AUSTIN, Texas — The creator of a code to predict hurricane storm surges and an expert on the federal courts and constitutional law have been named the 2024 recipients of The University of Texas at Austin President’s Research Impact Award.
Clint Dawson, the Cockrell Family Regents Chair in Engineering #2 and director of the Computational Hydraulics Group at the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, and Stephen Vladeck, the Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts at the School of Law, were recently presented with the award. President Jay Hartzell established the President’s Research Impact Award in 2023 to recognize University researchers whose scholarly or creative endeavors have changed lives and the way we look at and understand the world.
“Clint Dawson and Stephen Vladeck epitomize the different ways in which Longhorns are having a direct impact on lives and communities across Texas and throughout the world and the basis of our mission to become the highest-impact public research university,” President Hartzell said. “Dozens of highly ranked programs, elite faculty and students, and some of the most robust research funding in the world — combined with the culture and economy of Austin — put us in an especially strong place to maximize the impact of what Longhorns learn and discover. We are positioned to lead the next great discovery in AI, technology, life sciences and health care, energy and the environment, and so many other disciplines.”
Dawson, a computational engineer who joined UT in 1995, was instrumental in developing a simulation code that is used worldwide in coastal ocean modeling and hurricane storm surge predictions. This helps state and local government leaders know whether to evacuate neighborhoods and where to stage resources, saving lives and property.