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.

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...

UTSA receives $2.8 million grant to train bilingual teachers

“We heard from multiple stakeholders and there was a resounding demand for this type of career preparation,” said Lorena Claeys, director of the UTSA Academy for Teacher Excellence (ATE) Research Center and principal investigator on the project. “District representatives expressed a great need for certified bilingual teachers and the need for a pathway for paraprofessionals to enter those roles.”
The San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) began an initiative in 2016 to expand bilingual...

APLU Place Award recognizes UTSA’s growing economic and community impact

Former HUD Secretary, San Antonio Mayor and City Councilman Henry Cisneros spoke to SURE participants at the program’s first graduation.

NOVEMBER 21, 2024 — UTSA was named a winner of the Innovation & Economic Prosperity (IEP) Place Award by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) at its annual meeting in Orlando last week. The award recognizes the university’s exemplary initiatives...

Students will get their hands dirty in real-world STEM research module

Students participating in the module will collect soil samples from the San Antonio area and analyze soil data to potentially find new antibiotics. Students will then contribute their findings to a global database managed by the Tiny Earth Initiative, an organization that supports student research in pursuit of more effective antibiotics.
“Over 60% of clinically used antibiotics come from soil bacteria, but as soil erodes, so does the opportunity to discover new antibiotics,” explained Shields-...

Cybersecure manufacturing summit highlights fast-tracked technology transfer solutions

Established by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2020 to combat attacks in manufacturing and advance innovation and research in industrial security, CyManII is a national research institute that leads a consortium of industry partners, DOE National Laboratories and universities across the nation.
As a member of Manufacturing USA and as a part of UTSA’s National Security Collaboration Center, CyManII is dedicated to supporting the operational security needs of U.S. manufacturers by developing and...

UTSA’s MATRIX AI Consortium convenes national AI leaders for inaugural NSF workshop

EXAIL organizers from left to right: Stacy Cantu Pawlik, Jules Henry, Dhireesha Kudithipudi, Steve Brown, Vibhuti Gupta and Panos Markopoulos.

OCTOBER 17, 2024 — Researchers at MATRIX: The UTSA AI Consortium for Human Well-Being organized a two-day workshop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bringing together 100 national leaders in artificial intelligence from the National Science Foundation (NSF) AI Institu...

At UTSA, undergraduate research opportunities are key workforce entry points

Troutman was also mentored by M. Neal Guentzel, and he collaborated with Karl E. Klose and his lab. His primary focus was studying how innate components of the immune system protect against Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium responsible for cholera.
“My conversations and experiences with the research faculty at UTSA and my colleagues within their labs solidified my desire to attain graduate education and pursue research as a career,” said Troutman. “I learned how to think critically about experimen...

UTSA researcher launches software to help navigate statistics

“Coming from the humanities as an undergraduate, I struggled with learning statistics as a graduate student,” said LeBlanc. “Most difficult for me was connecting the statistical procedures needed for the particular research questions and hypotheses developed within my discipline. When I started teaching undergraduate research methods at UTSA in 2001, I was motivated to show students how to more directly connect theory and methodology to their particular application. My first attempt was a two-pa...
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