It looks like you’ve made a great decision in where you’ll go to learn!
My dad was a UT prof and inducted into NAE in 1998. 
He was also the first American inducted into the Russian Academy of Engineering. I had him for several classes. He also won a lot of teaching awards.
I get annoyed when people lump professors together and say they’re just interested in research, not teaching. That is absolutely not true in many, many cases. Dad excelled at both, as did a lot of his colleagues.
@MaineLonghorn What an honor for your dad!
Yes, he’s quite something. http://www.caee.utexas.edu/alumni/academy/150-fowler
No wonder UT is turning out such well-educated and accomplished engineers!