Issue 39, Special Edition, November 2025

From the Founding Director

Fellows of the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study never cease to amaze me. The 2025-26 Fellows introduced in this newsletter are no exception. Needless to say, their awards and honorifics are many, and for good reason.

In this group of accomplished individuals, you will find a chemist who has discovered significant insights into the chemistry of marine organisms, a chemist whose work paves the way for environmentally friendly plastics and materials for energy storage, and another chemist who has discovered how iron and sulfur drive the key steps and molecules involved in certain important enzyme reactions. The group includes a health professional who is improving policies for long term care of the aging human population, another who has shown the benefits of expanding health insurance coverage, and, for the nonhuman primates, a scientist who studies how social environments affect their genes and health.



The Fellows include an engineer who has made significant contributions to computer modeling of complex dynamical systems, and a noted scholar who is a leader in management of construction projects and procurement methods. In the education field, the Fellows include a specialist in teaching and learning who is a pioneer in understanding the importance of positive relationships for quality education. The performing arts group on campus has attracted a renowned multi-Grammy award winning singer, songwriter and actor as a Hagler Fellow, whose knowledge of music and the business of music will make invaluable contributions to that group of faculty and students.

The 2025-26 group of Hagler Institute scholars includes two Distinguished Lecturers, whose visits will be limited to a month versus a year’s equivalence for Fellows. Each of these Distinguished Lecturers has single-handedly founded several areas of research in their fields. One is a renowned physicist working with photonics, light and lasers, and the other models complex physical systems with cancer applications, among others.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study again enriches the intellectual environment of this great university. I invite you to read more about these outstanding additions to the Texas A&M campus.

-John L. Junkins

2025-26 HAGLER FELLOWS

JOAN B. BRODERICK 

Professor

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

College of Letters and Sciences

Montana State University

Joan Broderick, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, is recognized for her work uncovering how iron and sulfur drive the key steps and molecules involved in radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) enzymes reactions. She is known for discovering a new organometallic intermediate and was the first to observe the fleeting deoxyadenosyl radical that drives the reaction, deepening the scientific community’s understanding of early reaction steps and impacting studies on all radical SAM enzymes.

She received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University.

Broderick is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a recipient of the Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Ian Scott Medal from the Texas A&M University section of the ACS.



She has 126 peer-reviewed articles and is an associate editor for the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Broderick will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

ALISON BUTLER 

Distinguished Professor

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

College of Letters and Science

University of California, Santa Barbara

Alison Butler has helped expand the field of marine bioinorganic chemistry by uncovering how certain ocean enzymes and bacteria use metals like vanadium and iron. Her research has led to significant insights into the chemistry of marine organisms and iron uptake in microbes.

She received her Ph.D. from the University of California San Diego.

Butler is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Science. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society (ACS), the Royal Society of Chemistry (RCS) and the American Institute of Chemists (AIC).

She is a recipient of the Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry and the Cope Scholar Award from the ACS; the Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms Award from the RCS; the William H. Nichols Medal from the New York American Chemical Society Local Section; the AIC Chemical Pioneer Award; the Tolman Medal from the Southern California Section of the ACS; the ACS Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry; and the 9th Vanadis Award from the International Vanadium Symposium.

She is a University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Faculty Research Lecturer, the top honor given by the UCSB Academic Senate.

She has authored 145 peer-reviewed articles and holds three patents.

Butler will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Arts and Sciences.

GEOFFREY W. COATES

University Professor

Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

College of Arts and Sciences

Cornell University

Geoffrey W. Coates is renowned for his work in catalysis and polymer chemistry. His research has paved the way for the creation of environmentally-friendly plastics and contributed to the broader effort to address global environmental challenges through chemistry.

His research focuses on the development of new catalysts for the synthesis of sustainable polymeric materials, including high-performance biodegradable polymers, plastics derived from biorenewable feedstocks, materials that facilitate valorization of post-consumer plastics, and materials for practical energy storage and conversion applications.

