TAMEST Welcomes 2026 Protégé Class
TAMEST is pleased to welcome 63 talented early-career researchers to our TAMEST 2026 Annual Conference: Pioneering Climate Innovations as TAMEST Protégés.
Each year, TAMEST members have a unique opportunity to help nurture the next generation of researchers in Texas. Through the TAMEST Protégé Program, early-career researchers are selected on an individual basis by TAMEST members to attend the TAMEST annual conference. They also have the opportunity to participate in the TAMEST Protégé Poster Challenge, which recognizes research and technology that could have significant impact on scientific understanding and society. The protégé program is designed as a mentorship tool for early-career researchers and early-career industry professionals within 15 years of their first faculty or industry appointment.
This opportunity provides protégés a chance to showcase their research and innovation to research and industry leaders. New this year, the poster challenge will recognize four finalists with $20,000 each in research funding from Lyda Hill Philanthropies.
Since 2004, TAMEST has hosted 1,286 protégés at its annual conferences. Forty-two of those protégés have gone on to become recipients of the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Awards, Hill Prizes or Mary Beth Maddox Award and Lectureship, and 58 have gone on to achieve election to the National Academies and become TAMEST Members.
Meet the TAMEST 2026 Protégés:
(Nominators are listed in italics after each protégé.)
TAMEST 2026 Protégés
Muhammad Bilal Abid, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Thomas Hutson, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
Miltos Alamaniotis, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering
The University of Texas at San Antonio
Sergio M. Alcocer, Ph.D. (NAE)
Brian Ancell, Ph.D.
Professor, Atmospheric Sciences
Texas Tech University
Kishor C. Mehta, Ph.D., P.E. (NAE)
Raymundo Arróyave, Ph.D.
Associate Department Head for Research, Materials Science & Engineering
Texas A&M University
Don Lipkin, Ph.D. (NAE)
Matthew Bartos, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
The University of Texas of Austin
David R. Maidment, Ph.D. (NAE)
Shelly Buffington, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Center for Precision Environmental Health, Neuroscience
Baylor College of Medicine
Cheryl Lyn Walker, Ph.D. (NAM)
Joseph Anthony Buonomo, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor in Chemistry and Biochemistry
The University of Texas at Arlington
Florence P. Haseltine, M.D., Ph.D. (NAM)
Amanda Casey, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Molecular Biology
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Kim Orth, Ph.D. (NAS)
Hanjie Chen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Computer Science
Rice University
Lydia E. Kavraki, Ph.D. (NAM, NAE, NAS)
Xin Chen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Texas A&M University
Don Russell, Ph.D. (NAE)
Qian Cong, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Johann Deisenhofer, Ph.D. (Nobel Laureate; NAS)
Bassel Daher, Ph.D.
Assistant Director for Sustainable Development, Texas A&M Energy Institute
Texas A&M University
Stratos Pistikopoulos, Ph.D. (FREng)
Liangzi Deng, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Physics and Texas Center for Superconductivity
University of Houston
Paul C.W. Chu, Ph.D. (NAS)
Diego Donzis, Ph.D.
Associate Department Head for Research, Aerospace Engineering
Texas A&M University
John L. Junkins, Ph.D. (NAE)
Graham Erwin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Molecular and Human Genetics
Baylor College of Medicine
Brendan Lee, M.D., Ph.D. (NAM)
Lei Fan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Engineering Technology
University of Houston
Kaushik Rajashekara, Ph.D. (NAE)
Eric Gardner, Ph.D.
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Helen Piwnica-Worms, Ph.D. (NAM, NAS)
Christine D. Garner, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Assistant Vice President for Research
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Kendra Rumbaugh, Ph.D.
Sarah Gunter, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics-Tropical Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine
Maria Elena Bottazzi, Ph.D. (NAM)
Jean Anne Incorvia, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
Bob Metcalfe, Ph.D. (NAE)
Abdolrazzagh Javid
Ph.D. Student, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
University of Houston
Ganesh C. Thakur, Ph.D. (NAE)
Anastasios Kyrillidis, Ph.D.
Noah Harding Associate Professor, Computer Science
Rice University
Moshe Y. Vardi, Ph.D. (NAE, NAS, FRS)
Eric C. Larson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Computer Science
Southern Methodist University
Ali H. Dogru, Ph.D. (NAE)
Yuxuan “Cosmi” Lin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Texas A&M University
Linda Katehi, Ph.D. (NAE)
Tracy Lohr, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist, Projects & Technology
Shell
Selda Gunsel, Ph.D. (NAE)
Camila Leite Madeira, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering
The University of Texas at El Paso
Ivonne Santiago, Ph.D.
