SAN ANTONIO, Texas (March 2, 2009) - Robert C. Alaniz, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Microbial and Molecular Pathogenesis and Director of the Cell Analysis Facility at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, has been elected to receive a "Distinguished Alumnus Award" from the PREP engineering program at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).

Dr. Alaniz was selected based on his academic scholarly activities, his research program in the field of Infectious Disease Immunology, and his longstanding commitment to mentoring high school, undergraduate, and graduate students interested in pursuing advanced degrees in science.

Dr. Alaniz is one of four Distinguished Alumni chosen out of a field of over 20,000 PREP program alumni and he will receive the award during the PREP 30th Anniversary Gala ceremony on Saturday, March 7th, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas. 

The PREP program began at UTSA in 1979 and provides a rigorous mathematics-based curriculum for middle and high school students in preparation for advanced studies leading to careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.  Dr. Alaniz completed the program in 1983.