Campus Life

Texas A&M Hagler Institute Reveals 2018-19 Faculty Fellows, Distinguished Lecturer

September 21, 2018

Texas A&M University Vice President for Research Mark A. Barteau (at left) and Hagler Institute for Advance Study Founding Director John L. Junkins (at right) welcome four of the Institute’s nine Faculty Fellows for the Class of 2018-19. From left are William E. Unruh, professor of physics, University of British Columbia; Andrea Rinaldo, professor of hydrology and water resources, and director of the Laboratory of Ecohydrology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland; Michael J. Duff, Emeritus Professor of theoretical physics and senior research investigator, Imperial College, London; and Yonggang Huang, Walter P. Murphy Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University.
Texas A&M University Vice President for Research Mark A. Barteau (far left) and Hagler Institute for Advance Study Founding Director John L. Junkins (far right) welcome four of the Institute’s nine Faculty Fellows for the Class of 2018-19. Left to right: Barteau, William E. Unruh, Andrea Rinaldo, Michael J. Duff, Yonggang Huang and Junkins. (Texas A&M University Division of Research)
By Texas A&M University Research Communications and Public Relations

Highlights

  • This year’s class includes members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • Each Faculty Fellow will partner with one or more of the departments offering graduate degrees

The Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University announced today the nine Faculty Fellows for its Class of 2018-19, each of whom is renowned for significantly advancing research in areas such as engineering, chemistry, physics, materials science, energy and political science.

In an annual reception held in the Great Hall of the Williams Administration Building, the Hagler Institute also disclosed its 2018-19 Distinguished Lecturer: a faculty member from Harvard Law School who was recently identified as one of the three most-cited U.S. property scholars of this decade.

The newest class of Faculty Fellows includes members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and equivalent academies around the world, plus fellows of royal societies in England, Canada and Australia.

“Once again the Hagler Institute has assembled a class of scholars and researchers with exceptional qualifications,” Texas A&M University President Michael K. Young said. “These nine Faculty Fellows will work closely with our own outstanding faculty-researchers to advance the frontiers of academic research, to enhance the reputation of Texas A&M research and to present transformational opportunities to Texas A&M undergraduate and graduate students.”

Each Faculty Fellow will partner with one or more of the departments offering graduate degrees housed in Texas A&M’s 16 colleges or schools or at Texas A&M’s branch campus in Galveston. The Hagler Institute provides fellowships for graduate students to work with Faculty Fellows as well as funding to support visiting graduate students and post-doctoral researchers affiliated with the Faculty Fellows.

“Experience tells us that these Faculty Fellows will engage our faculty and students in research that cuts across the academic spectrum,” Texas A&M Vice President for Research Mark A. Barteau said. “This will continue to advance Texas A&M’s strategy of conducting high-level research that applies a multidisciplinary approach to solving global problems.”

Each year, the Hagler Institute selects its Faculty Fellows from among top scholars who have distinguished themselves through outstanding professional accomplishments or significant recognition. Previous classes have included two Nobel Prize laureates, a Wolf Prize recipient, a recipient of the Hubble Medal in Literature for Lifetime Achievement, a recipient of the National Medal of Science, an awardee of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation and a two-time recipient of the State Prize of Russia.

“This seventh class of Faculty Fellows comprises a diverse cohort that will enrich our research programs and enable us to highlight the caliber of Texas A&M’s students and faculty researchers to the rest of the world,” Hagler Institute Founding Director John Junkins said.

The Hagler Institute will induct the Class of 2018-19 Faculty Fellows at its annual gala in early 2019:

