University of Texas Arlington

Building a machine for mars

NASA believes that a University of Texas at Arlington chemistry professor's technology may hold the key for determining whether life could exist on Mars and could even help humans explore the Red Planet someday, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. Purnendu "Sandy" Dasgupta has been awarded a $1.2 million grant to develop an ion chromatograph that is durable enough to withstand extraterrestrial extremes and sensitive enough to pick out differences between ions. The Star-Telegram’s story was also published in the Houston Chronicle, All Voices.com, and Flagstaff News. Similar reports were broadcast on KXAS/NBC 5 (Dallas-Fort Worth), and in the ABC Tech Bytes segment broadcast on WABC (New York City), KATU (Portland, OR), KOAT (Albuquerque, NM), KMGH (Denver, CO), KNXV (Phoenix, AZ), KIVI (Boise, ID), WFTS (Tampa, FL) and many other ABC affiliates across the country.

Shaping curriculum

The Dallas Business Journal reported that five universities including UT Arlington are working on “tuning” biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, biology and chemistry through the 2011 Tuning Oversight Council for Engineering and Science assembled by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Teaching military history

The Chronicle of Higher Education published a commentary by Joyce S. Goldberg, associate professor of history at UT Arlington, about why she can no longer teach U.S. military history. Goldberg states that many of her students last semester were not interested in exploring the seminal issues of U.S. military history as they were in finding solace, seeking closure, or securing an understanding of their own — or, in many cases, their loved ones’ — recent military experiences.