Our men’s basketball team is in Boston this weekend, competing in the Sweet 16, but here are just some of the Texas Tech folks who also have ties to Boston.
Boston is no stranger to Texas Tech University. You know some of our outstanding student athletes, like Wes Welker, Danny Amendola, Kliff Kingsbury and Tony Battie. You know our men's basketball team, competing this weekend in the Sweet 16.
But you may not know about the wealth of other connections between us. Here are just some of the Texas Tech folks who have lived, worked or attended school there.
Al Sacco Jr.
Dean of the Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering
Sacco was born in Boston, completed a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Northeastern University in Boston in 1973 and a doctorate in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1977. He joined the faculty of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and then Northeastern, where he was the George A. Snell Distinguished Professor of Engineering and the director of the Center for Advanced Microgravity Materials Processing. He flew as the payload specialist on the space shuttle Columbia on mission STS-73 in 1995.
Michael San Francisco
Dean of the Honors College, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, adjunct professor in the Department of Immunology and Molecular Microbiology at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, director of the Clark Scholars Program and a special adviser to the Vice President for Research
San Francisco received his master's degree in biochemical ecology and doctorate in biology-microbiology from Boston University. His research uses physiological, biochemical, molecular and bioinformatics approaches to study transport across bacterial membranes and regulation of genes encoding transport protein components. He has collaborated with an international team to annotate the genome sequence of this pathogen.
Lauro Cavazos
Former President of Texas Tech and former U.S. Secretary of Education
Cavazos earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in zoology from Texas Tech. Following a stint on the faculty of Tufts University, he served as dean of the Tufts University School of Medicine. From April 15, 1980, to 1988, he served as president of Texas Tech, becoming both the first alumnus and the first Hispanic person to serve in the role. He worked as U.S. Secretary of Education from August 1988 to December 1990, then returned to Tufts University, where he has served as a professor of public health and family medicine since.
Michael Noel
Associate professor in the Department of Economics
Noel received his doctorate in economics from MIT. He conducts research in the area of Industrial Organization and Antitrust Economics, with a specialty in oil and gas, and energy markets. He has consulted for both firms and governments in high-profile merger and antitrust law matters around the globe. He is active in policy discussions surrounding the oil and gas industry, is regularly quoted by the media on current energy issues and other topics, and has presented his research at universities and conferences worldwide.
Dave Louis
Associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership
Louis earned his master's degree in education from Harvard University. His primary research focuses on cross-cultural mentoring in the American Academy, an online educational services partner to public high schools throughout the United States. His research is influenced by his years as a university administrator and lecturer who noticed the many cultural factors impacting the lives and learning of students and faculty. In 2016, Louis was selected for a four-year term with the Harvard Graduate School of Education Alumni Board where he helps advise the school's dean on topics such as engagement, outreach and strengthening student relationships.
Zhe Zhu
Assistant professor of geography in the Department of Geosciences
Zhu received his doctorate in geography from Boston University. He is a faculty associate with both the Climate Science Center and the Center for Geospatial Technology at Texas Tech. He is a member of the USGS-NASA Landsat Science Team and associate editor of two journals, Remote Sensing of Environment and the Arabian Journal of Geosciences. He studies remote sensing, particularly of forests, urban environments and clouds; land cover and land use change; time series analysis; and climate change.
Katie Moore
Assistant professor in the Department of History
Moore earned her doctorate from Boston University. She specializes in colonial North America and the English Atlantic world, with a particular focus on early American political economy and the history of capitalism. Her current project examines the role government-issued financial instruments played in transforming colonial American politics, culture and society.
Tracy Hresko Pearl
Associate professor in the School of Law
Pearl received her juris doctorate from Boston College Law School, where she served as senior executive editor of the Boston College International & Comparative Law Review. She teaches environmental law, criminal law and criminal procedure. Her current scholarship focuses on whether and how procedural rules impact due process and the achievement of justice, and on how courts treat novel societal issues.
Naima Moustaid-Moussa
Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences
Moustaid-Moussa completed her post-doctoral fellowship in molecular nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. In 2013, she founded Texas Tech's renowned Obesity Research Cluster. Her research focuses on adipocyte biology, the role of fat cell inflammation in metabolic disorders, the link between obesity and breast cancer and mechanisms by which bioactive food and plant components reduce inflammation and insulin resistance.
Dr. Shu Wang
Associate professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences
Wang earned her doctorate in nutritional biochemistry and metabolism from Tufts University. Her research assesses the interplay between diet and chronic diseases, including obesity and cardiovascular disease, and she is a pioneer in using biocompatible and biodegradable nanocarriers to enhance bioactivities of phytochemicals and nutrients to prevent and treat these diseases.
Shin Ye Kim
Assistant professor of counseling psychology in the Department of Psychological Sciences
Kim earned her master's degree at Harvard University and worked in a research lab at Boston College. Her research program examines the intersections of gender, culture, health and psychological well-being in both domestic and international populations, with a specific interest in work and career.
Ghislaine Fremaux
Assistant professor of painting in the School of Art
Fremaux received her bachelor of fine arts from Tufts University. Her immense pastel drawings examine sexuality, selfhood and the embodied consciousness. She has notably shown in the 2014 Nicaraguan Biennial, 2014 Biennial of the Central American Isthmus and A.I.R. Gallery's 10th Biennial in 2012, among other exhibitions nationwide. Current projects investigate the portrayal of survivorship, self-actualization and nudism.
Jonathan Marks
Professor of acting in the School of Theatre & Dance
Marks taught at Harvard University from 1980 to 1987. Over the span of four decades, his career has encompassed teaching, acting, directing and dramaturgy, and he has worked professionally at various theaters, including the American Repertory Theatre.
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