Editor’s note: Higher Ed Footnotes is a weekly roundup of news about higher education and developments at colleges and universities in Tarrant County. It is published on Tuesdays.

Five new buildings downtown are planned for the Texas A&M-Fort Worth campus, which will bring academics, business and industry together. 

The Texas A&M University System lays out its plans for the urban university system in a detailed article on the Texas A&M Foundation’s website. Plans for two of the buildings are moving forward, and the other three are pending approval from the Texas A&M System Board of Regents.

The five buildings include:

• The eight-story Law and Education Building, which is under construction. It is set to open in 2026.
• The Research and Innovation Building that will support public-private research collaborations in engineering, aerospace, agriculture, health sciences, emergency response, law and more. The building is part of a two-stage construction. The first is currently being designed.
• The second part of the Research and Innovation Building.
• The Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts Building will be a virtual production studio supporting the university’s award-winning visualization program.
• A Gateway Building that will eventually replace the current law school building and serve as the campus’s front door.

University officials and business leaders met with over 70 companies in the past few years to identify how the new campus can benefit local industry. Leaders met with Cook Children’s Medical Center, Texas Health Resources, Lockheed Martin, Eden Green Technology and other companies of all sizes. 

The university has identified four industry-focused hubs in aerospace and aviation, agriculture and food, health care innovation, and media and entertainment.

“These new buildings will change the landscape of downtown Fort Worth, not just on the campus but throughout the innovation district and beyond,” said Kim McCuistion, a Texas A&M alumni and Texas A&M University System associate vice chancellor and the director of Texas A&M-Fort Worth. “I’m excited to watch as the campus attracts industry partners and entrepreneurs to the area and transforms our community.”

In addition to degree plans for students enrolled in the university, the campus will offer certificate-based learning opportunities and credentials and create workforce training pathways for learners at all levels.

TCU students’ spacesuit wins a NASA award

TCU fashion students combined forces with biochemistry students and other disciplines to win an award in a NASA spacesuit competition. 

The team’s Optimized Suit Environmental Protection Garment Seams project focused on creating seams that would obstruct hazardous lunar dust from entering a spacesuit. The challenge was to reduce or eliminate such dust particles without using coating or tapes. 

The TCU team won the 2025 Best Innovation Award at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“This was the first project that I felt like I was actually in control of the research design and how we produced results. Working with fashion merchandising students was incredible,” said Amarige “Sunny” Yusufji, a biochemistry major. “I loved meeting people outside of my major, as they’ve had a very different TCU experience than I have. Now, I’m inspired to take a few sewing classes before I graduate.”

The team was made up of students majoring in biochemistry, fashion merchandising and psychology.

Under the guidance of a NASA soft goods engineer, the students developed seam prototypes using high-performance fabrics such as Kevlar, Teflon and polyurethane-coated textiles, sewn with either polyester or nylon thread. One of the team members sewed the suit. 

The team presented their idea of the spacesuit to NASA judges and an interactive session of conference attendees.

Texas Wesleyan names next dean of students

Gary Stout, who has been at Texas Wesleyan University for over eight years, will become the east Fort Worth university’s vice president of student affairs and dean of students on July 1. 

“I look forward to improving and expanding services that support our students while at TXWES and in life. This is an incredible university where our top priority is doing what is best for students,” Stout said in a statement.

Stout has been central in developing student-centered initiatives, including the creation of a dedicated career center, expanding cocurricular opportunities and developing mental health resources.

“He embodies our core values of connection, commitment, compassion, and courage. Also, our students, faculty, and staff have strong relationships with Gary, which is at the heart of this position,” Texas Wesleyan President Emily Messer said in a statement.

Before coming to Texas Wesleyan, Stout worked at Texas Christian University, Tarleton State University and Baylor University. 

He earned his bachelor’s in anthropology and archaeology from Baylor University, a master’s of education in college student affairs from Azusa Pacific University and a doctor of education from TCU.

UTA researchers develop technology to encourage exercise for cancer survivors

A team of University of Texas at Arlington researchers are working on technology that would encourage more physical activity for cancer survivors.

They’re developing a smart system that would combine AI with wearable devices and smartphones to send real-time messages to users to support physical activity. The research team received a grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. 

“If we start to think about all the different scenarios recovering cancer patients might be living day to day, that’ll involve developing thousands and thousands of personalized messages, which a human just can’t do,” said Yue Liao, an assistant professor in UTA’s public health program in the department of kinesiology who is on the team.

The other professors are Grace Brannon, an associate professor in the department of communication, and Chengkai Li, a professor and associate chair in the department of computer science and engineering. They will also be collaborating with Maria Chang at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

The team is working on behavioral interventions and harnessing the power of AI to select the most appropriate message for each individual. 

Drawing on the expertise in other disciplines, they’re able to broaden the scope of their projects, researchers said. The researchers will develop algorithms that create real-time, customized messages that will be tested on 15 participants.

Shomial Ahmad is a higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report, in partnership with Open Campus. Contact her at shomial.ahmad@fortworthreport.org.

The Report’s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth, Texas Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Science Center.

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.