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News

Academic AnalyticsThe Department of Industrial Engineering was recently ranked sixth in the nation in the Academic Analytics’ Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index. The index evaluates universities by examining the number of professors in a given program, the number of books and journal articles that professors write, citations by peers, and awards, honors, and grant dollars that professors, departments, and universities recieve. Other Texas Tech departments and programs highlighted by the index include the Department of English and the wildlife sciences program. For more information on the index, read The Chronicle of Higher Education’s article, "Faculty–Productivity Index Offers Surprises" or read about how the index in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s "Facts and Figures" database.

pop-sciThe Wind Science and Engineering Research Center lab was highlighted in a feature article on the "Coolest College Labs in America" in the September 2007 issue of Popular Science magazine. The profile included what students learn (how to build structures that can withstand extreme winds); future job options (structural engineer, insurance consulting engineer, atmospheric scientist); and prospective employers (National Hurricane Center, Global Energy Concepts, Risk Management Solutions).

Faculty Recognition

KieslingDr. Ernst Kiesling, professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department, along with Max Mayfield, former director of the National Hurricane Center, were named FLASH Leadership Partners by the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, in a ceremony held on August 28 in Tallahassee, FL.




MichaelDr. Michael Giesselmann, professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, has accepted representation on the TTU Faculty Senate. Present members of Faculty Senate from the College of Engineering are: Dr. Uzi Mann, chemical engineering; Dr. Javad Hashemi, mechanical engineering; Dr. Michael Sobolewski, computer science; Dr. Susan Mengel, computer science.


Javad Dr. Javad Hashemi, was named one of five top faculty members by Mortar Board and Omicron Delta Kappa on October 27 at halftime of the the Texas Tech/Colorado home football game at Jones AT&T Stadium. The award was based on dedication to students, unorthodox and effective teaching and assessment methods, promotion of undergraduate research opportunities, and professionalism and favorable representation of departments, colleges, the university, the respective academic fields. Other winners were Dr. Dominick Casadonte, chemisty; and Dr. Clarke Cochran, political science; Dr. Catherine Duran, business; Dr. Art Durband, anthropology.


Staff Recognition

Carmen Hernandez, business manager and supervisor in the Mechanical Engineering department, and Debbie Starcher, supervisor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department, were named recipients of the 2007 College of Engineering Orval Leroy Lewis Staff Awards. They were honored for their positive and friendly attitude toward faculty, students, and colleagues. They were recognized at the college’s third annual Faculty and Staff Awards Banquet on September 27. Congratulations!

Grants and Contracts

September – November 2007

Center for Engineering Outreach

  • Dr. Dean Fontenot and Dr. John Chandler were awarded $17,954 from the Texas Education Agency/Lubbock Cooper ISD. The title of the proposal was "21st Century Community Learning Center Cycle 4 Year 1 Center for Engineering Outreach."

Chemical Engineering

  • Dr. Jeremy W. Leggoe was awarded $5,000 from Procter & Gamble Co. The title of the proposal is "SAXS Examination of Channel Sections."
  • Dr. Gregory B. McKenna was awarded $1,750 from John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The title of the proposal is "JPS – Physics."
  • Dr. Sindee L. Simon, Dr. Gregory B. McKenna, and Dr. Rajesh Khare were awarded $150,000 from the National Aeronautics & Space Administration. The title of the proposal is "Novel Nanoparticle-Filled Matrices for Thermal Stress Reduction in Polymer Matrix Composites: Multi-Scale Modeling and Experimental Validation."
  • Dr. Brandon Weeks was awarded $25,000 from the Army Research Office/University of Illinois. The title of the proposal is "STIR: Feasibility Study on Nanoscale Thermophysical Measurements on Polymer Blended Explosives."

Civil and Environmental Engineering

  • Dr. Clifford B. Fedler was awarded $8,000 from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The title of the proposal is "Wichita Falls Monitoring."
  • Dr. Phillip T. Nash was awarded $10,000 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "Travel for TAP Nominees."
  • Dr. Phillip T. Nash was awarded $105,490 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "Coordination of Services in Support of TxDOT Program."
  • Dr. Hongchao Liu was awarded $20,758 from the City of Lubbock, Texas. The title of the proposal is "Operation of City of Lubbock’s Traffic Management Center."

