Newsletter Issue 11

From the Founding Director

My favorite task of the year is to induct a new group of Fellows and Distinguished Lecturers into the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study during one of the premier events on campus, the black tie Hagler Institute gala.  This year the guest speaker was Norman Augustine, a true national treasure and chair of the Hagler Institute’s External Advisory Board. During the event, we celebrated excellence and recognized the 2019-2020 class of Hagler Fellows and Distinguished Lecturers. These individuals exemplify the world-class talent this institute brings to Texas A&M University to collaborate with our outstanding faculty and students. I invite you to learn more about each of these Hagler Fellows and Distinguished Lecturers on our website . The Hagler Institute was also featured in a Chronicle of Higher Education article .   Best wishes to all, John L. Junkins

2020 Hagler Institute Gala

The Hagler Institute for Advanced Study officially inducted the 2019-2020 class of Faculty Fellows and Distinguished Lecturers on February 28th at a black tie event attended by nearly 300 of Texas A&M’s alumni, administrators, and faculty.

Pictures show Dr. John Junkins speaking to guests at the gala and Hagler Fellow Dr. Sharon Donovan with her husband Donald Wallace honored as they walk through the Ross Volunteers' saber arch.

"The Hagler Institute has been setting – on all fronts & directions - the very high standards of excellence that should be driving everything we do at Texas A&M."  -Dr. Stratos Pistikopoulos TEES Eminent Professor Director, Texas A&M Energy Institute

2019-20 Faculty Fellows

LUIZ DAVIDOVICH Professor of Physics Instituto de Física Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

SHARON M. DONOVAN Professor Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition Melissa M. Noel Endowed Chair in Nutrition and Health College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

MARIO ANDRÉS HAMUY   Vice President and Head of Mission Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) Observatory Chile

PETER J. HOTEZ Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine Professor Departments of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology Endowed Chair in Tropical Pediatrics Baylor College of Medicine

KATHLEEN C. HOWELL Hsu Lo Distinguished Professor  School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Purdue University

MISHA LYUBICH Professor  Department of Mathematics Director, Institute for Mathematical Sciences College of Arts and Sciences Stony Brook University

HENRY ROUSSO Directeur de recherche de Classe Exceptionelle The French National Centre for Scientific Research

PETER W. SHOR Henry Adams Morss and Henry Adams Morss Jr. Professor Applied Mathematics Massachusetts Institute of Technology

EDWIN L. “NED” THOMAS Ernest Dell Butcher Professor of Engineering Department of Materials Science and Nanoengineering Rice University

2019-20 Distinguished Lecturers

MARTHA ALBERTSON FINEMAN Robert W. Woodruff Professor School of Law  Emory University

DEIRDRE N. McCLOSKEY Distinguished Professor Emerita Economics, History, English, and Communication College of Liberal Arts and Sciences University of Illinois at Chicago

RACHEL F. MORAN Distinguished Professor  School of Law University of California, Irvine

SUSAN M. WOLF McKnight Presidential Professor of Law, Medicine & Public Policy Faegre Baker Daniels Professor of Law and Professor of Medicine University of Minnesota

HUDA ZOGHBI Professor  Departments of Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetics, Neurology and Neuroscience Director, Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Texas Children’s Hospital Ralph D. Felgin, M.D. Endowed Chair Baylor College of Medicine

Hagler’s Hero: Norman R. Augustine

Imagine expressing an “off the charts and difficult to implement” idea to one of the most accomplished individuals in America, and to have that person not question its veracity but, rather, to say “I am in.” This example of judgement, trust, and foresight is one of the foundations of the Hagler Institute. John Junkins saw Norman Augustine at a meeting of the National Academy of Engineering in October 2011 and told him about his idea for establishing an advanced study institute at Texas A&M committed to ultimate excellence. Norm, a former Chairman of the National Academy of Engineering, former Undersecretary of the US Army, former Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Lockheed Martin, Chair of the “Gathering Storm” studies on American Competitiveness, and a person involved in a huge number of important volunteer roles, said, “I am in.” This was the unlikely beginning of the Hagler Institute’s External Advisory Board (EAB).  When the institute became a reality, Norm – true to his word – was “in.” From the outset, Norm has served as the founding Chair of the EAB. Never having missed an opportunity to promote the institute and its ideals of distinction, the affiliation of Norm Augustine with the Hagler Institute has helped attract other outstanding individuals to the board. Under his leadership, the EAB has provided invaluable advice for the successful development of the institute. Norm Augustine was the guest speaker at the February 28th gala for the official induction of Faculty Fellows and Distinguished Lecturers into the Hagler Institute. Norm talked about the importance of this institute not only to Texas A&M, but to the nation, as funding support for basic research and higher education is decreasing nation-wide. The U.S. is also increasingly dependent technologically on foreign-born engineers and scientists, as Norm Augustine recounts in his presentation: “For example, the United States now ranks 76th in the world in the fraction of baccalaureate degrees awarded in the field of engineering—slightly ahead of Mozambique. Over 40 percent of the science, engineering and health doctorates awarded by U.S. universities go to foreign-born individuals.” These trends make Texas A&M’s investment in the Hagler Institute vital, for its interdisciplinary contributions to basic research and solutions to engineering challenges.  The Institute is helping the College of Engineering maintain its high quality as it goes against the national trend and doubles in size to 25,000 students by 2025. Recognizing that engineering is not the focus of the Hagler Institute, however, Norm stressed the need for Hagler Institute Chairs in every college to perpetually enhance Texas A&M. He particularly emphasized more participation by humanities in the Institute. For believing in Junkins and his plan, and for helping to advance the Hagler Institute to ever-greater heights over the ensuing nine years, Norm Augustine is a Hagler Hero.

