News

CEE's Kalliontzis receives 2 grants to study concrete performanceMay 16, 2022A professor at the Cullen College of Engineering has received a pair of grants that will utilize the one-of-a-kind machinery available at the University of Houston to conduct research into shear failures for a new type of… Dimitrios Kalliontzis, an Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the Cullen College of Engineering, has received a pair of grants to conduct research into shear failures for Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC).
UH Professor, Graduate Think Soot Can Help with the Energy TransitionMay 9, 2022Turning environmental pollutants into renewable solar energy while reducing carbon emissions may seem like something plucked out of a science-fiction film, but researchers from the University of Houston and Mexico’s Universidad… Luis Bernardo López-Sosa, a professor of engineering for energy sustainability at UIIM and a former exchange student at UH shows students in the Mexican state of Michoacán how the solar stove he developed with UH professor Francisco Robles-Hernández works.
BME Professor Developing Diagnostics for Lupus NephritisMay 4, 2022Large Scale Protein Exam Leads to Potential Biomarkers The nature of a typical clinical test for lupus nephritis (LN), an inflammation of the kidneys and a leading cause of mortality in lupus patients, is fraught with difficulty… Tianfu Wu, University of Houston associate professor of biomedical engineering, reports potential lupus nephritis biomarkers which may be useful for developing more accurate clinical blood tests for the disease, replacing the existing invasive test, the painful renal biopsy.
System Developed by IE Drone Pioneer Provides Continuous Live MonitoringMarch 7, 2022To enhance security of the nation’s border, a pioneer in drone technology at the University of Houston is proposing a continuous flight of small drones over its perimeter. One small problem: The battery limitation of small drones… Gino Lim, R. Larry and Gerlene (Gerri) R. Snider Endowed Chair of Industrial Engineering, proposes the use of drones with built-in wireless electrification line battery charging systems to extend flight time and patrol U.S. borders.
ECE's Shan Developing Imaging Technique to Understand How Dendrites Form in BatteriesFebruary 24, 2022As the world lessens its dependence on fossil fuels, industries and manufacturers are turning to lithium-ion batteries to power the machines that make modern life possible. These batteries power electric vehicles, mobile phones,… Xiaonan Shan and his team have developed a “novel in-situ” 3D microscopy to image and study the localized electrochemical environments and understand where dendrites start forming in batteries.
BME's Mohan IDs Potential Biomarkers for Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of LupusFebruary 9, 2022A globally renowned expert in autoimmune diseases and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) at the University of Houston has identified potential biomarkers for neuropsychiatric symptoms of lupus. Lupus is an autoimmune disease in… Chandra Mohan, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Endowed Professor of biomedical engineering, screened more than 1,100 proteins in the fluid surrounding the brains of neuropsychiatric lupus patients and identified a few proteins that could potentially be used to diagnose neuropsychiatric lupus.
Radar Tech From CEE's Milillo Records Antarctic Glaciers Losing Ice Faster Than Ever Documented BeforeFebruary 8, 2022In a new University of Houston study using an advanced remote imaging system known as synthetic aperture radar interferometry, three glaciers at the South Pole are being documented with levels of clarity and completeness never… Pietro Milillo, assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Houston, is joined in the project by University of California Irvine researchers and scientists from NASA, the German Aerospace Center and the Italian Space Agency. Milillo is lead author of “Rapid Glacier Retreat Rates Observed in West Antarctica,” an article in Nature Geosciences that details their findings.
Biomedical Forum Explores Health Care ShortcomingsFebruary 7, 2022To address the challenges of bringing COVID-19 solutions into clinical practice quickly, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) convened an international… Metin Akay, John S. Dunn Endowed Chair Professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Houston and IEEE Fellow, has published findings of an international panel of engineers on the health care challenges of COVID-19.
Kourentzi receives 1st federal grant as lead, to develop test for leukemiaJanuary 26, 2022A research professor at the Cullen College of Engineering has received a federal grant for about $700,000  to develop a rapid screening test for a specific form of leukemia that has severe health risks without prompt detection… Katerina Kourentzi, Ph.D., a Research Associate Professor in the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has received nearly $700,000 in federal funding to develop a rapid screening test for a specific form of leukemia.
ECE Professor, Postdoc Discover Method to Create Upward Water Fountain in Deep WaterJanuary 18, 2022A pair of University of Houston engineers has discovered that they can create upward fountains in water by shining laser beams on the water’s surface and have published their research in the latest Materials Today Physics. Jiming… Jiming Bao, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has discovered that by using laser beams on deep liquids, the fluid is pulled above the surface, generating fountains with different shapes.
