and Sciences (ICES). Peter O’Donnell, president of the Dallas-based O’Donnell Foundation and one of UT’s most prolific donors, is an enthusiastic supporter of Boisseau and his staff. “TACC’s new data infrastructure will speed up discoveries in critical areas, including cell biology, imaging, astronomy, and nano-engineering,” O’Donnell says. “Under Jay’s leadership, TACC has become a strong value creator for Texas.” President Bill Powers says O’Donnell’s investment could result in some dramatic breakthroughs. “For decades, Peter O’Donnell has been quietly but generously investing in UT,” he says. “We’re once more humbled by his generosity and impressed by his expansive vision of Texas as a world leader in science and technology. The importance of UT’s advanced computing capabilities, embodied by TACC, will only increase over time. As advanced computing enables more sophisticated research across all of the sciences, an investment of this kind is among the most strategic any philanthropist or granting institution could make. It also has the significant side benefit of attracting even more faculty talent to Texas.” Novel data-driven projects that will benefit from TACC’s enhanced capabilities include a pioneering study of consumer energy usage behaviors at Austin’s Pecan Street Inc., as well as the iPlant Collaborative, a $50 million National Science Foundation-funded effort to improve food yields and produce more-effective biofuels. TACC will also be a vital resource for astronomy professor Karl Gebhardt and his team in their quest to understand the accelerated expansion of the universe. As part of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment, they will observe more than a million galaxies over three years, yielding the largest map of the universe ever produced. In the inner space realm, Alison Preston, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Section of Neurobiology, is using functional brain imaging techniques to better understand how memory works. The data-intensive infrastructure at TACC will enable Preston and her lab technicians to increase the speed at which they “An investment of this kind is analyze the complex patterns of brain responses among the most strategic any and how they relate to behavior. “ We collect philanthropist could make.” thousands of brain pictures from one individual — UT President Bill Powers participant, and each picture contains thousands of three-dimensional pixels,” Preston says. “The resources available at TACC make it much easier to mine this rich data and increase our ability to answer important questions about memory quickly.” The O’Donnell Foundation has already contributed $6 million of the commitment and will provide the rest over the next two years. And UT will kick in an additional $2 million over five years to hire new technology professionals to support and accelerate research that leverages the data resources. It seems a new age of data-driven science in Texas has begun.
Couple’s Gift will create chair for Dean of undergraduate studies
T
om and Jeanie Carter tied the knot as UT students, and now they’ve made a commitment of another sort to their alma mater. Tom, BBA ’74, MBA ’76, and Jeanie, BA ’74, have pledged $1.5 million to benefit the School of Undergraduate Studies. The bequest will create the Thomas L. and Eugenia G. Carter Chair in Undergraduate Studies, which will be held by the school’s dean. Endowed chairs, the highest level of endowment at UT, are key to recruiting and retaining outstanding faculty leaders, and President Bill Powers has stressed the need for more chairs to be competitive for top scholars. Tom Car ter, who ser ves on the University Development Board, is chairman and CEO of Black Stone Minerals Co. in Houston. “We graduated from the University, and we wanted to give back in a way that best supports the people who make UT the great place it is,” he says. “It was also important to us to invest in an area of great priority for President Powers. We believe, and know the president agrees with us on this, that the ability to retain top faculty has a huge impact on the student experience.” The School of Undergraduate Studies, established based on recommendations of the Commission of 125, promotes the success of undergraduates by offering strategic advising services and providing a strong first-year experience. The initial home for students who choose not to select another college or school, the school admitted its first class of 800 undeclared students in fall 2009. Thanks to the Carters, says current dean Paul Woodruff, the school “will have a permanent endowment for the dean, which will promote Top: Jeanie and Tom excellence across the Carter in the 1970s board in teaching, advising, and counseling students. Bottom: Paul Woodruff, The Carters have done a dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies wonderful thing.” s e p t e m b e r | o c t o b e r 2011
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