Former Mean Green football star Brian Waters is the 2009 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year. The award was presented at the Feb. 7 Super Bowl.

The award recognizes Waters’ community service off the field, as well as his football skills. Waters, a native of Waxahachie, established the 54 Foundation in 2004. His foundation funds college scholarships to low-income students, provides school supplies and clothing, immunizations and dental care. 

Waters’ foundation also supports programs in Texas and Kansas City, such as the United Way, Special Olympics, YMCA, Habitat for Humanity, youth football and Thanksgiving food drives. Photo, Waters with youngsters at a United Way event in Kansas City.

Waters played for Mean Green teams coached by Matt Simon and Darrell Dickey. He joined the National Football League in 1999, played in Berlin with NFL Europe and joined the Kansas City Chiefs in 2001. He was elected to the league’s Pro Bowl in 2004-06 and 2008.

A technique long used to develop new pharmaceuticals could be used in the battle against climate change, says research by Michael Drummond, a post-doctoral chemistry researcher, Tom Cundari, right, Regents Professor of chemistry and Angela Wilson, right, professor of chemistry. Their findings are explained in the American Chemical Society’s bi-monthly journal Energy & Fuels.

The technique could be used to develop new materials that capture carbon dioxide from industrial smoke stacks and other fixed sources and store the greenhouse gases underground. The three conducted research using computer modeling and simulation.

About seven billion tons of man-made carbon dioxide escape into the Earth’s atmosphere every year, contributing to climate change, scientists say. A large portion of CO2 emissions in the United States and across the world comes from power plants that burn coal, natural gas and oil. Removing the carbon dioxide from smokestacks has emerged in recent years as a potential solution and is of particular interest in Texas, which has an abundance of oil and gas wells that could be used for CO2 storage.

Existing technologies, however, are expensive and can create hazardous waste. UNT researchers decided to explore the possibility of using proteins in carbon capture technology. Proteins can react with molecules in an environmentally friendly way.

In the study, the researchers used the pharmacophore concept, which was developed for use in drug discovery, to probe how the 3-D structure of proteins affects their ability to bind and capture carbon dioxide.

Wear pink to the Mean Green women’s basketball game versus the University of Arkansas at Little Rock game at noon Feb. 21 in the Super Pit.

The game is part of the annual Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Pink Zone breast cancer awareness and fund raising activity. The game will be televised by the Sun Belt Conference Network.

More than 100 colleges and universities schedule an annual Pink Zone game to raise awareness of breast cancer prevention and research.

• The Mean Green women will wear pink warm-up shirts, shoelaces, and socks.
• There will be pink shirts for sale at the MeanGreenGear.com merchandise stand.
• Athletics is partnering with Zeta Tau Alpha sorority to raise awareness at the game.

Proceeds will go to the Kay Yow WBCA Cancer Fund which raises funds for research and prevention. Yow, longtime women’s coach at North Carolina State, died in 2009. The 2009 campaign raised more than $1.3 million for the fund. More than 900,000 fans participated, along with more than 1,600 teams and organizations.

Enter to win a pair of tickets or a Family Fun Pack (tickets and refreshments for two children and two adults) to the Pink Zone game by sending an e-mail to inhouse@unt.edu with “Pink” in the subject line by 5 p.m. Feb. 12.

Get warmed up for the Pink Zone game when the Mean Green men and women play the University of Denver Feb. 13 in the Super Pit. The women's game is at 5 p.m., followed by the men at 7 p.m.

(Photo, freshman Jasmine Godbolt.)

Editor's Note: This was sent as an official notice from President Gretchen M. Bataille on Feb. 3.

As a growing institution – both in size and reputation – UNT must continue to carefully plan for its future. Next week, I will present the UNT System Board of Regents with the Fiscal Year 2011 spending plan, which includes recommendations for an increase in tuition and fees for both FY11 and FY12.

I understand that a tuition increase is not popular, but to continue to fulfill the university’s mission, it is necessary. I am committed to continuing to provide our students with the quality they expect and deserve.

UNT was the first public university in Texas to adopt a two-year tuition model in order to help students and their families plan for their investment in a higher education. The fact that many schools in Texas now follow this model confirms that students and parents appreciate knowing well in advance if costs will increase.

Setting tuition on a biennium also allows the university to plan its future direction with confidence. Our FY11 spending plan represents careful consideration of how UNT can continue to progress toward two key goals: maintaining our mission of being a student-centered university, and establishing ourselves as one of the next national research universities in Texas.

A proposed increase of 5 percent in total academic costs for FY11 (the 2010-11 academic year) will allow the university to:
• hire more faculty to help ensure a student-to-faculty ratio of 22:1
• pursue our research goals
• increase staff support in advising, recruiting and other key academic and non-academic areas so we can continue to attract and retain the best possible students
• provide instructional space for the expanding population by supporting new buildings and maintaining existing facilities
• continue to meet 72 percent of our students’ financial aid needs.
• provide excellent faculty and staff with salary adjustments from a 1 percent pool

A 5 percent increase for 2010-11 means students will pay $12.79 more per semester credit hour in tuition and $1 more in fees (for the University Union). This means a student will pay $4,049.48 for 15 hours or $192.83 more than currently.

I also am recommending a 5 percent increase in tuition and fees for 2011-12. This means students will pay $13.43 more per semester credit hour in tuition and $1 more for the University Union fee. In addition, in Fall 2011, when the new stadium opens the previously approved Athletic fee will be implemented at a $10 per semester credit hour rate and the Student Service fee will be reduced by $3 per semester credit hour. Total costs for 15 hours in Fall 2011 would be $4,356.95 each semester, a 7.6 percent increase in total cost.

I am fully aware of the concerns nationally about rising tuition costs. It is important that we balance the impact of our costs on our students with the need to continue to provide the quality educational experience our students expect and deserve. UNT remains one of the best college buys in Texas. A UNT education is of extremely high quality yet remains affordable. In fact, our tuition and fees are below the average of the estimated costs at Texas’ other emerging research universities but the value of a UNT degree continues to increase.

With green pride,
Gretchen M. Bataille
President

Memorandums of understanding were signed in January between UNT and two Indian institutes, the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai. The agreements will foster graduate, post-doctoral and faculty research exchange programs and joint research activities.

The agreements formalize opportunities for training, funding, access to resources, equipment and facilities. “Such agreements will help UNT secure funding from major federal agencies, such as the National Science Foundation and the Indian Department of Science and Technology,” says Vish Prasad, left, vice president for research and economic development. These opportunities support UNT’s strategic goal of becoming a research university.

UNT representatives were Prasad, and:
• Rajarshi Banerjee, associate professor, Materials Science and Engineering and interim director of the Center for Advanced Research and Technology
• Ram Dantu, associate professor, Computer Science and Engineering
• Jeffry A. Kelber, regents professor, Chemistry
• John Kuruvilla, associate dean, College of Engineering and professor, Mechanical and Energy Engineering
• Alan Needleman, professor, Materials Science and Engineering and member of the National Academy of Engineering
• Srinivasan Srivilliputhur, assistant professor, Materials Science and Engineering

UNT representatives also discussed agreements with New Horizon Educational Institute in Bangalore, Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay in Mumbai, Bhabha Atomic Research Center in Mumbai, Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam and the India Institute of Technology-Madras in Chennai.