Biomed, ECE, McGovern collaboration leads to new epilepsy research December 7, 2021A recently published paper from a team of researchers and students from multiple departments at the Cullen College of Engineering and the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth proposes a way to provide real-time, continuous… Rose T. Faghih, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a member of the BRAIN Center, is senior author for a new paper about tracking the seizure state of epileptic patients in real-time.. The first author for the paper is Alexander Steele, a doctoral student of Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal, Ph.D., Cullen Distinguished Professor and Director of the NSF IUCRC BRAIN Center, and the research is a collaboration between two UH departments and the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth.
UH Researcher Pushes Limit of When Water Will Freeze December 6, 2021Though it is one of the great mysteries of science, the transformation of water into ice often escapes people's minds as it is just assumed that’s what happens. But how and why it happens is the subject of intense scrutiny by ice… Hadi Ghasemi, Cullen Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has pushed the limit of when water freezes and has maintained tiny droplets as liquid by putting them in contact with soft interfaces, like gels or lipids.
'Super Cool Conductor' Developed at UH Advances in Prestigious DOE CompetitionDecember 1, 2021As the world embarks upon the energy transition, improved electrification will be key to powering an efficient low carbon global economy. The development of superconductors, materials that can revolutionize the way electricity is… Venkat Selvamanickam, M.D. Anderson Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
NSF Funds $3 Million Study by CEE Professors on Fungi SuperpowersNovember 18, 2021Two professors with the University of Houston's Cullen College of Engineering, with colleagues from the University of Michigan and University of New Mexico, have embarked on a road rarely traveled by researchers – exploring the… At right, Professor of Civil Engineering Debora Rodrigues is the principal investigator of a study that aims to revealing unknown properties of fungi. Stacey Louie, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, is one of four co-principal investigators in the project.
Mapping the Complexity of T Cells to Improve ImmunotherapyNovember 2, 2021It is not an exaggeration to say that immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment. Nor is it boastful to say University of Houston M.D. Anderson Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering Navin Varadarajan intends… University of Houston M.D. Anderson Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering Navin Varadarajan will use a $1.8 million grant to develop and validate what he calls Multiscale Intelligent Convergence (MusIC) to offer unprecedented insights into the function of immune cells.
UH Researcher Advances Understanding of How the Nervous System Controls OrgansOctober 25, 2021An international team of researchers, led by University of Houston Cullen Endowed Professor of Biomedical Engineering Mario Romero-Ortega, has progressed electroceutical research for treatment of diseases including rheumatoid… University of Houston Cullen Endowed Professor of biomedical engineering Mario Romero-Ortega led an international team that has advanced electroceutical research for treatment of diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, colitis and sepsis.
Airborne mapping identifies nearly 500 sites and patterns, re-conceptualizing early MesoamericaOctober 25, 2021Through the analysis of airborne laser mapping (lidar), an international team of researchers – including several from the Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston – identified 478 ceremonial centers in the… Lidar-based 3D image of the site of Buenavista on the day of sunrise alignment. Image by Takeshi Inomata, University of Arizona.
Kulkarni, Neffati, Purdue researchers describe new methods for intermetallic strengthOctober 19, 2021Nobody would want to drive a car made of a very strong material that shatters in a collision, so the design of materials with high strength as well as high ductility – or less brittleness – has been the holy grail of materials… In a paper published recently in Science Advances, Yashashree Kulkarni, Ph.D., Bill Cook Professor of Mechanical Engineering (pictured) and recent Ph.D. graduate Dajla Neffati offer a novel solution to brittle intermetallics with their collaborators at Purdue University.
Improving Control for Users of Robotic ProsthesesSeptember 22, 2021Advanced Peripheral Nervous System Decreases Abnormal Sensations A biomedical engineer from the Cullen College of Engineering has been awarded $2.8 million by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to improve… Mario Ignacio Romero-Ortega, Cullen Endowed Professor of biomolecular engineering, is creating next-generation advanced peripheral nervous system (PNS) interface electrodes to decrease the abnormal sensations associated with electrical stimulation of prosthetic limbs.
Docking Peptides, Slow to Lock, Open Possible Path to Treat Alzheimer’sSeptember 15, 2021Frustration in Amyloid Fibrils as They Form Shows it May be Possible to Stop Their Growth HOUSTON – Progress on treating Alzheimer’s disease has been frustratingly slow. A group of scientists in Houston suggest frustration at a… Graduate student Yuechuan (Alex) Xu, left, and Professor Peter Vekilov of the University of Houston pose near an atomic force microscope of the same type used to capture the growth of amyloid beta fibrils implicated in Alzheimer’s disease.