Computer Science

  • Dr. Yu Zhuang, in collaboration with Dr. William Hase, (PI) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was awarded $200,000 from the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal is "PIRE-Simulation of Electronic Non-Adaibatic Dynamics for Reactions with Organic Macromolecules, Liquids, and Surfaces."

Center for Multidisciplinary Research in Transportation

  • Dr. Priyantha Jayawickrama and Dr. Charles D. Newhouse were awarded $68,356 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "Design Procedures for MSE/Soil Nail Hybrid Retaining Wall Systems."
  • Dr. Priyantha Jayawickrama and Dr. Sanjaya Senadheera were awarded $94,793 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "0-5873 Develop a New Testing and Evaluation Protocol to Assess Flexbase Performance Using Strength of Binder."
  • Dr. William D. Lawson, Dr. Priyantha Jayawickrama, and Dr. Charles D. Newhouse were awarded $112,649 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "0-5849 Evaluating Existing Culverts for Load Capacity Allowing for Soil Structure Interaction."
  • Dr. Hongchao Liu was awarded $12,618 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "0-5548: Development of Field Performance Evaluation Tools and Program for Pavement Parking Materials."
  • Dr. Hongchao Liu was awarded $40,741 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "0–5668 Comprehensive Planning and Design Guidelines for Incorporating a Bus Rapid Transit Scenario to the Analysis of Texas Highway Corridors."
  • Dr. Audra Morse and Dr. Charles D. Newhouse were awarded $55,164 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "Handling Issues for Lead and Asbestos Bridge Construction."
  • Dr. Audra Morse was awarded $57,387 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "Transport Spill Containment for Texas Highways."
  • Dr. Charles D. Newhouse, Dr. Andrew Budek, and Dr. William R. Burkett were awarded $119,553 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "0–5834 Study of Elastomeric Bearings for Superelevated U–Beam Bridges."
  • Dr. Kenneth Rainwater and Dr. Sergey Smirnov were awarded $143,520 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "0–5823 Hydraulic Performance Evaluation of Horizontal Inlet Type H."
  • Dr. David Thompson was awarded $20,000 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "Design Guidance for Areas of Extreme Bed Mobility."
  • Dr. David Thompson was awarded $34,703 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "0–5521/Develop Statewide Regression Equations for Improved Flood Peak Estimation."
  • Dr. David Thompson was awarded $45,926 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "0–5822 Subdivision of Watersheds for Modeling."

Electrical and Computer Engineering

  • Dr. Sunanda Mitra and Dr. Brian Nutter were awarded $99,900 from NIH–National Library of Medicine. The title of the proposal is "Automated Content–Based Image Retrieval and Display for High Resolution Medical Images."
  • Dr. Brian Nutter, Dr. Mary Baker, and Dr. Mohammad Saed were awarded $19,200 from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The title of the proposal is "Curricular Development, Multidisciplinary Team Internship and Undergraduate Peer–Mentors for West Texas Students."

Industrial Engineering

  • Dr. Mario G. Beruvides was awarded $6,000 from the Texas Department of Agriculture/Food & Fiber Research. The title of the proposal is "Evaluation of Nep Formation from Mechanical Processing of Cotton."

Mechanical Engineering

  • Dr. Seon Han was awarded $10,000 from the Texas Space Grant Consortium. The title of the proposal is "Launching of a Space Elevator."
  • Dr. Michelle Pantoya was awarded $15,000 from the Texas Space Grant Consortium. The title of the proposal is "Flame Physics: The Impact of a Space Environment on Combustion Reactions."

Nano Tech Center

  • Dr. Ayrton Bernussi was awarded $57,206 from RDECOM/Science Research Laboratory. The title of the proposal is "Research in Electrical Engineering – Thomasz Knapczyk."
  • Dr. Jordan Berg and Dr. Mark Holtz were awarded $40,500 from the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal is "Simulation, Design and Fabrication of Nano–textured Surface for Optoelectronic Devices/Dana Rosenbladt."