  • Vanderlei Salvador Bagnato, full professor of physics and materials science, University of São Paulo and the Institute of Physics of São Carlos, Brazil – Bagnato has conducted meaningful research in laser cooling, trapping neutral atoms and applying the principles of optics and lasers in health sciences. Bagnato is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Vatican, the World Academy of Sciences and the Brazilian Academy of Science, as well as being a Commander of Brazil’s National Order of Scientific Merit. Bagnato will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Engineering and the College of Science.
  • Michael J. Duff, Emeritus Professor of theoretical physics and senior research investigator, Imperial College, London – Duff’s research has explored quantum gravity, quantum informatics, string theory, M-theory and unified theories of the elementary particles. Duff is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and holds the Paul Dirac Gold Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics, a Distinguished Achievement Award for Research from Texas A&M, and a Meeting Gold Medal from El Colegio Nacional. Duff will collaborate with faculty and students in the Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering and in the College of Science.
  • Yonggang Huang, Walter P. Murphy Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University – Among Huang’s research endeavors are the mechanics of stretchable materials and additive manufacturing. He developed pliable circuits with potential use in wearable flexible sensors, microfluidic devices and transmitters. Huang is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He holds the William Prager Medal from the Society of Engineering Science, the Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Research Award for U.S. Scientists and Scholars from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Huang will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Engineering.
  • Cameron Jones, R.L. Martin Distinguished Chair of Chemistry, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia – Jones has led a research group in developing facets of chemistry in ways that seek to refine existing views on structure, bonding and stability. Jones holds the Return Senior Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, is an honorary member of Magdalen College in Oxford and has won both the Frankland Award of the United Kingdom’s Royal Society of Chemistry and the H.G. Smith Memorial Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. He will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Science.
  • Stefan H.E. Kaufmann, founding director and head, Department of Immunology, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany – Known for research in and vaccines for tuberculosis, Kaufmann is an elected fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, an elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and a member of the Berlin–Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. He holds the Gardner Middlebrook Lifetime Achievement Award from Becton Dickinson Diagnostic Systems, an award from the Robert Pfleger Foundation, the Merckle Research Prize, and the SmithKline Beecham Science Prize. Kaufmann will collaborate with faculty and students in the colleges of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Medicine, Engineering and Agriculture and Life Sciences, as well as with Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station.
  • Vincent Poor, Michael Henry Strater University Professor of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University – Poor’s ongoing research includes advancing the rapid development of technology, such as in wireless networks, energy and power systems, and social networks. Poor is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering as well as a foreign member of Academia Europaea and the United Kingdom’s Royal Society. He also is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Poor will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Engineering and the College of Science.
  • Robert D. Putnam, Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University – Putnam’s research has encompassed an array of topics, including religion in society, the fall and revival of American community and opportunity gaps with respect to achieving the American dream. Putnam is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a past president of the American Political Science Association. He holds the Johan Skytte Prize, the highest award a political scientist can attain, received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2012 and is the author of 15 books. Putnam will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Liberal Arts.
  • Andrea Rinaldo, professor of hydrology and water resources, and director of the Laboratory of Ecohydrology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland – Rinaldo has conducted research that led to a theory of self-organized fractal river networks and of efficient transportation networks. Rinaldo is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He holds the Hydrologic Sciences Award from the American Geophysical Union, the Dalton Medal from the European Geosciences Union, and the Prince Sultan Abdulaziz International Water Prize from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Rinaldo will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Engineering.
  • William G. Unruh, professor of physics, University of British Columbia – Unruh has made significant contributions to general relativity and, with Stephen Hawking, refined the foundations of quantum mechanics in relation to black holes. Unruh is a Fellow of the Royal Society of both London and Canada and is a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He holds the Rutherford Medal from the Royal Society of Canada as well as the Herzberg Medal and the Medal of Achievement from the Canadian Association of Physicists. Unruh will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Science.

The Hagler Institute also announced its Distinguished Lecturer for 2018-19, Joseph W. Singer, the Bussey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the intellectual architect of a modern social theory of property that has substantially redirected scholarship in the field¾focusing on social justice concerns, including the connection between property law and distributive justice, antidiscrimination law and equitable social relationships. He also teaches and writes about property law, conflict of laws and federal Indian law. Singer, who has been teaching at Harvard Law School since 1992, received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Singer has authored more than 100 law journal articles – which have appeared in the likes of the Yale Law Journal, the Harvard Law Review and the Stanford Law Review – and six books, including his path-breaking “Entitlement” in 2000 and “No Freedom Without Regulation” in 2015. He recently was identified as one of the three most-cited U.S. property scholars of this decade. In 2016 he received the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize.

About the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study: The Hagler Institute for Advanced Study was established in December 2010 by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents to build on the growing academic reputation of Texas A&M and to provide a framework to attract top scholars from throughout the nation and abroad for appointments of up to a year. The selection of Faculty Fellows initiates with faculty nominations of National Academies and Nobel Prize-caliber scholars who align with existing strengths and ambitions of the University. To learn more, visit http://hias.tamu.edu.

About Research at Texas A&M University: As one of the world’s leading research institutions, Texas A&M is at the forefront in making significant contributions to scholarship and discovery, including that of science and technology. Research conducted at Texas A&M represented annual expenditures of more than $905.4 million in fiscal year 2017. Texas A&M ranked in the top 20 of the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development survey (2016), based on expenditures of more than $892.7 million in fiscal year 2016. Texas A&M’s 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 http://research.tamu.edu.

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Media contact: Rusty Cawley, rcawley@tamu.edu, (979) 845-1475.

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