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the american association for the advancement of science (aaas) recently selected texas a&m university professor sheela athreya as the recipient of the 2023 robert w sussman award for scientific contributions to anthropology the sussman award was established in 2017 to recognize the contributions to the field of anthropology by mid-career anthropologists it is named for robert sussman an aaas fellow and professor at washington university in st louis who researched the evolution of primate and human behavior and also studied race as a social construct robert sussman was one of my most beloved mentors at washington university in st louis where i got my phd athreya said he and i shared a passion for debunking the idea ofrace for exploring the history of biological anthropology for diversifying our field and understanding how our biases today are historically mediated… it is a particular honor to receive an award in his name athreya herself researches the evolution of the genus homo in the middle and late pleistocene especially within southern and eastern asia investigating variation within and across populations i study the skeletal remains of human ancestors who lived as far back as half a million years ago to trace how far back we first see these physical adaptations that characterize us today she said while athreya became a full professor just last month her interest in the study of anthropology extends back much further i became interested in the subject as a child when i wanted to understand why we all looked so different she said i read national geographic and time life books that my parents had laying around and understood early on that our features such as skin color and nose shape were due to adaptation to different climates and environments athreya came to texas a&m in 2003 and her love for teaching earned her a 2021 presidential impact fellowship two years prior in 2019 she was named a chancellors enhancing development and generating excellence in scholarship (edges) fellow to recognize the significant impact of her research in her field my favorite part about both teaching and research in anthropology is that it is foundational for all subjects whether youre a doctor lawyer engineer public servant or teacher she said anthropology helps you become more informed compassionate and ultimately more effective in those roles as the famous anthropologist ruth benedict said the purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences and i truly see that particularly as i get older
the college of arts and sciences at texas a&m university is pleased to announce that four faculty members have received a fulbright us scholar program award for the 2022-2023 academic year from the us department of state and the fulbright foreign scholarship board christian brannstrom a professor in the department of geography; daniel conway a professor in the department of philosophy; eduardo espina a professor of hispanic studies in the department of global languages and cultures; and mikko tuhkanen a professor in the department of english are among the 800 us citizens who will conduct research or teach abroad through the program the fulbright scholar program allows our faculty to engage in international collaborations in both teaching and research said mark zoran executive associate dean in the college of arts and sciences and a professor of biology these awardees have been selected by their respective host countries and are excellent ambassadors for texas a&m and for the united states the college of arts and sciences recognizes the importance of our scholars and teachers sharing their knowledge and expertise across borders and around the world we are proud of our fulbright scholars and we look forward to seeing the results of their scholarly work
brannstrom who also serves as senior associate dean for undergraduate education in texas a&m arts and sciences was awarded his fulbright to begin a three-month teaching and research program at the universidad de la república in uruguay where he will be teaching in the departamento de geografías laboratorio de estudios socioterritoriales in collaboration with raquel alvarado his instruction will consist of a geography of energy curriculum with connection to the uruguayan context brannstroms goal is to better understand the social acceptance of uruguays wind energy expansion through rigorous research design that advances the growing energy justice literature i'm honored to receive this award brannstrom said it lets me do three things that i'm passionate about: i have studied social acceptance of wind farms in texas and brazil since 2010; i have taught geography of energy since 2009; and i've enjoyed studying spanish ever since my first exposure at age 15 uruguay has had amazing success in implementing wind energy but the social acceptance aspects remain poorly understood i'm grateful for any opportunity to teach and research in a place that allows me to collect additional data that broaden our understandings of social aspects of renewable energy
conway will be a visiting research fellow at deakin university in australia studying the efforts of local scholars and practitioners to make social and spiritual reparations to the first nation peoples and indigenous communities conways research is meant to shape his understanding of the psychological and social conditions of genocide and related crimes against humanity he is particularly interested in how reparations for genocidal violence might be understood to be consistent with the more familiar political goals and aspirations of modern nation states i am honored to receive this prestigious award and i look forward to collaborating with my colleagues in australia conway said i am deeply grateful to texas a&m for its ongoing support of my teaching and research"
