SPRING 2010 - The University of Texas-Pan American

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RESEARCHFACULTY Q&AWITH DR. LEONIDES GOMEZ ´Dr. Leonides “Leo” Gómez, professor of curriculum and instruction, isconsidered one of the College of Education’s most innovative professors.His research and scholarly work on linguistic and academic issues thataffect language minority populations led to the creation of the 50/50 DualLanguage Enrichment (DLE) Model he co-developed in 1995. The model,which has been gaining in popularity for the last 15 years after its successfulresults in several Rio Grande Valley school districts, has been effectivelyimplemented in more than 60 school districts representing more than 440elementary schools across four states: Texas, Washington, Nevada andKansas. In Texas alone, as of fall 2009, this model is being implementedin 417 elementary schools.Tell us about your model of dual language learning.Dual language and enrichment learning recognizes that you get a better schooling andeducation if you learn in a language you understand fully. The 50/50 Dual LanguageEnrichment (DLE) Model, which I co-authored with my brother, Dr. RichardGómez, educates children in two languages in Pre-K through 5th grade. They learn50 percent of the content in their native language and 50 percent in their secondlanguage. The model also works for children who are native English speakers whoare learning Spanish.Why does the dual language model work so well?We found that the students who participated in dual language enrichment were notonly bi-literate, but were also cognitively enhanced. Studies show the more multilingualyou are the more creative you are because it stimulates your mind. It worksmuch better than the transitional bilingual program, which is designed to teachstudents English, but to decrease the native language learning as soon as they startlearning English. The problem with that process is that it takes seven years to becomefluent and develop a second language. When kids are in school they are not onlylearning language, but they are learning content as well. When we transition kids earlybecause they are learning the English language, they cease to learn the content andfall behind academically. If we continue on the old track of the transitional bilingualprogram, we are going to continue to leave many students behind, and this is evidentin the academic gaps as these students move through middle school and high school.How does it make you feel to know this model is being usedacross the state?It makes us so proud to bring the university credibility through the use of this model.But, I’m even more excited because I focus on results, and this model is making adifference for children. Our children are our future. These children will eventually bethe ones who come here to the university, so we are all in this together. I’ve alwaysbelieved that the Valley should be the experts, and the go-to area, on bilingualism— since we are a bilingual community for the most part. We should be doing thisbetter than anyone else. Over the last 15 years, we’ve put the Valley under a nationalspotlight as very progressive. In the field of dual language enrichment, the Valley isperceived as one of the most advanced regions in the nation.Why is it important that future generations of teachers knowabout dual language enrichment?I think about the future and what will happen after I retire. I would really like duallanguage enrichment to continue. We’ve been mentoring a lot of our young assistantprofessors to take over the reins and continue the advancement of a dual languagephilosophy and this model. And, our undergraduate and graduate programs at UTPAare philosophically in line with all of this. We are training teachers in which modelsare better and why, and maybe they can promote a new way of thinking when theyget into the classroom.Why is implementing this model so important?In Texas, Hispanics are now the largest minority group. By 2040, they are going torepresent more than 60 percent of the Texas population. If the largest group of thepopulation continues to perform the lowest because they are not well educated due tocontinued implementation of poor educational programs, it will increase the demandfor state services and reduce the amount of revenue for the state of Texas.Los Arcos 10
FibeRio TechnologyCorporation becomesUTPA’s first spinoff companyFACULTY RESEARCHUtilizing new technology developedby two engineering professorsand a team of students, TheUniversity of Texas-Pan Americanannounced Nov. 16 2009 the launchof a company that could revolutionizethe production of nanofibersused to manufacture a wide rangeof products and help transform theRio Grande Valley into an emerginghigh-tech industrial and advancedmanufacturing center.The new company, FibeRio TechnologyCorporation, is headed byChairman and Chief Executive OfficerEllery R. Buchanan, an Austinbasedentrepreneur with more than25 years experience in strategic andexecutive management positions inhigh-tech companies.Using a new concept of ForceSpinningtechnology invented byUTPA mechanical engineering professorsDr. Karen Lozano and Dr.Kamal Sarkar, FibeRio will developand manufacture machinery thatemploys centrifugal force – ratherthan the more costly, current electrospinningtechnology – to createspace age nanofibers from a widervariety of materials than has neverbefore been possible.Jackie Michel, director of theUTPA Office of Innovation and IntellectualProperty, said by 2014 thenew company plans to create about110 jobs that pay in the range of$100,000, with even greater job creationpossibilities into the future.UTPA Provost and Vice Presidentfor Academic Affairs Paul Sale saidthe company’s launch symbolizesUTPA’s commitment to researchthat benefits not only students butthe regional economy.