RICHARDSON , Texas (Aug. 17, 2004) – A prominent research scientist and a high-level administrator, both from The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), have been named fellows of an international think tank composed of some of the world’s foremost creative minds.
Dr. Ray H. Baughman, Robert A. Welch Professor of Chemistry and director of the UTD NanoTech Institute, and Dr. Da Hsuan Feng, the university’s vice president for research and graduate education and a professor of physics, were accorded the honor this month by the World Innovation Foundation (WIF).
Dr. Ray H. Baughman Dr. Da Hsuan Feng
Based in the United Kingdom, WIF is an independent think tank dealing with scientific, technological, engineering and applied economics matters. Its membership, which numbers approximately 2,000 and includes many Nobel Prize winners, offers advice to governments and corporations throughout the world on a wide range of critical issues and fosters innovative ideas to enhance the welfare of humanity.
WIF was founded as the Institute of National Economic Enrichment and Development in 1992 by the late Dr. Glenn Seaborg, a Nobel laureate and science advisor to a number of United States presidents who discovered many of the universe’s elements, including one that bears his name, Seaborgium. The organization’s current president is Nobel laureate Dr. Jerome Karle of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.
Baughman came to UTD in 2001 from Honeywell International in Morristown, N.J., where he was a corporate fellow. During the past three years, he and his colleagues at the UTD NanoTech Institute have made major discoveries in such diverse areas as artificial muscles, electronic textiles, super tough carbon nanotube fibers, molecular mechanical amplifiers and electrical energy storage and harvesting.
Feng was appointed UTD’s first vice president for research and graduate education in 2000, and charged with rapidly building the research breadth and depth of the university. During his tenure at UTD, annual research expenditures at the university have jumped from $16 million to $33 million. Feng also was instrumental in attracting two Nobel laureates to the UTD faculty and is developing a growing number of collaborative research relationships with other colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and in other countries.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls about 14,000 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s web site at www.utdallas.edu.