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World Oil Award

A $7.5 million gift announced Jan. 16 from the J. F Maddox Foundation to create the Donovan Maddox Distinguished Engineering Chair, gives Texas Tech University an advantage in its goal of leading the nation in energy solutions.

The new chair, in tribute and memory of Donovan Maddox, honors his life-long connection and commitment to Texas Tech University. The endowment, along with the existing Jack Maddox Distinguished Engineering Chair, will be used to recruit two nationally recognized researchers, initially in energy-related fields.

For more information on this gift, click here.


World Oil Award

The Seventh Annual World Oil Awards were held in October at the Houstonian Hotel. The Texas Tech University Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering, along with the Penn State University Department of Petroleum Engineering, were featured university programs. The department received an award and a donation for preparing the future of the oil and gas industry.



Faculty Recognitions

Senadheera During the halftime ceremonies of the Texas Tech-OSU football game on November 8, the 2008 Mortar Board Faculty Recognition Award winners were announced. This annual award is determined solely by student nominations, and is hosted by Mortar Board Senior National Honor Society and Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society. Dr. Sanjaya Senadheera, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, was chosen for his tireless efforts to further his students and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Congratulations to Dr. Senadheera.


Siddiqui Dr. Shameem Siddiqui presented a paper at the International Symposium of the Society of Core Analysts that was held from October 29 – November 2, 2008 at the Beach Rotana Hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The paper was entitled, "Recent Advances in the Measurement of Pore Volume Compressibility of Reservoir Rocks" by Shameem Siddiqui, James J. Funk, Aon A. Khamees and Ahmad M. Al-Harbi.


Dr. Stephen Bayne was hired as an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering on December 31.

Dr. John Kobza was appointed as the Senior Associate Dean of the college on January 3.

Dr. Raghunathan Rengasamy was hired as a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering on January 1.

Dr. James Riggs, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering retired on December 31.

Dr. Habib Menouar was hired as an associate professor in the Department of Petroleum Engineering on December 16.

Dr. Shuyu Yang was hired as a research assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering on September 1.

Staff Recognitions

Rosa Gallegos was hired as the director of student services in the Dean's Office on January 12.

Sixaumn Jin was hired as a research associate in the Nano Tech Center on December 1.

Jing Li was hired as a senior research associate in the Nano Tech Center on December 1.

Laura Urquieta was hired as the coordinator of alumni relations in the Dean's Office on December 1.

Hongmei Wang was hired as a research associate in the Nano Tech Center on January 4.

Sandi Willingham is retiring from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering on January 31.

Weiping Zhao was hired as a research aide in the Nano Tech Center on December 1.

Grants and Contracts

11-20-2008 - 01-08-2009

Chemical Engineering

  • Drs. Gregory B. McKenna and Brandon L. Weeks were awarded $53,117 by the Office of Naval Research. The title of the proposal was "Nanoscale Features in the Mechano-Chemistry of Energetic Materials: Novel Thermal and Force Scanning Probe Measurements." Weeks is the PI.
  • Dr. Brandon L. Weeks was awarded $9,023.30 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "REU Site: Micro and Nano Device Engineering."
  • Dr. Gregory B. McKenna was awarded $114,000 by the U.S. Army Research Office. The title of the proposal was "Robust Polymer Films: Nanoscale Stiffening as a Route to Strong Materials."

Center for Multidisciplinary Research in Transportation

  • Dr. Sanjaya P Senadheera was awarded $51,375 by the Texas Department of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "0-5893: Laboratory Evaluation of Constructability Issues with Surface Treatment Binders."
  • Dr. Moon Won was awarded $63,689 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."

Center for Pulsed Power and Power Electronics

  • Drs. James C. Dickens and Andreas A. Neuber were awarded $205,588 by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The title of the proposal was "VUV Radiation and Breakdown (Barker/NE)."

Electrical and Computer Engineering

  • Dr. Hamed Sari-Sarraf was awarded $14,167.60 by Cotton Incorporated. The title of the proposal was "Data Mining in the Cotton Fiber Quality Databases."
  • Dr. Hamed Sari-Sarraf was awarded $45,397 by Cotton Incorporated. The title of the proposal was "Feasibility Study: Evaluation of Sensing Devices for Fabric Shrinkage and Fabric Smoothness."
  • Dr. Brian S. Nutter was awarded $22,180 by Leucadia 6, LLC. The title of the proposal was "Pedicle Screw Geometry Modeling."
  • Drs. Ayrton Bernussi, Timothy J. Dallas, and Richard O. Gale were awarded $69,479.41 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "REU Site: Micro and Nano Device Engineering." Dallas is the PI.
  • Dr. Hamed Sari-Sarraf was awarded $37,555 by Cotton Incorporated. The title of the proposal was "Real-Time Cotton Fiber Characterization."
  • Dr. Timothy J. Dallas was awarded $149,996 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "The 18mm2 Laboratory."

Mechanical Engineering

  • Dr. Sukalyan Bhattacharya was awarded $49,144 by the American Chemical Society - Petroleum Research Fund. The title of the proposal was "Fast Simulation of Suspension Dynamics in Presence of Particle-Clusters inside Partially Blocked Channels."
  • Dr. Michelle L. Pantoya was awarded $40,110 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "Melt-Dispersion Mechanism for Energetic Reactions of Aluminum Nanoparticles."
  • Dr. Jordan M. Berg was awarded $4,511.65 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "REU Site: Micro and Nano Device Engineering."

Nano Tech Center

  • Drs. Hongxing Jiang and Jingyu Lin were awarded $158,000 by the U.S. Department of Energy. The title of the proposal was "Optical and Electrical Properties of III-V Nitrides and Related Materials."
  • Drs. Jordan M. Berg and Ayrton Bernussi were awarded $7,218.64 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "REU Site: Micro and Nano Device Engineering."

Water Resources Center

  • Drs. Kenneth A. Rainwater and Richard E. Zartman were awarded $30,000 by the USDA/ARS. The title of the proposal was "Managing Effects of Agronomic Systems on Playa Wetland Hydrology and Ecology."

Student Accomplishments

Forrest Sheng Bao, a M.S.E.E. student of Dr. Donald Lie and a Ph.D. student of Dr. Yuanlin Zhang, published two papers, as first and second author respectively, at the IEEE 21st International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI '08) in Dayton, Ohio on November 4-6, 2008.

Bao was nominated as the session chair of "Artificial Intelligence in Medicine" at ICTAI' 08. The two papers were entitled "A New Approach to Automated Epileptic Diagnosis Using EEG and Probabilistic Neural Network" and "Recognition of Neonatal Facial Expressions of Acute Pain Using Boosted Gabor Features".

He was also nominated as a new board member of Epilepsy Foundation of West Texas by Dr. K. J. Oommen, Professor and Crofoot Chair of Epilepsy in the Department of Neurology at the Texas Tech University Health Science Center.

Is your news listed here?

Submit your news through your department’s contributor:

Chemical Jan Hudson
Civil and Environmental Glenna Andrews
Computer Science Mysti Digby
Electrical and Computer Sandi Willingham
Engineering Technology Mary Reigner
Industrial Terry Wilson
Mechanical Lori Walraven
Petroleum Joan Blackmon
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