Fellow, Eugene McDermott Distinguished Professor
The McDermott Professorships were established in August 2017, funded by an anonymous gift, with the goal of providing early career support and recognition to faculty members who have established extraordinary records of research productivity, teaching excellence, and university service, and who show promise of being leaders of the UT Dallas faculty in the future.
Dr. Michael Burton
- Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
“The objective of our studies is to understand the impact of lifestyle choices, advanced aging and inflammation on pain development, reproduction and metabolic function. The mechanisms that underlie these maladaptive processes are highly sought after because current therapeutics fail to offer relief to a large percentage of patients. I am honored to receive this support to help my lab’s translational research goals and to continue my efforts in building diversity in science.”
Dr. Seth Hays
- Associate Professor of Bioengineering
“It’s a great honor to be recognized with the Eugene McDermott Endowed Professorship and a thrilling time to be at UT Dallas. I’m grateful to work with brilliant, engaged students and colleagues every day as we strive to merge engineering and neuroscience to develop real solutions for patients.”
Dr. Majid Minary
- Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
“I appreciate the vision of our administration in recognizing my contribution in bringing recognition to UT Dallas through prestigious and highly competitive YIP awards from the Department of Defense, as well as graduating three PhD students in five years at UT Dallas. With the resources provided by this endowed professorship, I commit to bring more recognition to UT Dallas and continue graduating doctoral students that carry the UTD name and quality in their careers.”
Dr. Zhenpeng Qin
- Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
“The human brain is a complex scientific and medical challenge. We are working on nanomaterial technologies to better understand, diagnose and treat brain dysfunction. The McDermott Professorship and the collaborative environment at UT Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center will support our efforts to achieve this goal.”
Dr. Fabiano Rodrigues
- Associate Professor of Physics
“A number of factors make this field of study compelling to me, including being able to work at amazing observation sites, design new experiments, develop new techniques for analysis and interpretation of measurements, and interface fundamental science with engineering.”