Courageous Engineers

The journey through the past, present and future of energy continues as “Power Trip: The Story of Energy” returns for a second season airing on PBS nationwide.

J. Tinsley Oden, who is widely known as the founder of computational mechanics and the first director of what is now known as the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin, died on Sunday, Aug. 27. He was 86.

Aerospace engineering alumnus Andreas Mogensen took to the stars today, flying his second trip to the International Space Station (ISS) where he is serving as the mission pilot and space station crew commander for the Huginn Mission.

The six-month mission includes astronauts from NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos. Mogensen will conduct more than 30 experiments for the ESA during the mission divided into three pillars: climate, health and space for Earth. He will also collaborate with team members on experiments for other space agencies.

J. Tinsley Oden was firmly planted at The University of Texas at Austin long before the What Starts Here Changes the World  branding existed. There is no doubt, however, that he may be the one of the reasons this statement is so relevant. 

John B. Goodenough, professor at The University of Texas at Austin who is known around the world for the development of the lithium-ion battery, died Sunday at the age of 100. Goodenough was a dedicated public servant, a sought-after mentor and a brilliant yet humble inventor.

The University of Texas at Austin was Abhigya Paudyal’s dream university for graduate school in the United States from the moment he earned his bachelor’s degree at home in Nepal.  

Globally renowned and consistently ranked among the top programs in the U.S., it was UT Austin’s commitment to its graduate program in the Cockrell School of Engineering's Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering (CAEE) that caught his attention. 

For all Texas Engineering graduates, earning their degrees is an experience years in the making. But for Jan Carlos Rubio, it's a journey that started well before he became a student at The University of Texas at Austin. 

2023 Cockrell School of Engineering graduates Hannah Lee and Aditi Merchant are recipients of this year’s Knight-Hennessy Scholarship. Among the most prestigious student awards in higher education, the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship funds graduate studies at Stanford University and provides leadership training, workshops, projects and travel opportunities for its recipients.

When it comes to achieving career goals, Stephanie Wilson is a great example to follow.

She has taken part in three space missions as a NASA astronaut, spending a combined 42 days in space during that time.

Lew Griffith has three degrees, including a master's, but this year, at age 99, he is finally attending his first commencement ceremony.

A nearly 30-year career in the U.S. military as an engineer and pilot that spanned World War II, Korea and the Vietnam War interrupted this Texas Engineer's education and his ability to walk with fellow graduates. But at this year's Cockrell School Commencement Ceremony, Griffith is being honored for his military service and his commitment to education, despite all the obstacles that got in the way.

How light interacts with matter is one of the most basic, yet important branches of science. A growing area in this field is nanophotonics, which studies these interactions at the smallest of scales where material building blocks begin to exhibit dynamic properties.

Alumna and NASA Astronaut Stephanie Wilson will give the keynote address at the 2023 Cockrell School of Engineering Undergraduate Student Commencement Ceremony on May 5.

Two University of Texas at Austin students have been named recipients of Goldwater scholarships, the preeminent award for undergraduate students who conduct research in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering.

A career is a long, winding road that includes, failures, successes and unexpected turns along the way.

This was the advice to the next generation of students from the panelists at the Cockrell School of Engineering's third annual Black Alumni Panel. The conversation, titled Celebrating Black Excellence, between chemical engineering and aerospace engineering alumni who both ended up in Information Technology shows how different careers can turn out from the plans they made as students.

Cockrell School alumnus, software engineer and Shark Tank finalist Ecleamus Ricks, Jr. has always considered himself a creator. Fascinated with his grandfather’s skills as a carpenter, Ricks knew he wanted to build things using science and numbers.

Texas Engineers Karen Willcox and Moriba Jah have been named to the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, one of the most influential Federal Advisory Committees in science and technology.

In just eight short years, Payam Banazadeh (B.S. Aerospace Engineering 2012) skyrocketed from a passionate high school student sitting in an astronomy class to becoming the founder and CEO of Capella Space, the first commercial space company to launch and operate Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites.

John Goodenough has been a part of rarified air for decades now. And this week he joined another exclusive club. The lithium-ion battery pioneer and Nobel Prize winner turned 100. To celebrate, battery leaders from around the globe, many of whom have been influenced by Goodenough's breakthroughs, gathered virtually and in person at a symposium at The University of Texas at Austin to share stories and discuss the next generation of battery research.

Ambient lighting and ethereal depictions of Greek mythology welcome visitors to Daedalus: The Lost Wings, Texas Theme Park Engineering & Design’s latest pop-up attraction. Teams of UT students enter a room filled with artifacts and puzzles – a tiny Grecian boat, a glowing fountain, a bookcase that doubles as a doorway – with 45 minutes to unlock a pair of Daedalus’s legendary wings. Beneath the puzzles are wires, magnets and structures built by an ambitious group of students from across the Forty Acres.

Jerry A. Yang is a PhD student in electrical engineering at Stanford University. He received his B.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2020. He currently works on strain engineering in two-dimensional materials in Prof. Eric Pop's lab. In addition, he works on exploring the role of internships in first-generation and low-income engineering students' professional identity development in Prof. Sheri Sheppard's Designing Education Lab. He is a member of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers as well as a student member of the American Society of Engineering Education. He is also pursuing his M.A. in Education.