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News

U.S.News Undergraduate Ranking Climbs

Engineering In the 2010 U.S. News and World Report assessment of America's best schools, Texas Tech's undergraduate engineering program is now tied for 76, up from a 78 ranking for 2009, an 85 ranking for 2008, and from rankings in the 90s prior to that.

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Maddox Solar Series

Dr. Lawrence Kazmerski, executive director at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), headlined the Maddox Solar Energy Series with a presentation on solar photovoltaics on September 9. The series will continue this fall with additional solar energy experts.




Engineering Kick-Off Event Starts the Year With Food and Fun

Engineering Kick-Off The second annual Engineering Kick-Off Event was held on Friday, September 11, 2009 on the Engineering Key. This event showcased the exciting world of engineering and brought students, faculty, staff and industry partners together for fun.




Texas Tech T-STEM Center Featured as Part of the Texas Engineering Initiative

TV News - T-Stem The Texas Tech T-STEM Center was recently featured on television news stations across Texas for their work with the Texas Engineering Initiative. The footage is from a T-STEM summer professional development workshop on Green Engineering. Click below to watch one of the news stories.

 


Pulsed Power Featured in Popular Science Magazine

Recent research performed in the Center for Pulsed Power and Power Electronics was featured in the September issue of Popular Science Magazine. The article featured the testing of a portable high-power microwave emitter that can disable electronics in a wide area. The article is featured on page 34 of the September 2009 issue.

Faculty Recognitions

Faculty Awards

The following faculty members were recognized at the 2009 Faculty and Staff Dinner and Social on September 3.

Faculty Promotion and Tenure  
Promoted to Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering Sergey Nikishin
Promoted to Professor in Mechanical Engineering Darryl James
Promoted to Professor in Mechanical Engineering Jahan Rasty
Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering Hongchao Liu
Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor in Industrial Engineering Tim Matis
   
College Teaching Awards  
George T. and Gladys Abell-Hanger Faculty Award Stephen Ekwaro-Osire
Dr. Charles Burford Faculty Award Ayrton Bernussi
Lockheed Martin Award Tanja Karp
   
College Research Awards  
Whitacre Faculty Fellow 2009-2010 Raj Khare
Whitacre Excellence in Research Audra Morse
Whitacre Excellence in Research Hamed Sari-Sarraf
Whitacre Excellence in Research (Growth in Research) Tim Dallas

Other Awards

Dr. Theodore F. Wiesner was voted the "Most Outstanding Professor" by the class of 2009 in the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Staff Recognitions

Staff Awards

Harper Hinojosa Patricia Harper and Miguel Hinojosa received the Orval Leroy Lewis Staff Award at the 2009 Faculty and Staff Dinner and Social on September 3. The Lewis awardsrecognize employees that demonstrate positive and friendly attitudes toward faculty, students, and colleagues, and commit personal energy over and above that required by the job description.

Grants and Contracts

07-29-2009 - 09-16-2009

Center for Advanced Intelligent Systems

  • Drs. Daniel E. Cooke and J. Nelson Rushton were awarded $200,000 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The title of the proposal was "Engineering Support for Extended Human and Robotic Space Flight Missions."

Chemical Engineering

  • Dr. Brandon L. Weeks was awarded $323,596 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "CAREER: Understanding Nanoscale Properties of Energetic Materials."
  • Dr. Karlene A. Hoo was awarded $93,667 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "Closed-loop Reservoir Management Using a Reduced-order Model-based Control & Uncertainty Propagation Framework."
  • Dr. Gregory B. McKenna was awarded $160,000 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "Collaborative Proposal: Measurements of Yield Strength and Local Viscoelastic Properties Using Nanoparticle Embedment Methods."
  • Dr. Siva A. Vanapalli was awarded $91,785 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "Collaborative Research: Probing the Hydrodynamic Resistance and Traffic of Confined Droplets in Microfluidic Networks for the Rational Design of Two-phase Fluidic Processors."
  • Drs. Muhammad N. Karim and Sindee L. Simon were awarded $300,000 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "EAGER: Peptide Affinity Membranes for Binding Influenza Viruses: H1N1 and H5H1." Karim is the PI.
  • Dr. Brandon L. Weeks was awarded $37,500 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "GRS/CAREER: Understanding Nanoscale Properties of Energetic Materials."
  • Dr. Siva A. Vanapalli was awarded $192,084 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The title of the proposal was "Microfluidic Engineering of Droplet Shape and Crystallinity for the Design of Low-fat Food Emulsions."
  • Dr. Ronald Hedden was awarded $95,287 by the American Chemical Society. The title of the proposal was "Non-affine Swelling and Swelling Kinetics of Microporous Polyelectrolyte Gels."
  • Dr. Brandon L. Weeks was awarded $6,000 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "REU/CAREER: Understanding Nanoscale Properties of Energetic Materials."
  • Dr. Ronald Hedden was awarded $96,601 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "SGER: Stress Relaxation Mechanisms in Main-chain Smectic Elastomers."

