Alumni & Friend Honors

Our complete roster of Hall of Honor winners includes Nobel Prize-winning alumni, past UT Austin presidents, a NASA commander and a former U.S. senator.

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Mitchel Wong, Distinguished Alumnus

Dr. Mitchel Wong, B.A. ’60, established Austin Eye in 1969. Austin Eye is dedicated to helping people experience life to its fullest by enabling patients to see their best through vision correction surgery. In 2016 the Wong family made a gift to Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, creating the Department of Ophthalmology and the Mitchel and Shannon Wong Eye Institute. Dr. Wong serves on the UT Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee, the UT Development Board, and as a member of the Advisory Board of the Dell Medical School. He is an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Ophthalmology at Dell Medical School and professionally affiliated with the American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, Texas Medical Association and Travis County Medical Society. He received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and his bachelor’s degree in the College of Natural Sciences.

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Tyler Hobbs, Emerging Leader

Tyler Hobbs is a visual artist from Austin, Texas. He graduated from UT Austin in 2010 with a B.S. in computer science. His artwork is centered around the use of algorithms and focuses on the unique aesthetic qualities and capabilities of computer hardware and software. Through his work, he hopes to gain recognition for programming as a powerful and important artistic medium in our time.

Hobbs’ work has been exhibited internationally, with recent solo exhibitions at Unit in London and Pace Gallery in New York City. His algorithmic art is among the most sought after by digital art collectors, and has been included in numerous auctions by leading auction houses such as Christie’s, Phillips, and Sotheby’s. Notable public institutions holding his work include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A debut book focused on Hobbs’ work is planned for release in Fall 2024.

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Jason McLellan, Distinguished Service

Jason McLellan is a professor of molecular biosciences and the Welch Chair in Chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin. He researches viral and bacterial proteins, and his work to understand how these proteins are structured and how they function has factored into the development of vaccines and potential treatments for deadly pathogens that have impacted the lives of billions of people. As an inventor of a method for engineering key proteins in coronaviruses and respiratory viruses for use in vaccines, McLellan has been key in the development of technologies found in many leading vaccines against COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a virus especially dangerous for young children and seniors. He is the winner of multiple scientific awards, including the National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology, the Park MahnHoon Award, the Edith and Peter O'Donnell Award in Medicine, the Golden Goose Award, the William Prusoff Memorial Award and the Viruses Young Investigator in Virology Prize. His research and expertise have been featured in multiple media outlets including CNN, Fox News, USA Today, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post and National Geographic. Dr. McLellan earned a B.S. in chemistry with an emphasis in biochemistry from Wayne State University and his Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He conducted his postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health’s Vaccine Research Center. He previously served on the faculty at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.

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Amir Husain, Distinguished Alumnus

Amir Husain is a serial entrepreneur, technologist and author based in Austin, Texas. He graduated from UT Austin in 1998 with a B.S. in computer science and has received widespread recognition for his work in artificial intelligence. Amir is the founder and CEO of the award-winning AI company, SparkCognition, the founding CEO of SkyGrid, a Boeing and SparkCognition company building the aerial operating system to power the next century of aviation and Chairman of Navigate, a global, crowdsourced data ecosystem company.

An avid inventor, Amir has been awarded over 30 patents in AI and distributed systems. He serves on NATO’s Innovation Advisory Board and on the Board of Global Venture Bridge, bringing together international entrepreneurs. His work has been featured in world-leading outlets such as the BBC, Fortune, Forbes and Proceedings from the U.S. Naval Institute, among many others. He is the author of the best-selling book “The Sentient Machine”, a co-author of the compilation “Hyperwar: Conflict and Competition in the AI Century”, and has recently published two new books, “Generative Art” and “Generative AI for Leaders.”

He and his wife Zaib made a recent philanthropic gift to launch the Machine Learning Laboratory, providing a hub for collaboration among faculty, researchers and students from across UT Austin who are passionate about exploring the art of the possible with AI.

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Christina Reed, Emerging Leader

In 2008, Reed obtained her bachelor’s degree in neurobiology from UT Austin. In 2012, she graduated from Vanderbilt University with a dual master’s degree in nursing, women’s health nurse practitioner and adult nurse practitioner. Early in her career, Reed became acutely aware of the disparities present in healthcare, including geographical, racial and income-based inequalities across Texas. Through a program funded by March of Dimes, she reduced premature delivery rates in underserved areas of Houston. She implemented an innovative program that trained providers to identify human trafficking victims and pioneered a program addressing literacy for children starting in pregnancy. Reed also collaborated with the Houston Independent School District to create the HISD Communicable Disease Committee, establishing guidelines that are the gold standard for school operations and policies for all schools in the district.

A promoter of health equity, she leads a variety of programs like the Patient, Family, and Staff Support Initiative, which implements programs to help alleviate the psychological effects of obstetrical trauma. Reed also authored a Texas bill that was passed into law in 2021 on patient safety practices for placenta accreta spectrum to decrease maternal mortality and morbidity rates across Texas. She also collaborates with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Black maternal morbidity and mortality. Reed’s research interests include music therapy, space medicine, health equality, obstetrical trauma and placenta accreta spectrum. She leads the only clinical trial in the U.S. that uses music therapy as an intervention to reduce the physiological and psychological effects of high-risk pregnancies.

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Wayne Alexander, Distinguished Service

Alexander received a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an M.S. in engineering management from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He joined Southwestern Bell after graduation and retired as president after 32 years with the company. During his career he held a variety of executive positions in network operations, sales, marketing, legislative and regulatory affairs, and international operations with various SBC subsidiaries. Immediately prior to his position as Southwestern Bell president, he led SBC’s wireless, internet, long distance and local telephony operations in Chile and the Asia Pacific from 1995 through 1999.

