University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences
Encyclopedia
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
offers 10 Bachelor of Arts majors, 42 Bachelor of Science majors, and 20 graduate programs to more than 8,000 undergraduates and 1,600 graduate students. The college employs over 452 faculty . Many of the programs are consistently ranked in the top fifteen nationally, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Departments
- Department of Astronomy
- School of Biological Sciences
- Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
- Department of Computer Science
- School of Human Ecology
- Marine Science Institute
- Department of Mathematics
- Department of Physics
- Freshman Research InitiativeFreshman Research InitiativeThe Freshman Research Initiative , developed at the University of Texas at Austin, is an innovative model in undergraduate education that offers hundreds of first-year students in the College of Natural Sciences the opportunity to advance academically while doing cutting-edge, authentic,...
Homework System
The College of Natural Sciences has an online assignment submission system unique to this college, known as Quest Learning and AssessmentQuest Learning and Assessment
Quest Learning and Assessment is a web-based tool for instructors and students of mathematics and science created at the University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences and has been adopted at over 1,000 U.S. institutions...
. The Quest system allows professors to add on assignments, and allows the students to access the assignment and provide all answers online. Furthermore, the in-class response system can be linked onto this website, allowing students to keep track of their progress throughout the class in one place.
Honors Program
The College of Natural Sciences also operates the Turing Scholars http://www.cs.utexas.edu/academics/undergraduate/honors/turing/ Honors Program. The Turing Scholars program accepts outstanding computer science majors each Fall, and is represented by the Turing Scholars Student Association. It is also possible for an undergraduate to double-major in Dean's Scholars and Turing Scholars.
Notable faculty
- Norman HackermanNorman HackermanNorman Hackerman was an American chemist, internationally known as an expert in metal corrosion, and a former president of both the University of Texas at Austin and Rice University ....
http://www.cm.utexas.edu/directory/norman_hackerman/, winner of the Vannevar Bush AwardVannevar Bush AwardThe National Science Board established the Vannevar Bush Award in 1980 to honor Dr. Vannevar Bush's unique contributions to public service. His name is pronounced ....
and the National Medal of ScienceNational Medal of ScienceThe National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and...
. - Luis CaffarelliLuis CaffarelliLuis A. Caffarelli is an Argentinian mathematician and leader in the field of partial differential equations and their applications....
http://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/caffarel/, winner of the Rolf Schock Prize award. - John TateJohn TateJohn Torrence Tate Jr. is an American mathematician, distinguished for many fundamental contributions in algebraic number theory, arithmetic geometry and related areas in algebraic geometry.-Biography:...
http://www.ma.utexas.edu/text/webpages/tate.html, winner of the 2003 Wolf Prize in MathematicsWolf Prize in MathematicsThe Wolf Prize in Mathematics is awarded almost annually by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Chemistry, Medicine, Physics and Arts...
and the 2010 Abel PrizeAbel PrizeThe Abel Prize is an international prize presented annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians. The prize is named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel . It has often been described as the "mathematician's Nobel prize" and is among the most prestigious... - Karen UhlenbeckKaren UhlenbeckKaren Keskulla Uhlenbeck is a professor and Sid W. Richardson Regents Chairholder in the Department of Mathematics at The University of Texas in Austin. In 1998 she was selected to be a Noether Lecturer. In 2000, she became a recipient of the National Medal of Science...
http://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/uhlen/, winner of the National Medal of ScienceNational Medal of ScienceThe National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and...
and the Steele Prize. - Steven WeinbergSteven WeinbergSteven Weinberg is an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles....
http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~weintech/weinberg.html, winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and... - John Archibald WheelerJohn Archibald WheelerJohn Archibald Wheeler was an American theoretical physicist who was largely responsible for reviving interest in general relativity in the United States after World War II. Wheeler also worked with Niels Bohr in explaining the basic principles behind nuclear fission...
, winner of the 1997 Wolf Prize in PhysicsWolf Prize in PhysicsThe Wolf Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Chemistry, Mathematics, Medicine and Arts. The Prize is often considered the most prestigious... - E. Allen EmersonE. Allen EmersonErnest Allen Emerson is a computer scientist and endowed professor at the University of Texas, Austin, USA.He won the 2007 A.M. Turing Award along with Edmund M...
, winner of the 2007 Turing AwardTuring AwardThe Turing Award, in full The ACM A.M. Turing Award, is an annual award given by the Association for Computing Machinery to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the... - Allen J. BardAllen J. BardAllen Joseph Bard is an American chemist. He is the Hackerman-Welch Regents Chair Professor of chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. Among his awards were the Priestley Medal in 2002 and the 2008 Wolf Prize in Chemistry...
, winner of the 2002 Priestley MedalPriestley MedalThe Priestley Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society and is awarded for distinguished service in the field of chemistry. Established in 1922, the award is named after Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen who immigrated to the United States of America in 1794...
and co-winner of the 2008 Wolf Prize in ChemistryWolf Prize in ChemistryThe Wolf Prize in Chemistry is awarded once a year by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics and Arts.-Laureates:...
Student organizations
- Natural Science Council Natural Sciences Council was started in 1972 to serve as a liaison between the students in the College and the Natural Sciences faculty. Also serves as a liaison to the Senate of College Councils
- Science Undergraduate Research Group Student group that works to foster a cohesive undergraduate research community.