WINTER 2026 NEWSLETTER
SMU Corporate Engagement is your connection to
SMU for cutting-edge research partnerships, strategic philanthropy, talent acquisition, and
continuing and executive education. We connect companies, nonprofits and individuals to
SMU faculty, students and staff who are ready to collaborate with business.
Around campus:
New O’Donnell Foundation Energy Science, Innovation and Enterprise
program announced
Late last year, the O’Donnell Foundation provided a financial commitment to launch
a new Energy, Science, Innovation and Enterprise program – an interdisciplinary,
degree-granting initiative combining business, engineering and sciences to support
students and leaders in creating breakthroughs in the energy industry. Additional funding
from the O’Donnell Foundation, which could exceed $60 million in total, will
establish the O’Donnell Academic Honors Fund, which will financially support
students in
high-impact majors to strengthen excellence across academic disciplines.
The new energy program will convene faculty from SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities
and
Sciences, Lyle School of Engineering and Cox School of Business to offer a new,
integrated honor-level undergraduate degree, combining the schools’ strengths in
energy
management and finance, smart systems and technology, chemistry, earth sciences and
public policy. The program will recruit the University’s first-ever eminent endowed
chair
in any field, with deep expertise and experience in energy to help lead the initiative, as
well as a professor of practice to advance teaching and industry engagement.
To learn more about how your company can participate in this exciting new opportunity,
please reach out to Rob Strauss at rstrauss@smu.edu.
Research center continues its mission involving Texas/Mexico
economy
SMU’s Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center, located in our Dedman College of Humanities and
Sciences, continues its mission of performing academic research, initiating
policy-based
discussion, and developing public policy recommendations to stimulate growth, dialogue
and integration in Mexico and Texas.
Luisa del Rosal, Colin Powell Teaching Fellow and chief of staff at the center, sees
corporate involvement in the center as fundamental for its short- and long-term success.
“We look toward companies to tell us their present needs about the essential
relationship
between Texas and Mexico in five specific areas: border issues, human capital and
education, energy, migration, and trade/investment. Then, our faculty and staff engage
with those companies and our contacts in the public sector, private sector, higher
education and the nonprofit space to develop solutions to the challenges those companies
have.”
Del Rosal encourages companies in Texas to consider joining the center’s executive
advisory board. “We would love businesses in Texas to join the center’s board,
including
companies across the state, from El Paso to Houston, from Dallas-Fort Worth to the Rio Grande Valley.
Regardless of industry, our faculty can tailor research for corporate partners to
use.”
Courtney Weeks, the center’s assistant director, cited its ninth annual integration
symposium held last month in Mexico City as another vital way companies can get involved.
“It was the center’s highest attended symposium to date, and the symposium
later this
year, which will be our tenth, provides businesses the opportunity to strengthen our work
in crafting partnerships between Mexico and Texas. In 2026, our goal is to have over 100
attendees at the symposium, which gives companies visibility and networking opportunities,
especially in the research areas in which our center excels.”
Both del Rosal and Weeks see some upcoming initiatives in the new year as relevant to the
symbiotic relationship between Texas and Mexico. “The 2026 FIFA Men’s World
Cup is a huge
opportunity for both the U.S. and Mexico,” del Rosal said. “Every match in
Dallas, Mexico
City, Guadalajara and Monterrey this summer will have a massive economic impact, each
match like a Super Bowl acting as a catalyst for each region’s economy. Also, the
ongoing
athletic and cultural conversation between Mexico and the US is another important
component, not just as host nations, but also as multi-generational soccer rivals.
It’ll
be a transformative event.”
“Judicial reform in Mexico, especially as it will affect trade between America and
Mexico, and the re-evaluation of the USMCA
trade agreement among Canada, the US, and
Mexico are critical for companies in Texas and Mexico to keep an eye on,” Weeks
said, and del
Rosal added, “the USMCA is nearing the end of a six-year review and Texas can take a
lead
role in the review process among the three nations.”
Energy production and provision, including the ever-growing data center industry, is
another area of importance for Texas and Mexico. “There are a lot of tie-ins
involving
research that our center faculty and staff undertake relating to data centers,” del
Rosal
said. “Vital issues like the current state of Texas’ electric grid, access to
water in
both Texas and Mexico, and the current water treaty between Mexico and Texas continue to
have major effects on developing more data centers on both sides of the border,” she
added. “It may be cheaper to build data centers in the Texan and northern Mexican
regions
compared to other areas of the U.S., but it’s going to be much more difficult to do so
without collaborating on solutions to natural resource challenges.” Weeks provided a
2025
report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas addressing
those critical factors.
Del Rosal emphasized how the Texas-Mexico Center continues to be an essential resource
for companies in our state and in Mexico. “Our center is literally at the crossroads
of
anything that matters for business in Texas and in Mexico. Whether it’s energy,
immigration, workforce preparedness or investment, the Texas-Mexico Center is an
invaluable partner for companies of all sizes, geographies and business sectors.”
For more information on getting involved in the Texas-Mexico Center, please reach out to
Tim Angell at tangell@smu.edu.
Research and Innovation Week 2026
For the fourth year, the Moody Graduate School and the University’s Office of
Research
and Innovation have joined forces to present a weeklong series of panels, presentations
and student posters, showcasing the best of SMU’s faculty and student research. As
in
previous years, Research and Innovation Week 2026 will provide an opportunity for
corporate representatives to discuss groundbreaking work in various academic fields with
students and faculty. During the week of March 23, there’ll be opportunities to
network
and learn more about the market value this research has for companies of all sizes and
sectors. For more information on sponsoring the week’s programming and the
week’s
schedule, please reach out to Tim Angell at tangell@smu.edu.
Coming soon:
We invite you to forward this newsletter to your colleagues. We’re happy to add
them to our mailing list. To learn more about research activities at SMU, please follow
SMU’s Research
News site and LinkedIn. Finally, please let Tim Angell know if you’d
like to unsubscribe from the newsletter.
Let’s talk.
Best,
Rob Strauss
Senior Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations
Tim Angell
Director for Corporate Engagement
SMU
Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations
P.O. Box 750402
Dallas, TX 75275-0402
www.smu.edu/CorporateEngagement
cfr@smu.edu