espina is spending the fall semester until the end of december in paraguay writing a book on the changing notions regarding innovation originality novelty and anticanonical writing in the context of 21st century hispanic american poetry he will also be giving two seminars on new writings of the americas and imagination to power: inventive writing; syntax and repercussions at the centro cultural de españa and at the universidad autónoma de asunción respectively for university students in the capital city of asuncion a few years ago the fulbright commission invited me to apply in the main category and suggested i do research and teach in paraguay a country in which i have never been espina said two years ago after thinking it over i applied however after passing all the academic filters and the committee telling me that my project was very good they informed me that i had not been selected however i did not see this rejection as the end but instead an invitation to apply again so i did the same tedious and tiring process again but this time i won i won the guggenheim fellowship on the first try this one took me a little longer persistence is key
tuhkanen will be teaching classes in american literature and literary theory at the university of bergen in norway he also plans to pursue two interrelated book-length studies titled times witness: on james baldwin and diasporic modernities: richard wright james baldwin and sylvia wynter for the coming academic year as a fulbright recipient im excited to be able to network with colleagues internationally for the coming academic year tuhkanen said im also happy to be a little closer for a little while to finland my site of origin
learn more about faculty in the college of arts and sciences
the fulbright program is the us governments flagship international educational exchange program and is supported by the people of the united states and partner countries around the world for more information about the fulbright program visit global partnership services
as one of the worlds leading research institutions texas a&m is at the forefront in making significant contributions to scholarship and discovery including in science and technology research conducted at texas a&m generated annual expenditures of more than $1148 billion in fiscal year 2021 texas a&m ranked 14th in the most recent national science foundations higher education research and development survey based on expenditures of more than $1131 billion in fiscal year 2020 texas a&ms research creates new knowledge that provides basic fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state nation and world to learn more visit research @ texas a&m
2019 texas a&m biology graduate and 2018 astronaut scholar ashley (hayden) monahan will serve as a speaker for both the scientific connections conference and american dream makers entrepreneur showcase as part of astronaut scholar alumni week set for november 2-4 a member of the astronaut scholarship foundation program committee since 2020 monahan previously participated in the astronaut scholarship foundations innovators week & gala in august after also speaking at the apollo 16 50th anniversary celebration dinner in houston where she reunited with nasa astronaut and apollo 16 moonwalker charlie duke who presented her with her own astronaut scholar award in september 2018 in rudder auditorium monahan is a fourth year phd candidate in neuroscience at baylor college of medicine in houston she recently was awarded a prestigious national institutes of health national research service award predoctoral fellowship to study how synaptic rna binding proteins regulate memory using c elegans in addition she is the founder of scicomm consulting llc a science communication and visualization company that helps researchers better communicate their science within the scientific community and with the public
for the first time hispanics are the largest demographic group in texas and a texas a&m university professor says now more than ever its time for state leaders to develop programs and set aside funds to address socioeconomic disparities according to new race/ethnic data released by the us census bureau last month hispanics are estimated to comprise 402% of the texas population versus white people at 394% whites are defined in the data as persons who self-identify as white and not as hispanic hispanics are persons who self-identify as hispanic and may be of any race state leaders need to become aware that hispanics are the future indeed the destiny of texas said texas a&m professor emeritus of sociology dudley l poston an internationally renowned expert in demography if we want texas and the texas economy and society to continue to grow and prosper in the years ahead our republican leaders must provide the programs and funding to enhance the human capital of hispanic texans poston said hispanics will likely comprise over half of the texas population in another several decades; hispanic children in texas today already comprise half of all children in the state but hispanics in texas lag far behind white people educationally and economically he said citing an analysis by the texas tribune of 2021 american community service (acs) data which show hispanic texans are disproportionately poorer than white texans hispanics are twice as likely as white people to be living at or below the poverty level also the new acs data show a significant difference in the median household incomes for white people compared to hispanic people white households in texas have a median income of $81 384 compared to a median income for hispanic households of $54 857 there are also sizable differences between the two groups in educational attainment with the acs data showing that 95% of white texans have completed at least four years of high school compared to only 70% of hispanic texans and 42% of white texans have a college degree compared to only 18% of hispanics in march of this year texas a&m announced its designation as an eligible institution by the us department of education to be a hispanic serving institution for hsi designation at least 25% of an institutions undergraduate enrollment must be hispanic-identifying how does texas compare with the nation as a whole the us is predominantly white at 581% white people comprise the largest race/ethnic group in the country and comprise the majority but texas is a majority-minority state meaning no one group comprises the majority