Mr. Augustine pictured speaking at the Hagler Institute gala.

Click here for a video of Mr. Augustine's remarks at the gala

Recent Activities of Hagler Fellows

The Hagler Institute embodies excellence. One of the nine current Hagler Fellows, Peter Hotez is a renowned vaccine expert at the Baylor College of Medicine. He has been one of the most visible experts to speak about the COVID-19 outbreak and solutions. He has appeared numerous times in the last few weeks on Bloomberg, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, PBS and many other outlets. He is personally engaged in development and testing of a candidate vaccine that may very soon help eradicate this virus and resolve the current crisis facing our nation, and indeed, the world. For updates on Dr. Hotez's work follow him on Twitter. His Twitter account is @peterhotez .

On February 27th, the Hagler Institute co-sponsored with the Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering (IQSE) and the Trotter family an all-day “Symposium on Quantum Physics and Quantum Computing.”   Hagler Institute Director, John Junkins, introduced Texas A&M President Michael Young , who welcomed everyone to the event. The Hagler Fellows who joined seven other presenters to participate in the symposium were Peter Shor (2019-2020 Fellow), William Unruh (2018-2019 Fellow), Wolfgang Schleich (2013-2014 Fellow), and Luiz Davidovich (2019-2020 Fellow). This is a perfect example of the Hagler Institute helping to bring together the world’s finest minds to discuss enormous scientific challenges that, if overcome, can change the world, in this case the world of computing.

Henry Rousso , 2019-2020 Hagler Fellow, participated in a panel discussion titled “Rwanda: Democracy and Justice After Genocide?” sponsored by the Hagler Institute, the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs , the Bush School of Government and Public Service , and the French Embassy in the United States.

Deirdre McCloskey , a Hagler Institute Distinguished Lecturer, gave a series of talks on campus in the Colleges of Agricultural and Life Sciences , Liberal Arts , and for the Private Enterprise Research Center , on various economics and statistical topics. She gave the Kirby Distinguished Visiting Professor Lecture at the Bush Library on “Freedom, Equality, & Prosperity." She reviewed ideas developed in her new book, Why Liberalism Works: How True Liberal Values Produce a Freer, More Equal, Prosperous World for All , using “liberal” in its original meaning of freedom to say “No”, or freedom of choice, consistent with small central government, the opposite of its meaning today.

Dr. McCloskey presents her lecture "Freedom, Equality, and Prosperity."

On November 19, 2019, Stefan H.E. Kaufmann , 2018-2019 Fellow of the Hagler Institute, published a review article on immunization for tuberculosis for the “Bundesgesundheitsblatt" of the Robert Koch Institute, the German equivalent of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. Additionally, his co-authored article “Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Modulation by Tuberculosis Drugs Impairs Host Defense and Treatment Outcomes” appeared in  Cell Host and Microbe  on February 12th. On February 24th Kaufmann gave a talk as part of the Bush School’s Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs on “Tuberculosis: Humanitarian and Economic Burden." Dr. Kaufmann is working with faculty and students in the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences .

On February 6th Susan Wolf, 2019-2020 Distinguished Lecturer of the Hagler Institute, presented the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture in the School of Public Health . Her lecture was entitled “Who Gets Genomic Results, Incidental Findings & Raw Data?” She primarily worked with the faculty and students in A&M’s School of Law in Fort Worth, though this lecture was on the College Station campus.

William Sage , Hagler Fellow (2016-2017) and Professor, University of Texas, co-authored with an A&M graduate student, Theodoros Giannouchos, and two professors in the School of Public Health, an article in Medical Care titled, “Predictors of Multiple Emergency Department Utilization among Frequent Emergency Department Users in 3 States.”  They found that those with mental health or substance abuse issues were more likely to use multiple ER sites.

The headline in the January 25th - 26th Wall Street Journal reads “ Ingrid Daubechies : The barrier-breaking math pioneer behind wavelets.” Professor Daubechies was a Faculty Fellow of the Hagler Institute in 2016-2017. Daubechies wavelets, as her math applications are called, allows pictures, video, and music to be stored on smart phones without loss of quality. Her work has many uses, one being reconstruction of early images sent from the Hubble telescope. She uses her wavelets to detect fraudulent painting and authenticate original ones. She is working with anthropologists to study evolutionary changes in bones, and with neuroscientists to read MRI images of brain function. In 2019, Professor Daubechies received UNESCO’s woman in science award, but those of us in the Hagler Institute bet that award would not be her last.

If you have news to share, please send articles, suggestions, or other information to: Dr. Clifford L. Fry, Associate Director, Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University cfry@tamu.edu .