Through their generous commitment to engineering education and research, donors to SMU Ignited are leading the charge for innovation at the Lyle School of Engineering. Recent gifts like those from Mary and Richard Templeton and many others are strengthening the future of SMU by supporting graduate education, research and faculty support, exemplifying how our community is creating new ways for Mustangs to think big and do good.
Through their generosity, our donors support groundbreaking research and create new opportunities for outstanding students. A previous gift from the Templetons to endow an electrical engineering professorship made possible the graduate fellowship that supports Ph.D. candidate Khengdauliu Chawang. She has developed an innovative solution to food waste with the support of Templeton Chair J.-C. Chiao: a miniature pH detector that can detect food spoilage in real time, lessening the risks of illness, carbon dioxide emissions and the loss of resources.
Gifts to the Lyle School of Engineering also provide critical support for projects like that of professor Barbara Minsker (pictured with Ph.D. candidate Zheng Li). To evaluate infrastructure deserts in major metropolitan areas, Minsker’s team combinines SMU innovative supercomputing capabilities with on-the-ground observations and resident interviews. The work finds real answers to pressing questions about deficiencies in medical care and public transit – and ways to address safety conditions during natural disasters.
Lyle School donors create new avenues of access for research and discovery. Each year, the school’s Caruth Institute for Engineering Education hosts yearly engineering summer camps for students from middle to high school – and donors have created SMU scholarships for students who participate in the camps. The institute also sponsors programs and events across the region that inspire young people’s interest in engineering education, preparing the next generation of engineering leaders to help build a brighter tomorrow.
SMU provides the kind of robust education and research opportunities that are vital to the success and growth of Dallas.
SMU Trustee Richard Templeton, Chairman of Texas Instruments
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