FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 10, 2008
CONTACT: Matt Mackowiak
Sen. Hutchison Recognizes 2008 O’Donnell Award Recipients
Four Honored for Innovation in Medicine, Science, Engineering, and Technology
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), today participated in a Houston awards ceremony, honoring the four recipients of the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Awards. This years award recipients include Beth Levine, M.D., for excellence in medicine; Jennifer L. West, Ph.D., for engineering; Edward M. Marcotte, Ph.D., for science; and Sameer P. Pendharkar for technology innovation. The O’Donnell Awards program is sponsored by The Academy of Medicine, Engineering, and Science of Texas (TAMEST), of which Sen. Hutchison is the honorary chairman.
“The state of Texas and our prestigious medical, engineering, and science communities are fortunate to count these outstanding individuals among their best and brightest. Their hard work and leadership in their fields represent the kind of leading-edge innovation championed by TAMEST, and will help place Texas at the forefront of scientific achievement,” said Sen. Hutchison.
The Edith and Peter O’Donnell Awards were established to recognize outstanding scientific achievements of the state’s up-and-coming researchers and are supported with a $4 million endowment. Annual grants of $25,000 are awarded to pioneering scholars in the fields of science, medicine, engineering, and technology innovation. Award recipients are selected by a TAMEST awards committee in conjunction with Texas Nobel Laureates and a panel of National Academy members from outside Texas.
Sen. Hutchison helped establish TAMEST in 2004 to recognize Texas’ top achievers in the fields of medicine, engineering, and science and to support scientific research and encourage collaboration. TAMEST consists of the state’s 10 Nobel Laureates and more than 200 members of the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences. Since TAMEST was created, Texas has moved from 6th to 3rd in the nation in federal research and development dollars received. In that time, almost $3 billion in research funding has been added to Texas’ economy.
Dr. Beth Levine has received multiple awards for her research and is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. In 2007, she was selected to be a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, which allows her to conduct research critical to medical advancements in treatment of diseases such as cancer and HIV.
Dr. Edward Marcotte earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1995 from The University of Texas at Austin. In 2001, he joined the faculty at UT-Austin, where he currently serves as the William and Gwyn Shive Endowed Professor of Metabolism and Bioinformatics and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and also co-directs the university’s Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology.
The primary focus of Sameer Pendharkar’s research and development activities at Texas Instruments is to design leading-edge semiconductor devices and technology for the next-generation analog and high-power systems. These transistor and technology innovations are focused on building complex electronic systems in both the automotive and consumer electronics industries, and to help improve system efficiency, reliability and functionality. He was elected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers of Engineering Symposium in 2005, and also serves on technical committees of numerous international conferences specializing in high voltage semiconductor devices.
After completing undergraduate studies in chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Jennifer L. West earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. She went on to help found UT-Austin’s Department of Bioengineering, which has risen to a top ten program in the past decade. Professor West has been broadly recognized for her work. In 2006, she was selected to be one of 20 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professors. She has also been named by MIT Technology Review as one of the 100 most innovative young scientists and engineers worldwide.
--END--
|
