THIS YEAR SO FAR

By Nat Levy

It never stops at the Cockrell School. This year was chock-full of amazing discoveries, prestigious honors, historic moments and a lot of fun. Read on to relive it all.

🎉 Cockrell Turns 17

Our engineering education pedigree is from young and sweet, but we celebrated the 17th anniversary of the Cockrell School’s naming. You can dance! And the Cockrell family has passed $100 million in total donations. They’re helping us have the time of our lives!

UT’s semiconductor momentum continues to build. One of the largest awards ever to a UT System institution will cement our leadership in the next generation of semiconductors.

Plus, the first cohort of the semiconductor master’s program will begin their journey at UT this fall, joining exciting new offerings in robotics and integrated computational engineering.

Texas Engineering students in lab gear looking at presentation at white board

Year of AI

As the Year of AI at UT comes to a close, researchers, students and staff gathered to celebrate innovation, accomplishments and robot dance moves at AI Live. Plus, learn more about how Texas Engineers are improving AI.

Texas Robotics robot jumping in front of crowd

Another class of Texas Engineers earned their degrees and took the next step in their careers.

Texas Engineer Michael Linford speaking at Cockrell Commencement

Cockrell commencement speaker Michael Linford stressed the importance of personal growth.

Texas Engineer Jeannie Leavitt speaking at podium at Cockrell Commencement

Air Force trailblazer Jeannie Leavitt laid out how to score career touchdowns.

Dean Roger Bonnecaze and Matthew Nattier at on commencement stage holding a diploma

And, this year’s Outstanding Scholar-Leader shared his secrets to managing the workload of an engineering education.

A first-of-its-kind hydrogen hub opened at UT

advancing the push toward cleaner energy sources. This year also saw the kickoff of the $1.2 billion HyVelocity Hydrogen Hub. If you’d like to know more, dive even deeper into the depth and breadth of our energy research.

The class of 2028 made its debut on the Forty Acres. And our alumni had a few pointers for the newest cohort of Texas Engineers.

Yet again, both our graduate and undergraduate programs landed in the top 10 of the U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Members of Portugal’s Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation looking at facilities at the Cockrell School of Engineering

Science and innovation leaders from Portugal

Paid a visit to the Forty Acres to see the latest and greatest projects and discuss the future of the UT Austin Portugal program. Spoiler alert, the program will continue for another five years. We can’t wait to see what they do next!

Texas Engineers took home top honors & entrance to academic societies:

Ethernet creator Bob Metcalfe earned The Franklin Institute’s Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering.
Aerospace engineering professor Noel Clemens and alumna and former faculty member Christine Schmidt were elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
Aerospace engineer Nanshu Lu and mechanical engineer Donglei “Emma” Fan were part of the 2024 American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering’s College of Fellows class.
Storm surge expert Clint Dawson won The University of Texas at Austin’s President’s Research Impact Award.
For her contributions to computational science and engineering, Karen Willcox was awarded the 2024 Theodore von Kármán Prize from the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
A trio of Texas Engineers — Hal Alper, Lizy Kurian John and Guihua Yu — were elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. Alper was also elected to the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, and Yu won the “breakthrough of the year” in the engineering and technology category of the Falling Walls Foundation Global Call.
Nina Telang won the William David Blunk Memorial Professorship for her work in teaching, advising and mentoring students.
Srinivas Bettadpur received the American Geophysical Union’s Charles A. Whitten Medal for his research into the dynamics of Earth and other planets.

Last spring, a group of mechanical engineer students worked with Austin Pets Alive to design wheelchairs for dogs, an example of our many unique learning opportunities.

Despite the clouds, the total solar eclipse brought out the crowds.

Texas Engineering student smiling and looking up while wearing eclipse glasses

Texas Engineer Jose Millan and graduate student working on machine learning research in lab

Another year, another batch of exciting research discoveries across many different areas:

Texas Engineer Arumagam Manthiram talk to staff in his battery research lab

Texas Engineer Nanshu Lu stretching out her e-skin technology

A fire-resistant, sodium-based battery.
A new “machine unlearning” method that allows AI training models to “forget” violent or copyrighted images.
Play a game using just your thoughts. This is part of a new brain-computer interface project to help people with motor disabilities.
Stretchable “e-skin” that enables robots to be more touch-sensitive and e-tattoos that can read your brainwaves.
An antibody that protects against all known variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The Frank Erwin Center

came down to make way for a future medical facility, and civil engineer Christopher Rausch used the opportunity to create a blueprint for reusing common materials, such as doors, chairs, tile, electronics and more.

Large building frames and construction materials at Erwin Center demolition

Paradigm Robotics team standing in front of table and presentation posters

Led by a team of courageous engineers

Paradigm Robotics won the Student Startup category at the SXSW Pitch competition and the Student Innovation Category at the SXSW Innovation Awards.

Texas Engineers played a key role in the first U.S. Moon landing in 50 years. We spoke to the key players about their experience that day and what it means for space travel in the future.

Michigan engineering Dean Karen Thole wearing UT jersey and doing hook 'em horns hand sign

After the Texas Longhorns' thrilling victory over the Michigan Wolverines

Michigan Engineering dean, and Cockrell alumna, Karen Thole donned the Burnt Orange once again to pay off a bet with our own Dean Roger Bonnecaze.

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