Recipients of TCU’s Global Innovator Award receive a hand-blown glass model of the world because they must understand how their work will transform the future of the planet. “I felt an award recognizing innovation had to be innovative, itself,” said James English, co-chair of TCU’s Global Innovators Initiative. Glass artist Kevin McGehee of Fort Worth’s SiNaCa Studios in Fort Worth was commissioned to create a piece that fulfilled English’s vision. Dr. Hassan Azzazy of the American University in Cairo was the 2014 recipient.

“I asked [McGehee] to create a globe with multiple layers of solid, blown glass to represent earth, water and atmosphere,” English said. “The idea … was that it would be fragile, like our world, but the layers of solid glass would give it surprising density and weight.”