SOLDIER SUPPORT Exploration targeting EDUCATION MEETS ENTERTAINMENT Six Flags SAVINGS PLANS Financial challenges have military veterans who have lost limbs or who Over Texas and UT Arlington wouldn’t seem Texas cities clamoring for assistance. The suffer from post-traumatic stress thrives in the to have much in common, but a closer look Institute of Urban Studies is the go-to new Engineering Research Building. p. 24 reveals copious connections. p. 30 program for smart solutions. p. 34 UTATHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTONrlington MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2011 Degrees of Distance Accessible from anywhere in the world, UT Arlington’s nationally recognized online learning programs are setting enrollment records LEGEND HAS IT After delivering the keynote address at the annual Graduation Celebration in May, John Legend assumed his more familiar role of Grammy-winning recording artist. He performed three songs for the 3,800 people who packed the Levitt Pavilion in downtown Arlington. Watch a video at uta.edu/classof2011. Contents Summer 2011 Message from the Vice President for Research Features CRASH COURSE 9 Chris Ray’s Exercise and Weight UTArlington WORLD CLASS 20 Management course improves Vol. XXXIII • No. 3 • Summer 2011 Quality, convenience, and the body as it feeds the mind. Why Innovation Matters EDITOR breadth are hallmarks of Mark Permenter UT Arlington’s growing online by Ron Elsenbaumer learning programs, which are ASSISTANT EDITORS attracting record numbers of One of the biggest understatements in scientific Founded using intellectual property licensed Jessica Bridges students from as far away history appeared in a 1953 paper by James Watson and through UT Arlington, Resonant Sensors is a classic Jim Patterson as Bolivia and Japan. Francis Crick. In presenting their research on the DNA example of the innovation process. Researchers use Amber Scott double helix, they wrote, “This structure has novel fundamental knowledge to develop applied technology that leads to products for the marketplace. UT Arlington ART DIRECTOR WIRED FOR RECOVERY 24 features which are of considerable biological interest.” Joel Quintans Military veterans stand Their “considerable” finding was actually an provides all the tools for scholars to complete this cycle to benefit from the FACULTY 11 incredible revelation that led to a better understanding of vertical integration. EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS collaborative environment Ya’Ke Smith’s award-winning of how organisms pass on their genes and of genome Each year we average 65-70 invention disclosures Herb Booth of the new Engineering short film follows a Hurricane sequencing, as well as other scientific milestones. More (the first step in protecting an invention with a patent). John Dycus Bridget Lewis Research Building. Katrina evacuee who searches than half a century later, discoveries are still emerging We typically file 20 patents a year and receive about eight. Once a patent is issued, the technology can be Teresa Newton for his mother in San Antonio. from this seminal biological breakthrough. Traci Peterson Such innovation improves our quality of life and licensed for commercialization. We recently announced Kristin Sullivan FUTURE 13 fuels economic development, and we need more of a licensing agreement with a Fort Worth company for Researchers are using focused it. As marketplaces for ideas, universities provide a portable converter that turns natural gas into jet fuel UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHERS laser beams that enable drug- fertile ground for the creative process that produces and diesel. Several other agreements are in the works. Jim Butler carrying nanoparticles to new knowledge. The polio vaccine, rocket fuel, MRI As we progress through the cycle of how to Robert Crosby Beth McHenry deliver medicine to cancer cells. technology, seat belts, and numerous other world- creatively use fundamental knowledge, we also must changing inventions stemmed from university research. focus on teaching and training the next generation ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR GALLERY 14 At UT Arlington, we relish our role as a beacon of of thinkers and innovators. If we teach only from a COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING Sedrick Huckaby has garnered innovation. We promote academic freedom and foster textbook, the book will never change. What we teach P. David Johnson national acclaim for his an environment that rewards curiosity and challenges must evolve as we create, and we must keep feeding THE BUSINESS OF FUN 30 paintings that depict African- conventional thought. We understand that the next the cycle of knowledge to produce a better-educated VICE PRESIDENT society. FOR COMMUNICATIONS A growing research university American quilting traditions. major discoveries will come only when people are Jerry Lewis and an iconic amusement encouraged to dream big and think differently. Several decades ago, the Dick Tracy comic