2013-2014 Chancellor's Council Distinguished Teach & Research Awards

The 2013-2014 Distinguished Research Award Recipients Are:

• Thomas Abbruscato, Ph.D.
  Thomas Abbruscato is a professor and chairman of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and serves as associate dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Amarillo. Joining the School of Pharmacy in 2000, his research investigates novel therapeutic targets to improve brain recovery after a stroke and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Heart Association. Currently a charter member of the NIH Drug Discovery for the Nervous System Study Section, Abbruscato's research expertise is utilized in the areas of brain drug discovery and neurodegenerative diseases. Prior to coming to TTUHSC, Abbruscato received his Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Arizona and his postdoctoral research was funded by an individual National Research Service Award from the NIH.
• Guillermo Altenberg, Ph.D.
  Guillermo Altenberg is a professor and vice chairman of the Department of Cell Physiology & Molecular Biophysics at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Joining the university in 2007, his research has solved the crystal structure of a nucleotide-binding domain dimer, developed a novel spectroscopic technique and secured more than $4.4 million in external grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and many others. An author of 57 published papers and 13 reviews and book chapters, Altenberg received his Ph.D. and medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina.
• Jaclyn E. Cañas-Carrell, Ph.D.
  Jaclyn E. Cañas-Carrell is an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Toxicology and serves as associate director of the Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) Center for Outreach, Research and Education at Texas Tech University. Among numerous accolades, this year Cañas-Carrell has received the Texas Tech University President's Excellence in Diversity & Equity Award and the Carl Storm Underrepresented Minority Fellowship, a tribute to her passion for helping underrepresented minorities succeed in higher education and science. Cañas-Carrell received both her bachelor's degree in zoology and Ph.D. in environmental toxicology from Texas Tech University and was a postdoctoral research associate at the United States Environmental Protection Agency in Corvallis, Ore.
• Mayukh Dass, Ph.D.
  Mayukh Dass is an associate professor of marketing in the Jerry S. Rawls College of Business and serves as program director for the Rawls Business Leadership Program at Texas Tech University. A faculty member at Texas Tech since 2008, Dass received the Beta Gamma Sigma Professor of the Year award in 2013 and has published 19 journal articles in highly ranked journals, as well as four book chapters and 37 conference proceedings. He received his bachelor of engineering in electronics and power from Nagpur University in India, and a master's degree in artificial intelligence, master's degree in statistics, and Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Georgia.
• Sandra Huston, Ph.D.
  Sandra Huston is an associate professor and director of the Personal Financial Literacy Program in the Department of Personal & Financial Planning at Texas Tech University. Huston led the internationally recognized Financial Literacy Assessment Project from 2007-2009, which developed an instrument to measure financial literacy that is now included as part of a national consumer survey. She has produced 97 scholarly works, including 31 refereed journals, received a total of nearly $280,000 in research funding and has been recognized by 62 national and international academic conferences. In her 2012 article, Measuring Financial Literacy, was selected as the best paper of the year in the highest ranked journal in her field. Huston received her bachelor's degree from the University of Manitoba in Canada, her master's degree from the University of Guelph in Canada and her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri.
• Ina L. Urbatsch, Ph.D.
  Ina L. Urbatsch is an associate professor in the Department of Cell Biology & Biochemistry at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Securing nearly $3.8 million in external funding including grants through the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, her research examines transmembrane proteins associated with many human disorders such as cystic fibrosis and multidrug resistance (MDR) of cancers. Based on her expertise in protein engineering and to produce large amounts of recombinant protein in vitro, Urbatsch's lab has led the way on structural characterization of MDR transporters. Her work has resulted in 41 peer reviewed papers in high impact journals, including in collaboration with the Chang laboratory, a Science paper on the structure of P-Glycoprotein, the first ever structure of a mammalian ATP-binding cassette transporter that has been cited more than 500 times in just four years. Urbatsch joined the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in 2003 and received her Ph.D. in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany.
• Siva A. Vanapalli, Ph.D.
  Siva A. Vanapalli is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech University. With a research focus in the areas of microfluidics, cell biomechanics and worm biology, he has published 35 refereed journal articles and has been involved with 12 successful research proposals totaling $1.88 million, including a prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The impact of his work is reflected in more than 470 citations, an h-index of 14 and multiple invited talks. His laboratory was the first at Texas Tech to receive a Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas grant for cancer research, as well as the first to receive an NSF Innovation-Corps grant to explore commercialization of technology discovered in his lab. Vanapalli received his bachelor's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in India, his master's degree from Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
• Scott C. Williams, Ph.D.
  Scott C. Williams is an assistant professor of physics in the College of Sciences at Angelo State University. His research examines the various atomic processes involved in X-ray emissions and the behavior of carbon nanotubes in microwave fields. Since joining Angelo State in 2008, he has secured more than $330,000 in grants and published 13 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals, conference proceedings and books. Williams received his bachelor's degree from the University of North Texas, his master's degree from the University of Texas at Dallas and his Ph.D. from Texas Christian University.