Civil and Environmental Engineering

  • Dr. Clifford B. Fedler was awarded $123,760 by the TX On-Site Wastewater Treatment Research Council. The title of the proposal was "Effectiveness and Utility of Surface Application and Soil Percolation for Removal of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Product Microcontaminants."
  • Drs. Priyantha W. Jayawickrama, William D. Lawson, and Sanjaya P. Senadheera were awarded $146,691 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "Geotechnical Training." Lawson is the PI.
  • Dr. Clifford B. Fedler was awarded $80,820 by the TX On-Site Wastewater Treatment Research Council. The title of the proposal was "Refining the Application Rates for On-Site Surface Application Systems."
  • Dr. Phillip T. Nash was awarded $10,000 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "Travel for TAP Nominees."

Construction Engineering and Engineering Technology

  • Dr. Daan Liang was awarded $37,508 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "GRS Hyperspectral Imagery: A New Frontier for Windstorm Damage Assessment."

Computer Science

  • Dr. Eric D. Sinzinger was awarded $50,000 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The title of the proposal was "Engineering Support for Extended Human and Robotic Space Flight Missions."
  • Dr. Michael Gelfond was awarded $46,000 by Vulcan, Inc. The title of the proposal was "Expanding SILK with High-level Modular Language for Reasoning about Action and Change."
  • Dr. Susan A. Mengel was awarded $54,000 by Can Tho University. The title of the proposal was "Mekong 1000 Fellowship in Computer Science."
  • Dr. Eonsuk Shin was awarded $10,000 by ETRI, Korea. The title of the proposal was "Study on Self-Healing Methods for the OPRoS Component Execution Engine."

Center for Multidisciplinary Research in Transportation

  • Dr. Hongchao Liu was awarded $5,586 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "0-5548: Development of Field Performance Evaluation Tools and Program for Pavement Parking Materials."
  • Dr. Moon Won was awarded $40,000 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "0-5549: Horizontal Cracking in Concrete Pavements."
  • Dr. Moon Won was awarded $100,630 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "0-5832: Develop Mechanistic/Empirical Design for CRCP."
  • Dr. Sanjaya P. Senadheera was awarded $63,085 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "0-5893: Laboratory Evaluation of Constructability Issues with Surface Treatment Binders."
  • Dr. Theodore Cleveland was awarded $22,900 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "0-6070: Use of the Rational and Modified Rational Methods for TxDOT Hydraulic Design."
  • Dr. Moon Won was awarded $71,618 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "0-6190: Use of Dowel Bars at Longitudinal Construction Joints."
  • Dr. Moon Won was awarded $78,962 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "0-6274: Project Level Performance Database for Rigid Pavements in Texas, Phase II."
  • Drs. Priyantha W. Jayawickrama, Sanjaya P. Senadheera, and Moon Won were awarded $60,191 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "0-6326 Rational Use of Terminal Anchorages in Portland Cement Concrete Pavement." Won is the PI.
  • Dr. Theodore Cleveland was awarded $75,785 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "0-6382: Establish Effective Lower Bounds of Watershed Slope for Traditional Hydrologic Methods."
  • Drs. William D. Lawson and Timothy A. Wood were awarded $139,367 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "0-6493: Pullout Resistance of Mechanically Stabilized Earth Reinforcement in Backfills Typically Used in Texas." Lawson is the PI.
  • Dr. Phillip T. Nash was awarded $93,978 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "0-9911-10: Coordination of Services in Support of TxDOT's Program Research."
  • Dr. Moon Won was awarded $40,000 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "5-4893: Pilot Implementation of CRCP Overlay on Jointed Concrete Pavement."
  • Drs. Phillip T. Nash, Douglas A. Smith, and Richard P. Walker were awarded $96,6831 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "6495-TxDOT and Electric Power Transmission Lines." Nash is the PI.