National Institute for Engineering Ethics

  • Dr. William D. Lawson was awarded $28,250 from the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal is "TxDOT Training by Video–Teleconference: Fundamentals of Ethics."

Water Resources Center

  • Dr. Audra Morse was awarded $68,227 from the Environmental Protection Agency. The title of the proposal is "Center for Water Law and Policy – EPA Funding."

Publications and
Conference Presentations

BeruvidesThe June 2007 issue of Industrial Engineer included an article by Dr. Mario Beruvides, professor of industrial engineering, discussing the disconnect that often happens between quality and productivity. A recent study described a mathematical relationship between quality and productivity with the use of nonparametric statistics. The most significant result from the research illustrates the value of continuous improvement.


IdesmanMechanical engineering Assistant Professor Dr. Alexander Idesman, was an organizer of the mini–symposium on Computational Methods for Solid–Solid Phase Transformations at the 9th U.S. National Congress on Computational Mechanics in San Francisco, July 23–26.



JankowskiMechanical engineering Professor and J. W. Wright Regents Chair Dr. Alan Jankowski spoke on "Enhanced Mechanical Properties of Microcrystalline, Nanocrystalline, and Nanolaminted Ta–V," at the Nanomaterials Symposium of the 17th International Offshore and Polar Engineering conference in Lisbon, Portugal on July 3. He also chaired the session on "Nanomaterials VII: Nanocoatings" the following day.

 

LevitasMechanical engineering Professor Dr. Valery Levitas held numerous roles in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Applied Mechanics and Materials (McMat) conference in Austin, June 3–7. He was topic chair of "Phase Transformations and Mechanochemistry" and session chair speaking on "Phase Field Modeling of Phase Transformations." He also spoke on "Melt Dispersion Mechanism for Fast Reaction of nanothermites." Levitas is on the U.S. Organizing Committee of the International Conference on Martensitic Phase Transformations scheduled for July 2008.

RiveroDr. Iris Rivero, assistant professor of industrial engineering, is co–author of "Modeling of Residual Stress Distribution in D2 Steel via Grinding Dynamics Using a Second–Order Damping System," to be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Materials Processing Technology.




Shiren Dr. Shiren Wang, assistant professor of industrial engineering is co–author of "Epoxide–terminated carbon nanotubes," in the October issue of Carbon.




Student Accomplishments

ENG-AmbassadorsFALL 2007 ENGINEERING AMBASSADORS

Jeff Beeler (ME)
Alisha Bloodworth (ChE)
Jared Casey (EE/CS)
Davis Chanjaplammootil (EE)
Sanjana Datta (ME)
Jon Dover (ME)
Mark Gant (ME)
Greyson Geer (CE/Arch)
Amanda Gordon (ME)
Stacey Grantham (E/Tech)
Damon Hertel (CEE)
Lyndle Jackson (ME)
Francis Loko (CEE)
Casey Lujan (ME)
Meredith Macha (ME)
Crystal Mahon (IE)
Eric Nixon (ME)
Michael Oskierko (IE)
Alex Pearson (ME)
Maaroof Shahriar (ME/PE)
Cale Smith (ME)
Ashley Thomas (ME)
Ryan Warren (ME)

2007 Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities has been released, and Tracy Giles and Maanisaad Shahriar from the Petroleum Engineering department and the Honors College were recognized.

Events

Dean Pamela Eibeck and the College of Engineering cordially invite you to our Annual Holiday Open House. It is Wednesday, December 12, 2007 from 10:00AM to 11:30AM in 100 Engineering Center. Please come and enjoy food refreshments.

Is your news listed here?

If not, submit it through your department’s editor:

Chemical – Hudson, Jan
Civil and Environmental - Andrews, Glenna
Computer Science - Digby, Mysti
Electrical and Computer - Willingham, Sandi
Engineering Technology - Reigner, Mary
Industrial - Wilson, Terry
Mechanical - Hernandez, Carmen
Petroleum - Blackmon, Joan

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