Trinity University

Susie P. Gonzalez
susie.gonzalez@trinity.edu
210-999-8445
Aug. 31, 2011

Biophysics Scientist Named First Williams Professor of Interdisciplinary Physics at Trinity University

Kelvin Cheng is a pioneer in drawing from many academic disciplines to enrich scientific inquiry

SAN ANTONIO - K. Kelvin Cheng, a pioneer in the concept of drawing from many academic disciplines to enrich scientific inquiry, has been named the Williams Endowed Professor in Interdisciplinary Physics at Trinity University.

Cheng's premier field is biophysics; however, his research appeals not only to physics majors but also to students pursuing studies in engineering science and computer science. "I would really like to get students from all disciplines," he said. To accomplish that goal, he said he is "convinced that Trinity is the place to be." The University is building a $127 million facility, the Center for the Sciences and Innovation, to promote an interdisciplinary approach to scientific research and science education.

Although Cheng holds a doctorate in physics with a specialty of biological physics from the University of Waterloo in Canada, he held post-doctoral positions studying pathology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and conducted cancer research at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. He said an adviser told him that the biomedical field is "where the action is."

About 23 years ago, Cheng created the biophysics program at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. More recently, he began applying his physics knowledge to the interaction of proteins with cell membranes in the advancement of Alzheimer's disease. In July, he was joined by colleagues and students from Texas Tech in publishing a paper about three years of their research about Alzheimer's disease in The Journal of Physical Chemistry.

 Cheng is completing supervisory work of a doctoral student at Texas Tech while teaching an Introduction to Biophysics at Trinity. He also plans to develop a research program at Trinity.     

He is the first professor to hold the Williams Professorship, which was established by a gift to Trinity from the estates of Otis M. Williams and Evelyn Freeman Williams. The donors wished to enrich Trinity's undergraduate major in neuroscience.