Stories

October was first declared National Substance Abuse Prevention Month in 2011. It’s a time to highlight the important role of substance abuse prevention in both individual and community health, as well as an opportunity to remember those who have lost their lives to substance abuse. CSE's IBR and KPICD are working with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department and other county juvenile probation departments on trying to prevent substance abuse in local and national communities.

Biology graduate student, Kimberlee Whitmore, biology alumna, Maddy Hannappel, and Matt Chumchal, biology professor and director of the Pre-Health Professions Institute, worked with a team of high school students and their teacher, Andrew Brinker, from the Texas Academy of Biomedical Sciences. They collected dragonflies for the Dragonfly Mercury Project at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge.

SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science) and SLA, two cultural organizations on TCU campus, hosted the Mexican Cultural Showcase on Sept. 25. The showcase brought many dances and performances from students and clubs on campus.

There was some big news this month in the College of Science & Engineering. TCU’s Department of Environmental Sciences was officially renamed the Department of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences.

Family Weekend is the perfect opportunity to experience the community your students call home. Families will have the opportunity to interact with the College of Science and Engineering’s world-class faculty and staff while enjoying refreshments. Check out the CSE Family Weekend activities here.

Matt McLennan has been named the new Houston Livestock and Rodeo Professor in Ranch Management at Texas Christian University. McLennan graduated from TCU’s Ranch Management program in 1992. After graduating, he worked in stocker cattle production and cow calf production in eastern New Mexico and in Comanche, Texas. McLennan managed the Beaumont Ranch south of Fort Worth for four years. This led him to the cattle feeding and stocker operations of the Panhandle area of Texas.

Greg Friedman, chair of TCU’s Department of Mathematics, has been named the new John William and Helen Stubbs Potter Professor of Mathematics at Texas Christian University. Friedman joined the College of Science & Engineering as an assistant professor of mathematics in 2005. He was promoted to associate professor in 2010 and then to professor in 2016. In 2019 he was named chair of the Department of Mathematics, and in 2020 Friedman received the TCU Deans’ Award for Research and Creativity.

David Cross, Rees-Jones Director of TCU’s Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD), will retire at the end of this year. For more than 30 years, Cross has been fiercely committed to changing the world for children. Serving previously as Associate Director of Research at KPICD, Danica Kalling Knight will step into the role of the Rees-Jones Directorship for the KPICD when Cross retires.

Did you know that there is a wind tunnel in the basement of Tucker Technology Center on TCU campus? Its primary use at TCU is for educational lab instruction, extensively in a fourth-year mechanical engineering laboratory course, ENGR 40871. It has also supported a number of undergraduate research and honors projects over the years.