Katie McKenna, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy
Baylor College of Medicine
Helen Elisabeth Heslop, M.D., D.Sc. (Hon) (NAM)
Jesus David Melgarejo Arias, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Can Saygin, Ph.D.
Tarek S. Mohamed, Ph.D.
Interpretation Development Engineer and Subsurface Scientist
SLB
Oliver C. Mullins, Ph.D. (NAE)
Homero Murzi, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Multidisciplinary Engineering
Texas A&M University
George T. Ligler, D.Phil. (NAE)
Rita Esuru Okoroafor, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Petroleum Engineering
Texas A&M University
Donald Nathan Meehan, Ph.D., P.E. (NAE)
Nuttada Panpradist, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering
The University of Texas of Austin
Nicholas A. Peppas, Sc.D. (NAM, NAE)
Layla Pires, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Texas A&M University
Vanderlei S. Bagnato, Ph.D. (NAE, NAS)
George Plasko
INCELL Corporation LLC
Mary Pat Moyer, Ph.D. (NAE)
Tian Qin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Biochemistry
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Margaret Phillips, Ph.D. (NAS)
Shreya Raghavan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Texas A&M University
Frances S. Ligler, D.Sc., D.Phil. (NAE)
Kalavathy Rajan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Plant and Soil Science
Texas Tech University
Elizabeth Carroll
Joaquin Resasco, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering
Lyondell Chemical Company Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Engineering
Brian A. Korgel, Ph.D. (NAE)
Liliana Rivera Sandoval, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Can Saygin, Ph.D.
Muhammad Rizwan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D. (NAM, NAE)
Christopher I. Roos, Ph.D.
Professor, Anthropology
Southern Methodist University
David J. Meltzer, Ph.D. (NAS)
Tapasree Roy Sarkar, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Biology
Texas A&M University
Panganamala R. Kumar, Sc.D. (NAE)
Benjamin Schrank, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Sharon Y.R. Dent, Ph.D. (NAS)
Robert Seilheimer, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry
Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin
Charles B. Nemeroff, M.D., Ph.D. (NAM)
Sahar Shata, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Scholar
Texas A&M University
Julie Schoenung, Ph.D. (NAE)
Manish Shetty, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering
Texas A&M University
Mark A. Barteau, Ph.D. (NAE)
Jian (Jason) Shi, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Houston
Hao Huang, Ph.D. (NAE)
Jonathan Siegel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Mathematics
Texas A&M University
Ronald A. DeVore, Ph.D. (NAS)
Jonathan Snodgrass, Ph.D.
Senior Research Engineer II, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Texas A&M University
Thomas J. Overbye, Ph.D. (NAE)
Ashley Solmonson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Green Center for Reproductive Biology Sciences
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Catherine Y. Spong, M.D. (NAM)
Anju Sreelatha, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Physiology
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Duojia Pan, Ph.D. (NAM, NAS)
Rahul Srinivasan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics
Texas A&M University College of Medicine
Nancy W. Dickey, M.D. (NAM)
Dimitrios Stampoulis, Ph.D.
Lead Scientist, Space Science Division
Southwest Research Institute
Stephen A. Fuselier, Ph.D. (NAS)
Laisuo Su, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
The University of Texas at Dallas
Babu R. Chalamala, Ph.D. (NAE)
Hongyu Sun, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences
The University of Texas at El Paso
Kyung-An Han, Ph.D.
Alexander Tatara, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Medicine
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Antonios G. Mikos, Ph.D. (NAM, NAE)
David W. Taylor, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Molecular Biosciences
The University of Texas of Austin
Alan M. Lambowitz, Ph.D. (NAS)
Aaryani Tipirneni-Sajja, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
University of Houston
Jerome Schultz, Ph.D. (NAE)
Ufuk Topcu, Ph.D.
Professor, Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences
The University of Texas of Austin
Karen E. Willcox, Ph.D. (NAE)
Erin Tullos, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist, Center for Energy and Environmental Systems
The University of Texas of Austin
David T. Allen, Ph.D. (NAE)
Marissa Wechsler, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering
The University of Texas at San Antonio
Rena Bizios, Ph.D. (NAM, NAE)
Jin Yang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
The University of Texas at Austin
Stelios Kyriakides, Ph.D. (NAE)
Qing Yang, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Computer Science and Engineering
University of North Texas
The Honorable Gordon R. England (NAE)
Mengmeng Zhang, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor, NanoTech Institute
The University of Texas at Dallas
David E. Daniel, Ph.D. (NAE)