texas is presently one of seven states in the us where whites do not comprise the majority in addition to texas hispanics outnumber whites in california (402% compared to 343%) and new mexico (501% compared to 349%) in hawaii asians outnumber whites and in the district of columbia black people outnumber white people in maryland and nevada whites make up a larger share of the population than any other single group but they do not hold a majority there are another seven states (georgia florida arizona new york new jersey mississippi and louisiana) where white people comprise more than 50% but less than 60% of the population the states that will lose their white majorities in the next few decades will come from this group poston said why has the hispanic population size increased while the white population has decreased poston said white women have fewer babies than hispanic women white women today average 15 babies each over their lifetimes while hispanics average 19 but as recently as 1990 the hispanic-white fertility difference was larger white women at 19 babies each compared to hispanic women at 30 there are also big differences in age structure poston said as recently as 2019 the median age of white people in the us was 437 compared to 298 for hispanics many more hispanics are of childbearing age compared to white women hispanics also have lower mortality rates than white people immigration is also a factor as many more hispanics are immigrating to the us than white people of the more than 449 million people living in the us in 2018 who were born in a foreign country 50% came from latin america 28% from south and east asia and only 13% from europe and canada hispanics have increased their representation in texas and in the us via immigration at a considerably higher pace than the white population poston said overall an aging white population alongside a more youthful hispanic population is mainly responsible for the increasing numbers of hispanics in texas and the us and the decreasing numbers of white peoplehow are these data collectedthe acs is a survey sent each year to around 35 million housing units in the 50 states of the us the district of columbia and puerto rico it provides current information every year to states and local areas and communities needed for programs economic development emergency management and other local issues and conditions since the acs is a survey it is not a complete count of the population so the acs data noted above are estimates of the true population counts the decennial census conducted every 10 years (last in 2020) is a complete count of the population the census counts every person living in the us the district of columbia and the five us territories it is an official count of the population and contains many fewer questions than the acs this story was originally published by texas a&m today
despite the covid-19 pandemic the november 2020 election brought out about 155 million voters that represented 67% of americans over 18 and it was the highest voter turnout of any modern election americans also set records in the percent and number of people voting early and by mail continuing a decades-long trend away from voting only on election day that was the good news the 2020 elections also saw record numbers of americans forced to wait longer to vote partly because of the increased number of voters and the difficulties of safely voting during a lethal pandemic tellingly as in the past if you waited over 30 minutes to cast a vote you were more likely to be a low-income black american since 2012 when more than 5 million americans were forced to wait longer than an hour to cast their ballots long waits have become a visible indicator of voting problems the presidential commission on election administration stated in 2014 that "no citizen should have to wait more than 30 minutes to vote eight years later that goal is further away than before where you are and who you are significantly affect how long it will take you to vote as well as demanding more time and commitment including arrangements for child care if needed long waits can discourage future voting increasing wait times average waits nationally increased to 143 minutes in 2020 from 104 minutes in 2016 a 40% jump these waits were concentrated in poorer neighborhoods with a higher percentage of nonwhite voters a further indication that waiting is a growing problem was its addition in 2022 to the voting inconvenience category by the cost of voting index project which measures the ease or difficulty of voting in individual states
