A West Texas A&M University professor has become the first at the institution to earn the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award.
WTAMU announced this week that Dr. Arn Womble, assistant professor of civil engineering at West Texas A&M University, has become the first professor at WTAMU to win the NSF CAREER Award. The award is the most presitigious honor given by the National Science Foundation and includes a 5-year, $5,000 grant for research.
Womble's grant will be used to study the effects of tornadoes on natural and built environments. WTAMU engineering students will also be able to benefit from the grant by studying alongside researchers and graduate students at institutions like Texas Tech University, the National Wind Institute and the University of Western Ontario.
Prior to receiving this award, Womble has been honored with RAPID Response grants from the National Science Foundation for his study of the damage caused by the Pampa tornadoes of 2015 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Womble has also received a Major Research Instrumentation Grant for the acquisition of a laser scanner for the collection of 3-D models of wind-damaged structures.
More than 400 people applied for the award and grants were distributed to only around 15 percent of those who applied.
For more information, please visit wtamu.edu.
Photo by WTAMU