Audrey Gray

Communications & Marketing Strategist

Writing for Web & Print

I have years of experience writing news articles, press releases, brochures, web pages and other copy. I've done extensive writing and content management for the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), and The New School.

Nicole Beebe concludes 22-year UTSA legacy of research, education and cybersecurity leadership

Nicole Beebe first joined UTSA as an instructor and research assistant in 2003 after six years of active duty in the US Air Force and two years in the IT industry. At the time, she never would have guessed that she’d end up making UTSA her homebase for over two decades, wearing countless hats, supporting thousands of students and researchers, and helping to shape the university’s cybersecurity program into the juggernaut that it is today.
When she arrived, and later joined the ranks of faculty...

UTSA Procurement Academy helps local businesses secure $6 million in government contracts

Nick De La Rosa (second from left) stands with Angela Burton, district director the U.S. Small Business Administration (second from right) and academy participants.

MAY 13, 2025 — Since its first cohort graduated in late 2023, the UTSA Procurement Academy has catalyzed the success of small businesses in the San Antonio region by empowering business owners and entrepreneurs to secure government contracts...

Jennifer Sharpe Potter to steer research growth at UTSA, UT Health San Antonio

MAY 12, 2025 — Longstanding leader in research and clinical psychology Jennifer Sharpe Potter has taken on the role of UTSA interim vice president for research. Potter will concurrently serve as senior vice president for research at UT Health San Antonio, making a significant step toward the full merger and integration of the two institutions slated for September 1.
Potter brings a wealth of experience to UTSA, including over 16 years of service and leadership at UT Health San Antonio, where sh...

Five UTSA faculty members honored for research achievements

Currie is an accomplished astrophysicist and associate professor in the UTSA Department of Physics and Astronomy. He is widely recognized for his discovery and exploration of exoplanets — planets outside of our solar system that orbit another star.
In a paper published in Science in 2023, he analyzed data from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii and the European Space Agency’s Gaia space satellite to capture the first-ever image of an exoplanet that is also jointly detected by astrometry, which meas...

Texas Demographic Conference offers glimpse of state’s future population

APRIL 29, 2025 — Next month’s Texas Demographic Conference is poised to shed light on current and anticipated population changes in Texas, which has experienced some of the fastest growth in the nation over the past decade.
The Texas Demographic Center (TDC), a state agency housed within the UTSA Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research, will host the conference and play a leading role, sharing its biennial Center Vintage 2024 projections. This report predicts the state's residentia...

UTSA helps UT System rank no. 3 on Top 100 list for utility patents

“The UT System provides a unique and expansive environment for interdisciplinary research and invention that addresses the grand challenges in the world today. It shines a spotlight on the incredible talent we have across Texas,” said Jennifer Sharpe Potter, interim vice president for research at UTSA and vice president for research at UT Health San Antonio. “I’m proud to be part of a community that values and uplifts its researchers, enabling us to achieve this prestigious ranking year after ye...

UTSA researcher to help fuel rural workforce development across five states

Vanessa A. Sansone, UTSA associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies and co-director of ARRC, will assist the community listening tour. She will design and conduct surveys, attend focus groups and analyze the feedback to assess community needs.
At a time when some RSIs are facing funding challenges and some are even closing their doors, Sansone believes that listening to community stakeholders is key to RSI success.
"This [approach] is very novel — working with rural commu...

Valdez Institute for Economic Development reports $1.8 billion in economic impact

The UTSA institute supported a total of 46,337 businesses in the last fiscal year.
Equally as important, 961 businesses expanded, and 536 new businesses opened their doors with the institute’s support.
One small business owner, San Antonio-based Mina Youssef, was able to expand his veterinary clinic into two new locations with guidance from the UTSA Small Business Development Center. Youssef secured $2.7 million in investments, enabling him to create 40 new jobs.
Another client, San Antonio-b...

After first-born, additional children don’t ward off depression, UTSA researcher finds

The researchers initially expected to find the opposite trend, reasoning that single-child parents have only one person to support them in their older years, and they face more years as “empty-nesters.”
"I was surprised to find that single-child parents report fewer depressive symptoms than those with multiple children,” said Lin. “This challenges the common belief that more children provide a stronger support network.”
He added, “My first thought was that the strong emotional bond between sin...

