BPE Profile

  • The Power of Opportunity: How Being a First-Generation Graduate Has Driven Edgar Figueroa’s Success

    view of Clock Knot sculpture on engineering lawn

    As Edgar Figueroa sat over lunch in the UT Club, he reflected on what it meant to him to be the first in his family to attend college. “Pushing through the late nights studying or the challenges of being a first-generation college student was a privilege that others in my family never had,” he said. “I wanted to leave a legacy my family would be proud of.”

  • Extreme Measures: 5 Questions with Lydia Contreras

    Lydia Contreras studies very small organisms, but seeks to answer big questions: how does our environment affect our chemical makeup, and what can we do to improve our response to environmental stress? An assistant professor in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, Contreras sat down with us to discuss how her work could affect human health.

  • Celebrating John W. Hargis

    Hargis’ excellence, magnanimity, resilience and lifelong commitment to The University of Texas at Austin are awe-inspiring.