A&S Research News
Research by first-year biology students has the potential to advance the scientific understanding of bacteriophages and their role in combating antibiotic-resistant infections.
John L. Wood, Ph.D., has been designated as University Distinguished Professor, the highest honor bestowed on Baylor faculty.
The newly renamed Department of Physics and Astronomy reflects a growing interest in space-related teaching and research among Baylor students and faculty.
Children and families who deal with chronic health challenges — and the psychological challenges that can come with them — have a friend in Dr. Christine Limbers, a Baylor professor whose influential research in these areas has impacted her field as a whole.
Limbers, an associate professor of psychology at BU since 2010, leads Baylor’s Pediatric Psychology Lab. The main focus of the lab is in its name, but Limbers and her fellow researchers go deeper in areas like obesity, chronic health issues, and psychological treatments to support the mental health needs of children and teenagers who need them.
On November 13, the Baylor Mathematics Department hosted a reception to award the first Lance Littlejohn Scholarship for Graduate Research in Mathematics. The scholarship has been generously endowed by Jim and Lisa Meyerhoff to honor Dr. Lance Littlejohn for his remarkable service as the Chair of the Mathematics Department.
Baylor University’s student chapter of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) has been honored by the national organization with an Outstanding Chapter award in the category of Celebrating Culture. Students and faculty representing SACNAS at Baylor received the award Oct. 31 while attending the National Diversity in STEM (NDiSTEM) conference in Phoenix.
Baylor alumna Kristen Mittelman is using state-of-the art DNA technology she helped develop to assist law enforcement in catching criminals and identifying missing persons.
Fellow designation honors Dr. Gesztesy’s distinguished contributions to the mathematical sciences.
Ivan Korendovych, Ph.D., the inaugural James. R. Schofield Endowed Chair in Biochemistry at Baylor University, has been recognized by the American Chemical Society as the preceptor for this year’s Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry, a national ACS award that recognizes an outstanding graduate student and instructor in chemistry.
Alyssa Mills, a Ph.D. candidate in geosciences at Baylor University and a graduate affiliate of NASA's Europa Clipper mission science team, is using machine learning to map the seafloor of Europa.
Baylor study finds differing perceptions in PR professionals' expectations versus performance and prompts changes to PR accreditation and certification exams.
Baylor University’s Corey P. Carbonara, Ph.D., professor of film and digital media, Master Teacher and an innovator in advancing new frontiers in media production technology, has been selected to receive the 2024 Presidential Proclamation from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE).
Microbiome researcher Aaron Wright, Ph.D., has earned a $5.6 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Transformative Research Award that could lead to personalized treatments for gut microbiome diseases like IBS, Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis and more.
New research from Baylor University reveals that coyotes, like domestic dogs, have the ability to produce the famous "puppy dog eyes" expression, challenging the hypothesis that this facial feature evolved exclusively in dogs as a result of domestication.
Peter J. Hotez, M.D, Ph.D., an internationally recognized leader in tropical medicine and vaccine development who serves as University Professor of Biology at Baylor University, has recently received two prestigious national awards for his research and contributions to science and global health.
Through her research at Baylor University with Dr. Peter James, Allie North had the opportunity to present at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in March 2024. Allie's poster presentation was about the work she has done over the Gruithuisen Domes, which are volcanic constructs on the moon. Allie was recently notified that she received the Stephen E. Dwornik Planetary Geosciences Best Undergraduate Poster Presentation Award.
Baylor's BRIGHTS Center seeks to help people reach their potential.
Researchers document groundbreaking insights into the reproductive behaviors of a mysterious apex predator.
Dr. Francis Beckwith, professor of philosophy in the Baylor University College of Arts & Sciences, has received a 2024 Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prize from the Heritage Foundation.
Baylor University planetary geophysicist Peter B. James, Ph.D., assistant professor and founder of the Planetary Research Group at Baylor, has been recognized by NASA with the 2023 Planetary Science Early Career Award (ECA).
Three faculty members and three doctoral students from the Baylor University College of Arts & Sciences have received 2024 grant awards from Louisville Institute.
Garritt J. Tucker, Ph.D., The Eula Mae and John Baugh Chair in Physics, is part of a multi-institution, interdisciplinary effort to discover new materials and create innovative pathways for advancing materials performance under extreme conditions. The $12.5 million research team was funded through the Department of Energy (DOE) for the next five years.
Sarah Kienle, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology at Baylor University, has received the prestigious Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.
With Waco, Texas in the path of totality for the 2024 solar eclipse, Baylor University researchers have a first-hand opportunity to study the effects that people might feel as they witness this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Levi Garza is a second-year graduate student in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Baylor University. He invests his time and effort into making chemistry accessible to the visually impaired and those with mobility issues to increase inclusivity in science. Levi wants all people to have the opportunity to study chemistry if they desire. He is putting in efforts to ensure that all individuals have access to a diverse range of commonly used and highly practical options.
WACO, Texas (March 21, 2024) – The Human Biology Association has honored Samuel S. Urlacher, Ph.D., assistant professor and graduate program director for the Department of Anthropology at Baylor University, with its premier early career award in the field – the 2024 Michael A. Little Early Career Award – for Urlacher’s work and research as a human evolutionary biologist.