while the great majority of americans waited only a few minutes to vote in 2020 a significant minority did not one in 7 voters 143% waited longer than the 30-minute 2014 goal set by the presidential commission on election administration compared with 1 in 12 83% in 2016 and 1 in 16 voters – 63% – surveyed by the mit election data science lab waited over an hour twelve states – including alabama georgia new york indiana and maryland exceeded that average in 2020 delaware voters reported the highest average wait at 35 minutes up strikingly from 5 minutes in 2016 south carolina had the second-longest wait at 30 minutes up from its nation-leading 20 minutes in 2016 but the time spent waiting in line to cast a ballot is only the most visible cost of voting the full cost not only includes the actual vote but also the time and effort of registration staying registered and the nonpartisan counting and administration of the vote most election administration officials are partisan figures though they are expected to administer the election in a nonpartisan manner partisan voting laws political parties are using the voting process itself as a way to gain advantage researchers have found a correlation between the number of republican legislators in a state and the greater the cost to vote will be disproportionately to black voters in at least one state florida from 2004 to 2016 as the number of democratic voters increased in a county so did the number of voters per poll worker thus increasing the potential for waiting and other delays strict voter identification laws appear to disproportionately affect minority voters but not overall voter turnout although the full impact of these laws remains uncertain in 2021-22 21 states passed 42 laws making voting more difficult some of those laws include imposing new photo id requirements limiting election day registration and requiring voters to provide identification numbers when they apply to vote by mail on the other side 25 states passed 62 laws making voting easier in june 2022 for example new york governor kathy hochul signed into law the landmark john lewis voting rights act that created new legal protections against voter suppression vote dilution and voter intimidation despite the greater number of bills that made voting easier the restrictive laws were more encompassing often rolling back successful pandemic-based efforts to encourage early and absentee voting despite research showing no partisan advantage to early and absentee voting restrictive laws were passed primarily in republican states and expansive laws primarily in democratic states
peter g schultz scripps family professor of chemistry and president and chief executive officer of scripps research has been selected as the 2022 recipient of the ai scott medal for excellence in biological chemistry research named for one of the leading faculty members in texas a&m university's rich chemistry-related history the medal is jointly awarded each year by the texas a&m department of chemistry and the texas a&m section of the american chemical society (acs) in tribute to dr a ian scott a texas a&m distinguished professor of chemistry who made tremendous scientific contributions both to the university and to the international chemistry community during his 30-year career schultz will be honored during an afternoon symposium set for friday oct 21 within texas a&m's interdisciplinary life sciences building in addition to schultz's 4:30 pm keynote presentation "playing with the molecules of life " the event will feature preceding talks by university of california san francisco chemist kevan shokat and california institute of technology chemist linda hsieh-wilson the symposium will be followed by an invitation-only dinner at which schultz will be presented with the scott medal
scott was a pioneering chemist who came to texas a&m in 1977 and achieved worldwide recognition for his discovery of how bacteria produce vitamin b12 as well as his study of the cancer drug taxol named a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at texas a&m in 1981 scott held the robert a welch chair in chemistry and also was the dhr barton professor of chemistry he contributed to numerous other works including breakthroughs related to the essential life pigments chlorophyll and heme along with antibiotics that fundamentally impacted the field of biosynthetic investigation and helped revolutionize both organic and natural product chemistry before his untimely death in 2007 at age 79 schultz earned his undergraduate (summa cum laude) and doctoral degrees at the california institute of technology after postdoctoral studies at the massachusetts institute of technology he joined the faculty at the university of california berkeley in 1985 where he was a chemistry professor a principal investigator at lawrence berkeley national laboratory and a howard hughes medical institute investigator he joined scripps research in 1999 and was appointed chief executive officer in 2015 the following year he was named president of the institute
like scott schultz has made many seminal contributions to the fields of chemical and synthetic biology including the development and application of methods to expand the genetic code of living organisms the discovery of catalytic antibodies and the development and application of molecular diversity technologies to address problems in chemistry materials science and medicine schultz has founded nine biotechnology/technology companies that have pioneered the development and application of new technologies to challenges in human health and materials science in 1999 he founded the genomics institute of the novartis research foundation serving as its director for more than 10 years in 2012 he established calibr a nonprofit biomedical research institute designed as a new model to accelerate the discovery of innovative medicines that is now an operating division of scripps research an elected member of the national academy of sciences national academy of medicine and american academy of arts and sciences schultz has co-authored more than 600 scientific publications and is active on many editorial and scientific advisory boards he has trained in excess of 300 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows many of whom are on the faculties of major research institutions around the world schultz has received numerous prestigious awards including the wolf prize in chemistry the national science foundations alan t waterman award the solvay prize the paul ehrlich and ludwig darmstaedter prize the american chemical societys arthur c cope award the heinrich wieland prize and the nas award in chemical sciences for more information on the scott medal symposium contact texas a&m chemistry at (979) 845-9829 or via email at chemhead@chemtamuedu