He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Coates is an influential figure in the scientific community, having received 10 high-level awards for his research and scholarship. Honors include the Eni Award, the National Academy of Sciences Award for the Industrial Application of Science, the American Chemical Society’s Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest, the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Newcomb Cleveland Prize and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. He serves as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He has authored three book chapters and more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and holds 79 issued U.S. patents. He is currently an associate editor for JACS, the flagship journal of the American Chemical Society, and serves on the Board of Directors of Mitsubishi Chemicals and the Scientific Advisory Board of The Welch Foundation.

Coates will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering.

DAVID C. GRABOWSKI 

Professor

Department of Health Care Policy

Harvard Medical School

Harvard University

An expert in the economics of aging, David C. Grabowski is renowned for his contributions to the fields of long-term and post-acute care.

His work has advanced the understanding of novel trends in care quality, identified conflicting Medicare and Medicaid payment policies, and informed policy changes regarding the determinants of COVID-19 in nursing home deaths.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Grabowski is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. He is a recipient of the John D. Thompson Prize for Young Investigators from the Association of University Programs in Health Administration.

He served as a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes, and the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Committee on the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on seven separate occasions.

He has authored six book chapters and more than 280 peer-reviewed articles. Grabowski is an associate editor of the journal Forum for Health Economics and Policy and serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Health Economics and the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.

Grabowski will collaborate with faculty and students in the School of Public Health.

IOANNIS KEVREKIDIS

Bloomberg Distinguished Professor

Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Applied Mathematics and Statistics; and Biomedical Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering

Department of Urology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Johns Hopkins University



Ioannis Kevrekidis has transformed how scientists use computers to model and study complex/multiscale systems such as the dynamic behavior, instabilities and patterns found in physical, chemical and biological processes.

His work applies to a variety of fields, but he is best known for pioneering an approach for equation-free computation. His recent research focuses on multiscale computations and computer-assisted modeling of complex dynamical systems.

He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

Kevrekidis is a member of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Johns Hopkins Data Science and AI Institute, and the Academy of Athens. He has been a senior Hans Fischer Fellow at the Technische Universität München Institute for Advanced Study and an Einstein Visiting Fellow at FU/Zuse Institute Berlin. He is a recipient of the Allan P. Colburn Award, the R.H. Wilhelm Award and the Computing in Chemical Engineering Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; the J.D. Crawford Prize and the W.T. and Idalia Reid Prize from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics; a Senior Humboldt prize; and a career Teaching Award from the School of Engineering at Princeton.

He has also been a Gutzwiller Fellow for the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, a Packard Fellow and a Rothschild Distinguished Visitor at the Newton Institute at Cambridge University.

He has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications.

Kevrekidis will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Medicine, the College of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences.

LYLE LOVETT

American singer/songwriter and actor

Lyle Lovett, a Texas-based singer, songwriter and actor, redefined American music by blending country, jazz, folk, gospel, blues and more with his distinctive storytelling style. Since his debut in 1986, Lovett has produced 14 albums and has appeared in several television series and films. Most recently, he taught master classes as an artist in residence at the University of North Texas, Denton.

Often touring as a duo, with his Acoustic Group or with his Large Band, Lovett has performed at venues such as Austin City Limits, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver, and more.

He is a former student of Texas A&M University.

He is recognized by peers in both the music and film industry through numerous nominations and awards of the highest honors. He is the recipient of four Grammy Awards and one Golden Globe Special Award. He has been nominated twice for the Country Music Association Awards and also by the Academy of Country Music Awards. He was given the Americana Music Association's inaugural Trailblazer Award, as well as the Americana Music Association UK’s Trailblazer Award. He has been named a Texas State Musician, and next year, he will be given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Lovett will collaborate with students and faculty in the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts.

JOSE A. PAGAN

Professor

Department of Public Health Policy and Management

School of Global Public Health

New York University

Known for his research on the population effects of uninsurance, José A. Pagán has shown that expanding access to health insurance coverage in a community may benefit not only the uninsured population, but also the privately-insured population and the quality of health care services available to everyone in the same community.