Electrical and Computer Engineering

  • Dr. Hamed Sari-Sarraf was awarded $63,500 by the National Library of Medicine. The title of the proposal was "Hardware-assisted Human-machine Image Segmentation."
  • Dr. Jingyu Lin was awarded $53,350 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "MRI: Acquisition of a Transmission Electron Microscope for Materials Research and Education."
  • Dr. Mary C. Baker was awarded $69,670.72 by the Greater Texas Foundation. The title of the proposal was "Middle School Math and Science (MS)2: Understanding by Design."
  • Dr. Donald Lie was awarded $20,000 by III-N Technology, Inc. The title of the proposal was "The CMOS Driver Integrated Circuit (IC) Design for Microdisplays Based on InGaN/AlGaInP Semiconductor Micro-emitter Arrays."

Industrial Engineering

  • Dr. James L. Smith was awarded $50,000 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The title of the proposal was "Engineering Support for Extended Human and Robotic Space Flight Missions."

Mechanical Engineering

  • Dr. Jingzhou Yang was awarded $174,867 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "BRIGE: Optimization-based Prediction of Seated Posture in Pregnant Women."
  • Dr. Darryl L. James was awarded $58,843 by Sandia National Laboratories. The title of the proposal was "Computational Modeling of a Molten Salt Stream Generator."
  • Dr. Jingzhou Yang was awarded $99,999 by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The title of the proposal was "Computer Aided: Predictive Models for Respirator fit and Comfort - Phase I."
  • Dr. Jingzhou Yang was awarded $1,175 by Texas Space Grant Consortium. The title of the proposal was "Design of Dust-proof Hand Tools."
  • Drs. Jharna Chaudhuri and Alan Jankowski were awarded $373,450 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "MRI: Acquisition of a Transmission Electron Microscope for Materials Research and Education." Chaudhuri is the PI.

Nano Tech Center

  • Drs. Jordan M. Berg, Ayrton Bernussi, Zhaoyang Fan, Luis Grave de Peralta, Mark W. Holtz, Hongxing Jiang, Jingyu Lin, and Sergey A. Nikishin were awarded $1,358,460 by the U.S. Army. The title of the proposal was "Nanophotonics Devices Research."

National Institute for Engineering Ethics

  • Dr. William M. Marcy was awarded $4,000 by the Texas Education Agency. The title of the proposal was "Texas Tech University T-STEM Center."

Water Resources Center

  • Drs. W. Andrew Jackson, Audra N. Morse, and Stephen Morse were awarded $200,000 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The title of the proposal was "Engineering Support for Extended Human and Robotic Space Flight Missions."

Student Accomplishments

Chemical Engineering Student Receives the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award

Nichole Hodge, a chemical engineering senior, received the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award from the Texas Tech Center for Undergraduate Research. The title of her project was "Removal of Middle Molecular Weight Molecules during Kidney Dialysis." Hodge's research advisor was Dr. Theodore F. Wiesner.

Alumni

Dr. Guoqing Huang Receives Richard D. Marshall Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award

Dr. Guoqing Huang, a Ph.D. graduate of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was awarded the Richard D. Marshall Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award by the American Association for Wind Engineering at the 11th Americas Conference on Wind Engineering held in Puerto Rico from June 22 to June 26, 2009. This award, awarded every four years, is one of the two awards for a Ph.D. in Wind Engineering awarded from a university in the 'Americas Region' of the International Association for Wind Engineering. Huang graduated in July 2008. His dissertation is entitled "Probabilistic analysis of load effects on tall buildings under stationary and nonstationary extreme winds." His supervisor was Dr. Xinzhong Chen, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering.

Events of Interest

September 21 ConocoPhillips News Conference
11 a.m.
Escondido Theatre, Student Union Building
September 23 Fall Engineering Job Fair
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Lubbock Memorial Civic Center
October 10 Homecoming
November 4 Maddox Solar Energy Series
Dr. Harry A. Atwater, Jr.
3 p.m.
Lankford Lab
November 18 Maddox Solar Energy Series
Dr. Sarah Kurtz
3 p.m.
Lankford Lab

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