strip park have more in common Remember The Six Million Dollar Man TV introduced a two-way wrist radio that Tracy and other PRESIDENT than you might think. show where a crippled test pilot is rebuilt with bionic police officers wore like a watch. This make-believe James D. Spaniolo limbs and implants? It’s not far from reality today. A communications device became a widely recognized planning MAKES team of UT Arlington bioengineering researchers is icon and is often considered a precursor to today’s UTArlington Magazine is published smartphones. For this invention to morph from fantasy three times a year by University PERFECT 34 developing technology that will enable soldiers who’ve Communications for all alumni, as From the Panhandle to the Rio lost arms or legs to feel and control their prosthetic to reality, somebody had to make the technology small, well as for faculty, staff, and friends Grande Valley, Texas cities call limbs as if they’re real. lightweight, and power efficient. Somebody had to of the University. Reproduction in on UT Arlington’s Institute of Another University breakthrough could think creatively and without limits. whole or in part without written Urban Studies for solutions revolutionize the medical diagnostics field. The It’s that type of thinking that will lead to the next permission is prohibited. to thorny challenges. technology will allow you to walk into a doctor’s generation of inventions, to life-changing technologies that seem like science fiction The comments and opinions community 17 office and, with a simple finger prick, get a expressed in this magazine do The annual Big Event com- reading in 10 minutes on what ails you or today. We’re learning more and more about not necessarily represent Columns munity service day drew more what might soon ail you. Optical sensors nerve and tissue regeneration and can those of The University of Texas than 1,000 volunteers. will accurately monitor biochemical now regrow tissue in a dish and implant at Arlington or the staff of FACEBOOK 4 reactions in real time with no need for it in the body. Why not regrow a heart, a UTArlington Magazine. Russia native Alina SPORTS 19 chemical tags. lung, or an eye? It’s possible, but it takes Copyright © 2011, The University of dedication, creativity, discovery, and Texas at Arlington. An equal oppor- Cherepanova, who came to Romain Martin of Le Mans, The company developing this tunity/affirmative action employer. UT Arlington as part of the France, is rewriting the process, Resonant Sensors Inc., receives learning—all tied together. highly competitive Edmund S. decathlon record books. assistance from the Center for Innovation, At UT Arlington, we believe it’s ON THE COVER Muskie Graduate Fellowship a partnership between UT Arlington our obligation to create new knowledge Flourishing online learning Program, says the University and the Arlington Chamber of Commerce through research and shape minds to programs have helped boost helped her discover herself. Alumni News that furthers technology-led economic develop tomorrow’s innovations. We do it University enrollment to an all-time to change lives, enhance lives, and save high and contributed to a record development. The center moves ideas from number of graduates. Illustration TALK 7 TREASURE HUNT 39 concept to market across an eight-state region. lives now and for generations to come. by Brian Stauffer. France native and recent Alumna Nada Shabout traces architecture graduate Benoit modern art lost in Iraq. Lecomte talks about how he As UT Arlington’s vice president swam the Atlantic Ocean and LIFE IN CHINA 41 for research and federal his plans to swim the Pacific in A popular TV show chronicled relations, Dr. Ron Elsenbaumer spring 2012. He also offers the Norwood family’s move oversees the University’s tips on how to avoid sharks. from Arlington to Shanghai. burgeoning research enterprise. CAMPUS CAMPUS Facebook Email Tweets STUDENT NEWSPAPER A wonderful and very profes- and Religion at Colgate Uni- would have been 19 years @johnlegend Speaking at U. of TRIBUTE TO FREE SPEECH sional work that the UTArling- versity. That’s how I first knew old in February 1919. After Texas at Arlington graduation tonight. I wonder if I get to I write to commend UTArling- ton Magazine team does! The him, although I never had a wondering about the choice wear another professor/bishop ton Magazine for focusing on magazine is of the highest class from him as an under- of Grubonian for a name, I robe. The Shorthorn—a UTA jewel quality and has informative graduate there in the 1960s. concluded it was the editors’ @_tiffanyle I hear @johnlegend that upholds a long tradition articles that capture the Later as a member of the fac- sly wit that meant they were is at UT Arlington’s graduation of serving the University as reader. The spring 2011 issue ulty here, I learned more from doing the equivalent of hard tonight. Someone pick me up a vital source of news and exhibited a photograph of Mrs. A.B. Collins. Brautigam so manual farm labor—but now and let’s go.