AAAS recognizes UTSA’s Schlegel, Whittington for groundbreaking research

Schlegel completed his Ph.D. and postdoctoral studies at Indiana University, where he studied fast-changing binary star systems, called cataclysmic variables. These are pairs of stars that orbit each other extremely closely, completing a full orbit in just a few hours. To study them, he used specialized equipment that measures the light emitting from these stars over very short periods of time, allowing him to see how the light changes as the stars move and interact. He completed a second postdo...

UTSA center tackles economic challenges facing South Central Texas

The cost of creating a strategic growth plan can be prohibitively high for small communities. When Gonzales approached a consultant out of Dallas to create such a plan, it quoted her $85,000.
“That’s for a community of only 19,000 people. Small communities can’t afford that,” she said.
Yet, Gonzalez believes that a plan can be pivotal for small communities striving to grow.
“The City of Alton is a great example,” she said. “It’s a small community that sits on Interstate 2 that designed an eco...

UTSA President Taylor Eighmy and thought leaders map a competitive future for San Antonio

Eighmy discussed the vital role UTSA’s new College of AI, Cyber and Computing will play in creating a talent pipeline to support growth in these areas.
“We’re creating a college that specifically aligns disciplines that are needed to come together to drive innovation in this digital space, and cyber is such an important component of it,” Eighmy said. “It will be tied to data science, computer engineering and AI applications.”
Wince-Smith emphasized the importance of incorporating security into...

UTSA researchers to tackle AI’s growing energy footprint

To innovate at the atomic level, one part of the project team will test new or improved materials, surface processing and control as well as the chemistry, synthesis and fabrication of microelectronics. Meanwhile, another group will aim to develop algorithms that consume less energy while producing the same results.
In the final component of the project, researchers from all five collaborating institutions will take a co-designed approach to ensure that both the software and hardware work seaml...

UT System ranks No. 6 in NAI’s prestigious Top 100 worldwide list

MARCH 13, 2025 — UTSA inventors have again helped the University of Texas System (UT System) rank highly on the latest Top 100 Worldwide Universities List, which ranks universities globally by number of U.S. utility patents secured in 2024. The ranking is produced annually by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) to recognize the critical function of patents in translating university research and innovation into real-world applications as well as the pivotal role academic institutions play in...

UTSA research expenditures are on the rise, driving innovation and economic growth

This growth is expected to accelerate further in 2025 when UTSA integrates with UT Health San Antonio, creating the third-largest research university in Texas.
“UTSA has a unique ecosystem where researchers and economic development practitioners collaborate with partners from national laboratories, industry, government, the military and other universities, generating novel ideas and undeniable, positive impacts,” said JoAnn Browning, UTSA interim vice president for research. “We are committed t...

UTSA Research Annual Report 2024

In 2024 research expenditures grew to $167.5 million, up nearly 10% from $152.3 million the previous year, making it the fifth consecutive, record-breaking year that UTSA’s annual research expenditures exceeded $100 million.

These highlights reflect the accomplishments of a growing community of staff and researchers across the Office of Research, as well as UTSA’s 31 specialized research centers and institutes and nine colleges.

This report captures UTSA’s expanding research expenditures, outputs and awards from FY24.

UTSA’s federally funded center in Laredo extends outreach to minority businesses

The center provides no-cost small business technical assistance to underserved entrepreneurs in rural South Texas. Through business consultations, clients can receive counsel to guide them through critical hurdles in starting or growing a business, such as securing financing, navigating government contracting and entering new markets. These entrepreneurs also have access to more specialized advisors from the greater VIED network. For example, they can connect with experts in exporting goods, mar...

JoAnn Browning pivots to a leadership role in natural hazards research network

UTSA research has been on an upward trajectory for several years, with expenditures exceeding $100 million for four consecutive years. Under Browning’s leadership, the UTSA research enterprise grew to $152.3 million in expenditures in FY 2023, up 7.5% from $141.7 million the previous year ($158.5 million counting unrecovered indirect funds). Research expenditures are on track to reach record highs again in FY 2024.
Browning spearheaded several key initiatives during her time as interim vice pre...
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