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A Very Maverick Eclipse

On April 8, Mavericks and friends from the local community gathered at various viewing locations on campus to take in the total solar eclipse. The clouds parted just in time for everyone to enjoy the breathtaking celestial spectacle.

MAVERICKS RISE
Renowned automotive engineer joins UTA faculty

UTA is thrilled to announce its first hire under the Recruiting Innovative Scholars for Excellence initiative, or RISE 100, bringing to campus Hongtei Eric Tseng, a renowned expert in vehicle autonomy who also is a member of the National Academy of Engineers.

Dr. Tseng will join the University as a distinguished university professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. He brings decades of experience in the automotive industry, largely with the Ford Motor Company, and he has helped develop vehicle technology that has improved self-driving capabilities and reduced the chances of rollover accidents.

“In this dynamic era of AI advancement, I am thrilled to join the esteemed community at UTA, a research university with national prominence,” Tseng says. “This community offers strong support for integrating control technology and machine learning, aligning with my goals of technology transition and contributing to students’ educational journeys.”

His hire is the University’s first under its RISE 100 initiative, which represents a substantial investment in the future of UTA: a $60 million effort, funded in part through the support of the University of Texas System’s Regents Research Excellence program. Through this initiative, the University seeks to hire more than 100 new tenure-system faculty over the next three years. Hiring at this scale often takes up to 15 years; UTA seeks to achieve its faculty hiring goals by 2026.

“RISE 100 represents a generational opportunity for our University to bring to our region innovative minds who boldly take on the biggest challenges of our time,” says President Jennifer Cowley. “Dr. Tseng is at the forefront of our initiative to recruit accomplished and ambitious scholars who bolster our faculty excellence, mentor the next generation of talented students, and enhance our national reputation as a leading research university.”

Tseng brings a wealth of knowledge about vehicle autonomy and will boost UTA’s existing faculty research and expertise. He was presented with the 2013 Control Practice Award by the American Automatic Control Council for his original applications of advanced and classical estimation and control theory in the automotive industry. He is the author/coauthor of over 160 publications, including six book chapters, and has over 100 U.S. patents under his belt, with about a third implemented in Ford vehicles.

“Our University aims to attract scholars who are pushing the boundaries of knowledge and can advance our robust culture of discovery,” says Tamara L. Brown, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “Dr. Tseng’s experiences in industry and as an inventor align with our desire to enhance our commercialization and innovation to amplify the impact of our research.”