“Our University is well positionedto leverage our intellectual resourcesto advance manufacturing and materialstechnologies throughout thenation and, indeed, the world,” Salesaid.The professors who developedthe technology will be able to profitfrom their invention, receiving anequity position and 50 percent of theroyalties received, one of the highestreturns shared by any university inthe nation.Chairman and CEO Buchanan,who will receive shares in thecompany as his compensation, isputting together a management teamand finding investors.It is projected that between nowand 2014 the new company willgenerate gross retvenues of morethan $234 million and net a totalof nearly $84 million. Michel saidthat although the company willinitially start off with small, labscale devices developed by Lozanoand Sarkar for their research, itwill move quickly to developindustrial scale machines thatcan produce large quantitiesof nanofibers.Nanofiber is a term used to describefibers with diameters lessthan 0.5 microns that cannot beseen without visual amplification.They typically can be used in themanufacture of medical and filtrationmaterials, wipes, personal careproducts, clothing materials, insulation,energy storage applicationsand even cosmetics.The ForceSpinning process inventedby Lozano and Sarkar usescentrifugal force to push materialsthrough minute openings to createnanofibers. Because there isno electrical charge employed intheir technology, it can be used toproduce nanofibers from both thematerials that can and can’t be usedin the electrospinning process.Learn more about FibeRio atwww.fiberiotech.comPictured from left to right are Texas Gov. Rick Perry, UTPA PresidentRobert S. Nelsen, former Interim President Charles A. Sorber and AssociateDean of the College of Science and Engineering Miguel Gonzalez at the Jan.5 press conference to announce the TEFT awards.UTPA receives $3.25 millionEmerging Technology Fund awardGovernor Rick Perry traveledto UTPA Jan. 5 to announcethe awarding of a $3.25million Texas Emerging TechnologyFund (TETF) ResearchSuperiority Acquisition Awardthat will go toward helping theuniversity hire top-notch researchersfor a world-class advancedmanufacturing center.The TETF awards, were createdto develop and diversifythe Texas economy by expeditinginnovation and commercializationof research and bringingworld-class researchers to thestate. UTPA’s award will helpexpand the endeavors of theRapid Response ManufacturingCenter (RRMC).The RRMC is a center devotedto research and talentdevelopment in rapid responsemanufacturing and has assistedmore than 20 companies sinceApril 2008.UTPA has received a $44,000award from The Universityof Texas System to go towardthe commercialization of adiscovery by faculty memberDr. Yuankun Lin that providesa more precise, simpler andcheaper fabrication methodfor photonic crystals used insemiconductors.The award is among $374,000in grants presented Jan. 12 toeight UT System institutionsfrom the Texas Ignition Fund(TIF), which was created by theBoard of Regents in 2007 to helpspeed the commercializationof discoveries made at campus“The Rapid Response ManufacturingCenter is the kind offacility where new ideas takeplace,” Gov. Perry said. “Thisinvestment is intended to createa culture of innovation inthe Rio Grande Valley andthe state.”UTPA President Robert S.Nelsen said the award establishesthe University as a majorplayer and contributor to theeconomic future of Texas.This award is part of a largerpool of funding allocated bythe Texas Legislature last yearas part of the state’s efforts toinvest in emerging technologyand boost the economy withnew jobs. The emerging technologyfunds will be leveragedby the university and a privatecompany bringing the totalUTPA investment to more than$9 million.Faculty member’s discoverywins commercialization awardlaboratories and move theminto the marketplace.Lin, associate professor inthe Department of Physics andGeology, has a patent pendingfor the fabrication of a twolayerintegrated Phase Maskto create three dimensionalphotonic crystals.The TIF fund addressesthe challenge that researchdiscoveries and inventionsat UT institutions oftenrequire additional funding todevelop product applicationsthat can attract investorcapital to achieve theircommercial potential.Los Arcos 11
Page 1 and 2: RESEARCHThe University of Texas-Pan
Page 3 and 4: COMMUNITYRESEARCHMasters of the Nig
Page 5 and 6: ReadingUTPA invites you to joinRevo
Page 7 and 8: ich TraditionRESEARCHBallet Folkló
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Page 13 and 14: RESEARCHUTPA PresidentRobert S. Nel
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Page 19 and 20: ATHLETICSUTPA to host inaugural GWC
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