Yang

Yang Receives Chancellor's Council Distinguished Research Award

Dr. James Yang, assistant professor and director of the Human-Centric Design Research Lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been named a recipient of a 2012 Chancellor's Council Distinguished Research Award. The Chancellor's Council Distinguished Teaching and Research Awards are the most prestigious honors awarded to faculty members from throughout the system. The Chancellor's Council Distinguished Research Award is designed to recognize outstanding research, scholarship, and creative activity of faculty members in the developmental stages of their careers.

The awards were presented to seven faculty members from Texas Tech University, six faculty members from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and two faculty members from Angelo State University.

“Our professors and researchers are world-renowned experts in their fields, and their unrivaled dedication exemplifies the wealth of talent present throughout the system,” Texas Tech University System Chancellor Kent Hance said. “These individuals’ outstanding accomplishments continue to drive our institutions forward, and I am pleased to recognize such deserving faculty members.”

Teo Hall, Thomas Bernens, Taylor Denison, and Dr. Richard Gale

ECE Students Win Region 5, Place Sixth in U.S., in IEEEXtreme Programming Competition

Teo Hall and Thomas Bernens, senior electrical and computer engineering majors; and Taylor Denison, a junior computer science major; competed in the IEEE International Xtreme Programming Competition and won first place in Region 5 (Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and parts of New Mexico, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota and Illinois) and sixth place in the U.S.

IEEEXtreme is a global challenge in which teams of IEEE Student members, supported by an IEEE Student Branch, advised and proctored by an IEEE member, compete in a 24-hour time span against each other to solve a set of programming problems. Dr. Richard Gale, professor of electrical and computer engineering, advised and proctored the team.

Senadheera

Senadheera Inducted into Texas Tech Teaching Academy

Dr. Sanjaya Senadheera, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Center for Multidisciplinary Research in Transportation, has been inducted into the Texas Tech Teaching Academy. A video interview with Senadheera can be seen on YouTube.

The mission of the Teaching Academy at Texas Tech is to advocate for teaching excellence, promote service related to the university's teaching mission, advise and mentor colleagues and others, and share knowledge about teaching strategies and their implementation as appropriate.

Texas Tech Teaching Academy Members in the Whitacre College of Engineering

Lie

Lie Group's Paper Among Most Downloaded on IEEE Explore

Dr. Donald Lie, Keh-Shew Lu Regents Chair and professor of electrical and computer engineering, and his group's recent publication was ranked among the most downloaded papers on the IEEE Xplore digital library for the month of September 2012.

The paper is: "A Fully-Monolithic High-Efficiency SiGe BiCMOS Power Amplifier System Using Envelope Tracking with an On-Chip Transformer and a CMOS Envelope Modulator", Y. Li, J. Lopez, C. Schecht, R. Wu and D.Y.C. Lie, pp. 2007-2018, IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits Sept. (2012)

Prabhakar

Prabhakar Serving as Director of DARPA

Dr. Arati Prabhakar, a 1979 Texas Tech graduate with a bachelor of science in electrical engineering, is serving as the director of the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Her first service to national security started in 1986 when she joined DARPA as a program manager. She initiated and managed programs in advanced semiconductor technology and flexible manufacturing, as well as demonstration projects to insert new semiconductor technologies into military systems. As the founding director of DARPA's Microelectronics Technology Office, she led a team of program managers whose efforts spanned these areas, as well as optoelectronics, infrared imaging and nanoelectronics.

In 1993, President William Clinton appointed Prabhakar director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where she led the 3,000-person organization in its work with companies across multiple industries. Prabhakar moved to Silicon Valley in 1997, first as chief technology officer and senior vice president at Raychem, and later vice president and then president of Interval Research. From 2001 to 2011, she was a partner with U.S. Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm.

Prabhakar has served in recent years on the National Academies' Science Technology and Economic Policy Board, the College of Engineering Advisory Board at the University of California, Berkeley, and the red team of DARPA's Defense Sciences Research Council. In addition, she chaired the Efficiency and Renewables Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of Energy. Dr. Prabhakar is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a Texas Tech Distinguished Engineer, and a Caltech Distinguished Alumna.

November 20, 2012 – December 11, 2012

Chemical Engineering

• Dr. Brandon L. Weeks was awarded $4,970 by Anonymous Sponsor - Federal. The title of the proposal was "Contract for Explosive Testing."

Civil and Environmental Engineering

• Drs. Douglas A. Smith and Delong Zuo were awarded $10,000 by NSF/Colorado State Univ. The title of the proposal was "Wind Tunnel Comparative Study."

Center for Multidisciplinary Research in Transportation

• Drs. Priyantha W. Jayawickrama and William D. Lawson were awarded $29,650 by the TX Dept of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "GEO101 Geotechnical Training - FY13-15."
• Dr. Theodore G. Cleveland was awarded $190,924 by the TX Dept of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "TxDOT DES 601, DES 602, and DES 606 Course Instruction: Hydrology, Urban Storm Drain, and Watershed Modeling."

Center for Pulsed Power and Power Electronics

• Dr. Stephen B. Bayne was awarded $25,000 by Athena Energy Corp. The title of the proposal was "Diamond Schottky Barrier Based Alpha Voltiac Energy Sources."
• Drs. James C. Dickens and John J. Mankowski were awarded $701,877 by the Office of Naval Research/XADS. The title of the proposal was "IED Dudding and Detection." Mankowski is the PI.
• Dr. Andreas A Neuber was awarded $12,500 by the National Physical Science Consortium. The title of the proposal was "NPSC Fellowships for Jacob Stephens and Andrew Fierro."

Industrial Engineering

• Dr. Ismael R. de Farias was awarded $30,000 by the Office of Naval Research. The title of the proposal was "Nonconvex Combinational Nonlinear Optimization: New Methodologies and Critical Applications."

Mechanical Engineering

• Dr. Jingjing Qiu was awarded $17,640 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "REU Supplement: BRIGE: Scalable Bottom-up Synthesis of Well-defined Diamond Nanowire/Nanotube Arrays."

Nano Tech Center

• Dr. Zhaoyang Fan was awarded $25,000 by Athena Energy Corp. The title of the proposal was "Diamond Schottky Barrier Based Alpha Voltiac Energy Sources."

Whitacre College of Engineering Dean's Office

• Drs. John R. Chandler, Andrea D. Fontenot, and William M. Marcy were awarded $2,664 by the TX Education Agency. The title of the proposal was "GRI: Texas Tech University T-STEM Center." Fontenot is the PI.

See a full listing of the college's events on the Engineering Master Calendar.

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