His current research focuses on how identifying and addressing social needs within health care delivery systems may help optimize health care utilization.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico.

Pagán led the governing body of New York City Health and Hospitals, the largest public health care system in the country, through the COVID-19 pandemic. He is the Chair of the Board of Directors for New York City Health and Hospitals.

Pagán is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and was the recipient of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in Health Policy Research. Pagán also received the Faculty Advisor of the Year Award from AcademyHealth and the Faculty of the Year Award from the New York University School of Global Public Health.

He has authored six books or book chapters and 202 peer-reviewed articles.

Pagán will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Medicine.

ROBERT PIANTA 

Batten Bicentennial Professor of Early Childhood Education, Department of Human Services

Founding Director, Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning

School of Education and Human Development

University of Virginia

Robert Pianta is a pioneer in understanding the importance of positive relationships for quality education. His research focuses on the intersection of education and human development, particularly teacher-student relationships.

Pianta developed the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, or CLASS, a tool for analyzing teacher-student interactions used in classrooms serving children and adolescents from birth to high school. The CLASS and associated interventions have helped teachers interact with students more effectively in the United States and across the world.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

He is a member of the National Academy of Education. He was selected as a fellow for the American Educational Research Association and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

Honors include the Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award from the American Education Research Association, the Review of Research Award from the American Educational Research Association, the Article of the Year from the National Association of School Psychology, the Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Minnesota, and the Best Article Award from the Journal of School Psychology. Pianta was named a Distinguished Alumnus from the University of Connecticut and received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Stavanger.

Pianta has authored 13 books, 72 chapters and 343 peer-reviewed articles, and holds one trademark. He is a former editor for the Journal of School Psychology.

Pianta will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Education and Human Development.

TRESA M. POLLOCK

Professor and holder of the Alcoa Distinguished Chair of Materials

Materials Department

College of Engineering

University of California, Santa Barbara

Tresa Pollock is a scholar of the mechanical and environmental performance of materials in extreme environments. Her advanced design techniques and development of new, highly heat-resistant materials have led to significant improvements in the efficiency and safety of jet aircraft.

She is also the inventor of an in-situ tomography platform called “TriBeam,” which makes it possible to acquire unique information about a material’s chemistry and structure in three dimensions at high resolution.

She received her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Pollock is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Société Française de Métallurgie et de Matériaux, ASM International, and The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS). She is a U.S. Department of Defense Vannevar Bush Fellow and a recipient of the Acta Materalia Gold Medal, the TSM/ASM Joint Distinguished Lectureship in Materials and Society Award, and the TMS Morris Cohen Distinguished Achievement Award.

She has authored six books or book chapters and more than 480 peer-reviewed articles and is the holder of five patents. She has also served as the editor of the Metallurgical and Materials Transactions family of journals.

Pollock will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Engineering.

JOHN E. SCHAUFELBERGER 

Professor and Dean Emeritus

Department of Construction Management

College of Built Environments

University of Washington

John E. Schaufelberger is a world-renowned scholar, high-profile leader and an accomplished author and educator with extensive leadership experience in the United States Army Corps of Engineers and project management.

He has made a long-lasting impact on bridging industry and academia, focusing on the management of construction projects and innovative contract procurement methods. This impact is evident through his highly popular books and his continuous efforts in elevating the scholarship in professional communities.

Schaufelberger received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.

Schaufelberger leads an Associated General Contractors of America Education and Research Foundation-initiated program to create and publish construction-related case studies for use in academic courses and industry professional development programs. He is a member of the National Academy of Construction and a fellow of the Associated Schools of Construction. He served as the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the American Council for Construction Education.

He received the Distinguished Service Medal from the Secretary of the Army; the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Associated Schools of Construction; the Legacy Award from Engineering News-Record; the University of Washington Award for Distinguished Contributions to Lifelong Learning; the Mechanical Contractors Association of America Educator of the Year award; and the Brian D. Dunfield Educational Service Award from the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering.

