Accolades is an occasional News Center feature that highlights recent accomplishments of The University of Texas at Dallas faculty and students. To submit items for consideration, contact your school’s communication manager. 

Professor, Students Earn Honors from Society of Exploration Geophysicists

Dr. Hejun Zhu, assistant professor of geosciences, is one of two early career scientists who received the J. Clarence Karcher Award from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) at the organization’s annual meeting in September.

Dr. Robert Stewart (left), president of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, presents the J. Clarence Karcher Award to Dr. Hejun Zhu, assistant professor of geosciences at UT Dallas.

The award recognizes significant contributions to the science and technology of exploration geophysics by individuals younger than 35.

In addition, two geosciences doctoral students, Jaewook Lee and Jidong Yang, were awarded the Anadarko/SEG Scholarship, with each receiving $10,000. In addition, doctoral student Mengli Zhang was one of 22 recipients of the Earl D. and Reba C. Griffin Memorial Scholarship.

Zhu’s research uses seismic waves, generated either by earthquakes or human-made sources, and new seismic imaging techniques to delineate subsurface structures at both continental and reservoir scales. His research plays an important role in understanding the internal structure of the Earth, as well as searching for hydrocarbons within the crust.

Zhu recently received a $145,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study subduction-induced mantle flow beneath America and Europe. The tomographic models developed from this work will enable geoscientists to evaluate earthquake hazards in the study regions.

With more than 14,000 members in 114 countries, SEG promotes the science of applied geophysics and the education of geophysicists by providing educational and technical resources to the global community.

Chan Earns American Chemical Society Award

Dr. Julia Chan

Dr. Julia Chan, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, recently received the 2019 Wilfred T. Doherty Award from the American Chemical Society’s Dallas-Fort Worth Section. The annual award recognizes a chemist or chemical engineer for significant achievement in chemistry research, teaching and service.

A leading expert on crystal growth, Chan has developed innovative methods for discovering novel materials from a combination of elements, with the aim of understanding the fundamental chemistry and physics of technologically useful materials.

Chan is the sixth UT Dallas faculty member to receive the honor. Portraits of all the Doherty Award winners are displayed in a gallery in the University’s Lloyd V. Berkner Hall.

The award, established in 1972, honors the memory of Wilfred T. Doherty, one of the founding trustees and later president of The Welch Foundation, a Texas-based philanthropic organization that supports chemical research.