Alexander has extensive experience serving on numerous community boards which include chairing the boards of Port San Antonio and Southwest Research Institute. His love for astronomy led him to serve as chairman of the Board of Visitors for the UT Austin McDonald Observatory. He is currently representing UT Austin on the Board of the Giant Magellan Telescope Organization in Pasadena, California. A team is currently working to construct what will be the world’s largest telescope, located in the Andes Mountains.

A portrait of David Booth

David Booth, Distinguished Service

David Booth is executive chairman of Dimensional Fund Advisors, a firm he founded in 1981. Under his leadership, Dimensional has grown from a fledgling business operating out of the spare room of his Brooklyn brownstone apartment to a global investment manager with more than 1,400 employees and $659 billion in assets under management. A trailblazer in the financial world, he helped create one of the world’s first index funds in the 1970s and launched the first passively managed small company strategy in the early ’80s.

Booth, a generous supporter of universities and arts organizations, has made a world-changing gift of $10 million towards UT Austin’s involvement with the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). Currently under construction in Chile, the GMT will be the largest-ever ground-based telescope, enabling transformative advances in astronomy research at UT.

A portrait of James Truchard

James Truchard, Distinguished Alumni

James Truchard received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics at UT Austin in 1964 and 1967, respectively, as well as his Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 1974. While pursuing his Ph.D., Truchard worked full-time as a research scientist at the Applied Research Laboratory at UT Austin where he pioneered technologies for computer-based systems for testing sonar transducers and beamformers for many of the U.S. Navy’s fleet of submarines and surface ships. That work inspired him to co-found National Instruments (now NI), which counts among its customers 35,000 companies and 7,000 universities. Truchard and Jeff Kodosky co-invented LabVIEW, a graphical programming language that revolutionized how tests and measurements are performed in engineering and science experiments in a wide range of industries including space, defense, communication, and transportation.

Among his various honors, Truchard was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2007 and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2019. He now actively supports research on the causes of, and potential treatments for, Alzheimer’s Disease. 

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Richard Hinojosa, Emerging Leader

Richard Hinojosa graduated from UT Austin with a B.S. in human development and family sciences in 2006. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Houston Law Center in 2010. He founded Hinojosa Law, PLLC and has represented thousands of clients in Texas and the Southwestern U.S.

Hinojosa strongly believes in giving back to the community, including as a volunteer coach in youth athletics, chairing the DePelchin Children’s Center annual luncheon, serving on the Houston Fund for Social Justice and Economic Equity Stakeholders’ Council and providing scholarships for students in his home region. He has also maintained his commitment to UT Austin by serving as a mentor and providing support and time to the School of Human Ecology and the College of Natural Sciences on their Advisory Councils.

A portrait of Doug English

Doug English, Distinguished Service

As a Texas Longhorn football player, Doug English (B.A. History, 1976) helped Texas to three Southwest Conference titles. He went on to a notable career in the NFL, playing defense for the Detroit Lions. In 1983, English helped the Lions win the NFC Central Division title. English had four safeties throughout his career, tying two others for the most safeties in NFL history. Among his many awards, he is a member of The University of Texas Longhorn Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame and the All-Time Detroit Lions Team. English has spent the remainder of his career as a serial entrepreneur, as well as an advocate and philanthropist, contributing to his selection for the college Distinguished Service Award. Since 1988, he has raised over $5 million for research through the Lonestar Foundation for sports recovery programs and adaptive sports programs for people with spinal cord injuries.

A portrait of Frances “Poppy” Northcutt

Frances “Poppy” Northcutt, Distinguished Alumni

Frances “Poppy” Northcutt (B.A. Mathematics, 1965), a Distinguished Alumni Award winner, has fought for women’s rights for decades, through the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Harris County Women's Political Caucus, the Domestic Violence Unit at the Harris County District Attorney's Office, and Jane’s Due Process. In mid-life, she practiced law in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and in private practice. In her early career, she worked as a return-to-earth specialist on the Apollo space program. With the flight of Apollo 8, she became the first woman in an operational support role to work in NASA's Mission Control Center. She was a member of the mission operations team that received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for the rescue of Apollo 13.

A portrait of Camille Parmesan

Camille Parmesan, Distinguished Alumni

Camille Parmesan (Ph.D. Biological Sciences, 1995), also a Distinguished Alumni Award winner, is director of research at the CNRS Station for Experimental and Theoretical Ecology in Moulis, France. Her research focuses on the impacts of climate change on wild plants and animals and spans from field-based work on butterflies to synthetic analyses of global impacts on a broad range of species across terrestrial and marine biomes. She has worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for over 20 years and is an official contributor to IPCC's Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. She also holds the National Marine Aquarium Chair in Oceans and Public Health at the University of Plymouth (UK) and has served on the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin.

A portrait of Dale Butler

Dale Butler, Emerging Leader

Dale Butler (B.S. Cell and Molecular Biology, 2005), an Emerging Leader Award winner, served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Tanzania, teaching chemistry and biology at a secondary school. After receiving his M.D. and surgical training, he began active duty as a Navy Medical Officer. He supported the Marines of Task Force Southwest as a general surgeon at a surgical facility in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. In 2019, he became the department head of general surgery at Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune. His military awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat “C” device, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Fleet Marine Force Combat Operation Insignia and Campaign Star, in addition to other personal and unit awards.