Yang Li, Ph.D., assistant professor of environmental science at Baylor University, has won a competitive NASA Early Career Investigator Program in Earth Science award that supports outstanding scientific research and career development of scientists and engineers at the early stage of their professional careers.
Dorina, Marius and Irina Mitrea complete “epic journey” with five-volume research monograph that lays foundations for a new genre of mathematics.
Caleb D. Martin, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Baylor University and a leading researcher in synthestic boron chemistry, has received a prestigious Humboldt Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
WACO, Texas (Feb. 12, 2024) – More than 250 U.S. cities have made pledges to transition to 100% renewable energy sources by the year 2050. However, in a new study published in the journal Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, Baylor University researchers found that, despite efforts, the target date to move to fully sustainable energy sources is unrealistic.
WACO, Texas (Jan. 31, 2024) – The Center for Public Justice has awarded its prestigious 2024 Hatfield Prize to Baylor University senior mechanical engineering major Jackson Boone and Colby Humphrey, Ph.D., lecturer in political science at Baylor.
Students explore person-centered care at the intersection of science and the humanities.
WACO, Texas (Jan. 10, 2024) – Featured on the cover of this week’s prestigious journal Science Advances, a first-of-its-kind tactile learning device developed by Baylor University chemistry professors to make science accessible to students with blindness or low vision has opened the possibility of the transfer of any scientific data or images for sighted students into functional, thorough formats for students with blindness.
WACO, Texas (Dec. 13, 2023) – Lorin Swint Matthews, B.A. ’94, Ph.D. ’98, chair and professor of physics and associate director of Baylor’s Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics and Engineering Research (CASPER), was appointed as a 2023 Fellow of the American Physical Society. She is the first faculty member to earn an APS Fellowship at Baylor.
WACO, Texas (December 12, 2023) – Lee Nordt, Ph.D., professor of geosciences and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Baylor University, participated in a historic, comprehensive study on the relationship between climate and CO2, the results of which were published Dec. 7 in the journal Science.
NBC News covers Baylor professor’s efforts to make science labs accessible to students with blindness.
WACO, Texas (Dec. 5, 2023) – Dorina Mitrea, Ph.D., department chair and professor of mathematics at Baylor University, was named a 2024 Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, one of only four mathematicians from Baylor to be honored with the prestigious designation.
WACO, Texas (Nov. 27, 2023) - Two students working in the laboratory of Dr. Jason Pitts, associate professor of biology, have won awards for presentations of their research involving mosquito behavior and ecology.
Understanding how social connectiveness mitigates the effects of historical and childhood trauma.
WACO, Texas (Nov. 14, 2023) – Leading Baylor University positive psychology researchers, Sarah Schnitker, Ph.D., and Jo-Ann Tsang, Ph.D., who specialize in the study of gratitude, have identified three science-based mechanisms that can cultivate gratitude and improve empathy. This work is especially timely during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
WACO, Texas (Oct. 26, 2023) – Baylor University today announced a $2 million gift from Scott and Susan Orr of The Woodlands, Texas, establishing the Scott & Susan Orr Family Endowed Chair in Medical Humanities & Christian Faith to support teaching, mentorship and innovative research in the Medical Humanities Program within the College of Arts & Sciences.
Dr. Mona Minkara, a bioengineering professor at Northeastern University in Boston, was in Waco last week — a long way from the campus she calls home.
The reason for her trip? To join Baylor Chemistry’s Dr. Bryan Shaw in his lab, demonstrating to students from the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI) what she longed to hear at their age.
WACO, Texas (Oct. 16, 2023) – Baylor University announced today the launch of the Baylor Research in Growth and Human Thriving Science (BRIGHTS) Center, a multidisciplinary center designed to catalyze research related to the science of human flourishing.
As Baylor pursued and received R1 research recognition, leaders across the university noted it was about more than mere prestige; it was about having a “seat at the table,” where Baylor professors could bring a Christian research university’s viewpoints and ideas into settings where real impact can take place.
The litany of significant awards, appointments and assignments Baylor sciences faculty have received in recent months suggest that dream is coming true.
Felipe Hinojosa Joins Baylor to Serve as Jackson Family Chair for Baylor in Latin America.
WACO, Texas (Sept. 20, 2023) – Richard Rankin Russell, Ph.D., professor of English and graduate program director of English at Baylor University, has been selected as a member of the inaugural cohort of Inklings Project Fellows for the academic year 2023-2024. Based out of the University of Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life, the Inklings Project is an intercollegiate initiative that invites scholars to explore the worlds of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the other members of the famed Inklings author group.
Yoaav Isaacs, Ph.D., had a co-authored article selected as one of the 10 journal articles included in the 2022 Philosopher’s Annual.
Baylor University has appointed Doug Weaver, Ph.D., as the Barbara Jo Beard Driskell Endowed Research Chair in Historical Studies.
Two history professors are using their heritage to engage students
WACO, Texas (Sept. 7, 2023) – John L. Wood, Ph.D., The Robert A. Welch Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and co-director of the Baylor Synthesis and Drug-Lead Discovery Lab, has received the Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products from the American Chemical Society.