Daniel Leading Group of Texas’ Top Scientists

Hundreds of the brightest minds in medicine, engineering and science converged at the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre for the 6th annual conference of The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) last week. The organization includes more than 200 members of the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences and 10 Nobel laureates — a literal brain trust of Texas.

The conference concluded with UT Dallas President David E. Daniel assuming the presidency of TAMEST for 2009.

“This year’s annual conference focused on imaging, and we heard from some of the top scholars in the field,” Dr. Daniel said. “We put in a session on public policy related to transportation and tried to bring technology and science issues to bear that might be relevant to public policy positions. The top scholars of these topics who assembled at TAMEST are, in many ways, a body of thinkers responsible for advancing ideas and innovation on behalf of Texas.”

TAMEST was formed in 2004 by U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and two of Texas’ Nobel Laureates, Dr. Michael Brown and the late Dr. Richard Smalley. Created as a Texas version of the National Academies, TAMEST is dedicated to increasing national awareness of and funding for research and development at Texas colleges and universities.

Dr. Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences, addressed the group, along with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory director, Dr. Charles Elachi; and the chairman of UCLA’s Molecular and Medical Pharmacology Department, Dr. Michael E. Phelps.

Some of the state’s mightiest intellectual heavyweights presented during three sessions on topics that hold great promise for society and future radical change, including:

• “Defining Tomorrow’s Transportation.”
• “Exploring the Earth with Imaging Technologies.”
• “Bio-Medical Imaging: The Future of Medicine.”

U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison serves as honorary chair of TAMEST and delivered welcoming remarks to conference participants. Senator Hutchison recognized the three recipients of the prestigious Edith and Peter O’Donnell Awards. The awards honor outstanding achievements by young investigators in medicine, engineering and science. Each award consists of a $25,000 honorarium, a citation and an inscribed statue presented during the Academy’s annual conference.

This year’s O’Donnell awards recognized:

• Brendan H.L. Lee, M.D., Ph.D., professor at Baylor College of Medicine and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. As a pediatrician and geneticist, Dr. Lee has translated the study of structural birth defects and inborn errors of metabolism into a basic understanding of development, disease, and novel therapeutic approaches.
• Brian A. Korgel, Ph.D., Temple Professor and Matthew Van Winkle Regents Professor of Chemical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Korgel conducts basic research in the relatively new area of nanomaterials chemistry, applying findings to develop new devices such as light-activated power generating products.
• Rama Ranganathan, M.D., Ph.D., Cecil H. and Ida Green Chair in Biomedical Science, director of the Systems Biology Division of the Cecil H. and Ida Green Comprehensive Center for Molecular, Computational and Systems Biology and professor of pharmacology at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Ranganathan’s “systems biology” research seeks to link basic molecular and cellular research with an analysis of how biological systems function as a whole, during sickness and health.

“Frontiers of Cancer Research” is the theme of TAMEST’s upcoming meeting in late March in Houston.

For more information on TAMEST, visit www.tamest.org.

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