

Shelley M Payne

Director, LaMontagne Center for Infectious Disease, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
payne@utexas.edu
+1 512 471 9258

Expertise: Infectious diseases; bacterial pathogens; emerging infections; iron metabolism; cholera and E. coli diseases

Steven M Phelps

Steven M Phelps

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
sphelps@utexas.edu
+1 512 475 6304

Expertise: gene regulaton, social cognition, epigenetics and transcription, population genetics, neural network models

Jonathan T Pierce

Jonathan T Pierce

Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience, College of Natural Sciences
jonps@utexas.edu
+1 512 232 4137, +1 512 529 9331

Expertise: cell biology, neurogenetics, molecular biology, ion channels, neurotransmitter receptors and molecular signaling

Mark G Raizen

Mark G Raizen

Professor, Department of Physics, College of Natural Sciences
raizen@physics.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 0883, +1 512 471 4753

Expertise: Atomic physics; laser cooling of atoms; trapping atoms; methods for enriching stable isotopes; desalination of water; energy efficient lighting; molecular motion; materials science; quantum optics; laser optics.

Timothy E Riedel

Timothy E Riedel

Associate Professor of Practice, College of Natural Sciences
triedel@utexas.edu

Expertise: I am the faculty in charge of a course-based research experience for undergraduates devoted to developing at-home or DIY Diagnostics.

Michael  Rose

Michael Rose

Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
mrose@cm.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 4456

Expertise: Creating hydrogen fuel from water and light; Synthetic inorganic chemistry; solar fuels; catalysis.

Stephen  Russell

Stephen Russell

Director, School of Human Ecology, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
stephen.russell@utexas.edu
+1 512 471 0753, +1 512 471 8391

Expertise: Adolescent sexuality; LGBT youth; parent-adolescent relationships; childhood development

Michael J Ryan

Michael J Ryan

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
mryan@utexas.edu
+1 512 554 2433

Expertise: behaviour, evoluton, organismal biology, phylogenetic reconstruction and comparisons

James G Scott

James G Scott

Professor, Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management, Red McCombs School of Business
james.scott@mccombs.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5905

Expertise: statistical computation, Bayesian interference, machine learning, hierarchical models

Jonathan L Sessler

Jonathan L Sessler

Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
sessler@cm.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 5009, +1 512 471 6674

Expertise: Organic chemistry; texaphyrins; expanded porphyrins; anion recognition; drug development; anti cancer agents; technical analyses of patents

Deirdre  Shoemaker

Deirdre Shoemaker

Professor, Department of Physics, College of Natural Sciences
deirdre.shoemaker@austin.utexas.edu

Expertise: Her research interests center on black holes and gravitational waves, understanding these and other aspects of strong gravity and how it reveals itself in the universe. To that end, Prof. Shoemaker works with gravitational wave detector teams to work toward understanding gravitational physics.

Gabriela L Stein

Department Chair, Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
gabriela.stein@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 1883

Peter H Stone

Peter H Stone

Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
pstone@cs.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 9796

Expertise: Artificial intelligence, multi-agent systems, machine learning, multi-agent learning, robotics, e-commerce, trading agents, autonomic computing

David W Taylor

David W Taylor

Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
dtaylor@utexas.edu
+1 512 471 9156

Expertise: CRISPR, cryo-electron microscopy, biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology

Edward C Theriot

Edward C Theriot

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
etheriot@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 2379, +1 512 471 4997

Expertise: Algae; aquatic biology; paleontology; freshwater ecology; evolution; diatoms; Texas Natural Science Center

Paul K Toprac

Paul K Toprac

Professor of Instruction, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
topcat@cs.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 9574

Expertise: Dr. Toprac's research continues to involve the use of games, simulations, mobile apps, and XR to change emotion, motivation, learning, and behavior in individuals. Current and past projects and software publications can be found at sagalab.utexas.edu.

Keiko  Torii

Keiko Torii

Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
ktorii@utexas.edu

Philip U Treisman

Philip U Treisman

Professor, Department of Mathematics, College of Natural Sciences
uri@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 2271, +1 512 471 6190

Expertise: Education Policy; mathematics education; economics of education; educational equity; education program design and evaluation volunteerism

Fatima A Varner

Fatima A Varner

Associate Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
fvarner@utexas.edu
+1 512 471 8580

Expertise: adolescene and young adulthood, human development, culture, parenting and caregiving

Etienne E Vouga

Etienne E Vouga

Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
evouga@cs.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 7482

Expertise: computer graphics, applied mathematics, scientifiic computing, visualizing, geometry processing and design

John B Wallingford

Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
wallingford@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 2784

Mary F Wheeler

Mary F Wheeler

Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Cockrell School of Engineering
mfw@oden.utexas.edu
+1 512 475 8625

Expertise: Numerical solution of partial differential systems with applications to the modeling of subsurface and surface flows and parallel computation.

Andrew B Whinston

Andrew B Whinston

Professor, Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management, Red McCombs School of Business
abw@uts.cc.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 7962, +1 512 471 8879

Expertise: Resource allocation issues; bundle markets in electronic commerce; digital economy; electronic commerce; electronic financial markets; network management, business.

Alexander L Wild

Alexander L Wild

Curator of Entomology, College of Natural Sciences
alex.wild@utexas.edu
+1 512 232 1896

Claus O Wilke

Claus O Wilke

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
wilke@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 2459

Expertise: computational evolutionary biology, bioinformatics, population genetics, statistics, artificial intelligence

Carlton G Willson

Carlton G Willson

Professor and Rashid Engineering Regents Chair, Department of Chemical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering
willson@che.utexas.edu

Expertise: Polymers, materials, and processes for microelectronics; Photoresists; Liquid crystals; Computer simulation; Mass transport studies; Kinetics; Graft polymerization; Biosensor arrays; Novel processes for producing nanometer scale structures

Harold H Zakon

Harold H Zakon

Professor, Department of Neuroscience, College of Natural Sciences
h.zakon@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 0194, +1 512 471 3440

Expertise: Neurobiology; neuroendocrinology; electric fish; ion channels; hormones and the brain

Kelly R Zamudio

Kelly R Zamudio

Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
kelly.zamudio@austin.utexas.edu

Yuke  Zhu

Yuke Zhu

Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences
yukez@cs.utexas.edu

Expertise: artificial intelligence, robotics, robot learning, machine learning, computer vision, interactive perception

Corwin  Zigler

Corwin Zigler

Associate Professor, Department of Statistics and Data Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
cory.zigler@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 475 8722

Expertise: Public health, epidemiology, environmental health, statistics, data sciences, biostatistics, computational medicine