Texas Tech Alumni Association Announces 2021 Excellence Grant Recipients
Since 1927, the Texas Tech Alumni Association (TTAA) has promoted loyalty, service and support to Texas Tech University (TTU) through many efforts including its Excellence Grant program. Recipients of the grants encourage and improve educational opportunities, support the university’s strategic efforts and extend the mission of the TTAA.
This year’s Excellence Grant recipients are the TTU School of Veterinary Medicine and the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The School of Veterinary Medicine aims to serve rural and regional communities across Texas by providing educational opportunities for students in these areas.
The Excellence Grant funds will be used to purchase veterinary and comparative models and supplies from the Anatomy in Clay® Learning System to develop lessons for students in under-resourced schools and provide relevant, fun and hands-on educational experiences that blend art, science, comparative anatomy and career investigation.
“The models and the oil-based clay that students will use to construct muscles, ligaments, vessels, nerves and more can be used over and over again,” Associate Professor of Anatomy Joshua Rowe said. “As a result, this grant will facilitate countless educational experiences for young people in rural and regional communities across Texas for years to come.”
The Department of Physics and Astronomy aims to achieve important research while providing high-quality education for Texas Tech students. The funds made possible by the Excellence Grant will be used to initiate the Night Sky For All program.
The program will replace two outdated imaging detectors with top-of-the-line cameras allowing undergraduate students enrolled in the observational astronomy course to obtain photometric data in the near UV, optical and near IR part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The program is a prerequisite for all physics majors in the astrophysics concentration and it is the only course that offers hands-on experience using imaging detectors and telescopes.
“The new cameras, which are highly precise photometric detectors that offer outstanding quantum efficiency and linearity for calibration, will also be featured on the new Preston Gott Observatory webpage, thus allowing current students and alumni to remain involved and engaged in their learning community,” Dr. Vallia Antoniou, Department of Physics and Astronomy instructor and Preston Gott Observatory director, said.
A demonstration of the equipment’s capabilities will occur during an upcoming event called Astronight, the department’s public outreach program.
Curt Langford, TTAA president and CEO, said the TTAA is excited to be able to award these grants to such deserving programs and looks forward to seeing how they enhance the education of TTU students and the Texas Tech community.
“The mission of the TTAA is to support our university, build relationships and foster growth, and this grant is just one way the organization fulfills this mission,” Langford said. “We could not provide this opportunity without the support of our generous alumni.”
To learn more about the TTAA Excellence Grant, visit texastechalumni.org/excellence-grant.