Schaufelberger is the author or co-author of seven widely used construction management textbooks. He has authored 23 peer-reviewed publications, and he was the associate editor of the International Journal of Construction Education and Research.

Schaufelberger will collaborate with researchers and students in the College of Architecture.

JENNY TUNG

Director and founder

Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Jenny Tung, the founder of the Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, has helped spearhead work to demonstrate how social environment influences gene regulation, population genetic structure and health and survival in nonhuman primates and other social mammals.

Her research unifies organismal perspectives on behavior, life history and evolution with molecular and genetic approaches that provide exciting new insights into long-standing questions in biology that were previously unattainable.

She received her Ph.D. from Duke University.

Tung is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and a fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. She is a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, the Sloan Research Fellowship and is an NAS Kavli Fellow. Tung has been listed as one of Science News SN 10: Scientists to Watch. Additionally, she is the co-director of the Amboseli Baboon Research Project, which is internationally recognized as the gold standard for long-term studies of wild primates.

She has authored four book chapters and 100 peer-reviewed articles. She is an editor for eLife, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B and Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.

Tung will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Arts and Sciences.

2025-26 Distinguished Lecturers

THOMAS J.R. HUGHES 

Professor and holder of the John O. Hallquist Distinguished Chair in Computational Mechanics and the Peter O’Donnell Chair in Computational and Applied Mathematics

Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

Cockrell School of Engineering

University of Texas at Austin

One of the most widely cited authors in Engineering Science, Thomas J.R. Hughes founded several fields of research, including isogeometric analysis, variational multiscale methods and stabilized methods.

His current research spans isogeometric analysis, which integrates Computer Aided Geometric Design and Finite Element Analysis to streamline product development, and computational medicine applications addressing cardiovascular disease, prostate cancer and glymphatic transport, along with phase field modeling of fracture and new discretization methods for structural and fluid dynamics simulations. His work continues to shape how complex physical systems are modeled and analyzed in real-world applications.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Society of London, along with three other academies or societies. Hughes has been elected as a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), its highest honor.

He is a fellow of 10 academies or societies including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Honors include ASME’s highest honor, the ASME Medal; the von Karman Medal from ASCE; the Timoshenko Medal, the Worcester Reed Warner Medal and the Melville Medal from ASME; the von Neumann Medal from the U.S. Association for Computational Mechanics; the Gauss-Newton Medal from the International Association for Computational Mechanics; the A.C. Eringen Medal from the Society for Engineering Science; the Ralph E. Kleinman Prize from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics; and the William Benter Prize in Applied Mathematics from City University of Hong Kong.

Hughes has authored or co-authored four books, 89 chapters and 341 peer-reviewed articles, co-edited 32 books and holds five patents. He is the co-editor for the Encyclopedia of Computational Mechanics and a member of 36 other editorial boards.

Hughes will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Engineering.

MORDECHAI SEGEV 

Robert J. Shillman Distinguished Professor of Physics and of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Department of Physics

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

Mordechai Segev, an internationally recognized physicist, founded several fields of research including topological photonics, Anderson localization of light, photorefractive solitons and photonic time-crystals. He invented topological insulator lasers.

Segev’s knowledge impacts numerous fields, mainly nonlinear optics, photonics, solitons, quantum electronics and more. His interests lie in exploring fundamental aspects that impact other areas of science and profound applications that impact technology.

He earned his Ph.D. from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Segev is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Israel National Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America. He is a recipient of the Quantum Electronics Prize of the European Physics Society; the Max Born Award of the Optical Society of America; the Arthur L. Schawlow Prize of the American Physical Society; the Israel Prize in Physics, which is the highest honor in Israel; the EMET Prize in Physics; and the Rothschild Prize in Physics.

He has authored over 400 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Segev will collaborate with faculty and students in the Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering.