{"id":240481,"date":"2026-04-08T15:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/240481\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T15:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:08:07","slug":"celebration-of-research-5-faculty-members-honored-for-transformative-contributions-ut-austin-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/240481\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebration of Research: 5 Faculty Members Honored for Transformative Contributions – UT Austin News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five University of Texas at Austin researchers \u2014 whose work includes revolutionizing cancer treatment and reimagining how the world experiences Jane Austen \u2014 were honored at the annual Celebration of Research.<\/p>\n

The event, hosted by President Jim Davis, recognized recipients of two prestigious awards: the President\u2019s Research Impact Award<\/a>, honoring researchers whose work has fundamentally changed lives and perspectives, and the University Research Excellence Awards<\/a>, celebrating career-long accomplishments, creative research endeavors, and groundbreaking research papers.<\/p>\n

Janine Barchas, Chancellor\u2019s Council Centennial Professor in the Book Arts and an English professor in the College of Liberal Arts; and Thomas Yankeelov, director of the Oden Institute\u2019s Center for Computational Oncology and W.A. \u201cTex\u201d Moncrief, Jr. Chair in Computational Engineering and Sciences, received the 2026 President\u2019s Research Impact Award.<\/p>\n

Recipients of the 2026 University Research Excellence Awards are:<\/p>\n

Career Award \u2013 Brian Korgel, director of the Energy Institute and Rashid Engineering Regents Chair in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering
\nCreative Endeavor Award \u2013 Oscar C\u00e1sares, Susan Taylor McDaniel Regents Professor of Creative Writing in the College of Liberal Arts
\nResearch Paper Award \u2013 Edoardo Baldini, assistant professor of physics, College of Natural Sciences<\/p>\n

Bringing Jane Austen to a New Generation<\/p>\n

\"headshot<\/p>\n

The revered English novelist Jane Austen was born 250 years ago, yet she continues to captivate modern audiences thanks to Barchas\u2019 work. In addition to writing traditional academic books, Barchas has pursued nontraditional and innovative projects that have engaged broad public audiences.<\/p>\n

Her creative endeavors include:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Novel Life of Jane Austen\u201d: A graphic novel that relies on extensive scholarship and a format not previously used for a biography of Austen.
\n\u201cWhat Jane Saw\u201d: A digital, historical reconstruction of blockbuster art exhibits that Austen attended in 1796 and 1813 gives audiences the opportunity to experience the exhibit as the author did.
\nMajor exhibitions: Barchas has curated numerous exhibitions, including those at the Grolier Club in New York City and Jane Austen\u2019s House in Chawton, England. The \u201cWill & Jane\u201d exhibit at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., for example, explored the parallel afterlives of Austen and William Shakespeare.<\/p>\n

\u201cJanine has had a great impact on the world of Austen studies,\u201d said Lizzie Dunford, director of Jane Austen\u2019s House Museum. \u201cJanine embraces all sorts of different ways of looking at Austen\u2019s life and work. It is impossible not to be inspired by her work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Transforming Cancer Treatment Through Digital Innovation<\/p>\n

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Yankeelov, who is also a professor of biomedical engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering, is a global leader in the development of personalized data-driven digital twins, or virtual replicas, created from noninvasive medical imaging that can predict how breast cancer tumors will respond to various treatments. This allows clinicians to virtually test different therapies and select the most effective approach for each patient, potentially avoiding ineffective treatments and unnecessary side effects.<\/p>\n

Yankeelov, who established the Center for Computational Oncology at the Oden Institute, is internationally recognized for his seminal contributions to the quantitative imaging and mathematical modeling of cancer and translating these techniques into clinical applications. He\u2019s currently working with MD Anderson Cancer Center to test his predictive models in clinical trials and determine how they can be incorporated into patient care. The goal is for this approach to be established by the time the UT medical center opens in partnership with MD Anderson in 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis work in developing robust models of cancer micro-physiology and biology is at the leading edge of enabling predictions for individual patients to allow for individualized cancer treatments\u201d said Caroline Chung, vice president and chief data and analytics officer at MD Anderson. \u201cHe is an outstanding scientist, a gifted educator and a passionate leader dedicated to advancing the field of computational oncology to improve the lives of patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recognizing Research Excellence<\/p>\n

The University Research Excellence Awards recognize faculty members who represent any discipline and are selected annually through a competitive peer review process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five University of Texas at Austin researchers \u2014 whose work includes revolutionizing cancer treatment and reimagining how the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4283,132,134,133,8014,517,3618,451,39291,13178,584,44919,1910,3620,91281,858,91282,3621,91283],"class_list":{"0":"post-240481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-austin","10":"tag-austin-headlines","11":"tag-austin-news","12":"tag-cockrell-school-of-engineering","13":"tag-college-of-liberal-arts","14":"tag-college-of-natural-sciences","15":"tag-energy","16":"tag-energy-institute","17":"tag-faculty","18":"tag-health","19":"tag-humanities","20":"tag-leadership","21":"tag-oden-institute-for-computational-engineering-sciences","22":"tag-office-of-the-vice-president-for-research","23":"tag-research","24":"tag-scholarship-and-creative-endeavors","25":"tag-technology","26":"tag-texas-research-impact"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}