Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Dr. Robert Bishop Department Chair
In 2006-07, 94 percent of aerospace engineering students reported having jobs after graduation—an increase from the previous year. Many students received multiple offers from Boeing, Cessna, Lockheed Martin, NASA and NASA contractors such as United Space Alliance. Salary rates showed no measurable increase over last year, although the Cockrell School’s average is still slightly above the national average ($53,975 vs. $53,408).
For the 518 undergraduates and 143 graduate students, the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics is an exciting and innovative place to study.
Students now routinely build their own satellites and launch them into space. Students working in the Satellite Design Lab will be operating four satellite missions, two of which have been selected by NASA and the U.S. Air Force for launch in 2009. In the five years since the lab was founded, students have built and launched projects ranging from rockets to balloon payloads making scientific measurements and taking pictures from high altitudes. The Satellite Design Lab is directed by aerospace engineering professor Dr. Glenn Lightsey with collaborators Drs. Robert Bishop, Sean Buckley, Wallace Fowler, Matthew Hall and Cesar Ocampo.
The new Lockheed Martin Air Systems Design Lab will provide students with the opportunity to work on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle projects in a state-of-the-art facility. National Instruments provided support for a Controls Laboratory last year and a Sensors and Actuators Lab this year.
Dr. Clint Dawson is investigating the effects of storm surges on coastal environments. Dawson and a team of collaborators from three other universities have developed the advanced circulation for oceanic, coastal and estuarine waters simulator (ADCIRC), which replicates coastal flooding driven by winds and waves. The ADCIRC model is being used in the development of improved coastal protection systems for Southern Louisiana. More details appear at www.adcirc.org.
At the Center for Space Research, Dr. Gordon Wells and his team worked in coordination with AT&T and a group of six subcontractors to develop and test the Special Needs Evacuation Tracking System (SNETS). The computer software is designed to provide real-time tracking of evacuees and vehicles used by the state during a mass evacuation of the Texas Gulf Coast. The system associates each bus with its list of evacuees and their special needs in a real-time database linking with GPS telemetry to provide updates of vehicle locations and speeds every 30 seconds.
The Center for Space Research also created the database used by the Texas 2-1-1 Information & Referral Network to collect information in the Transportation Assistance Registry, a voluntary system that allows citizens without a means to self-evacuate to describe their special needs and request assistance. More than 50,000 special-needs citizens and their accompanying caregivers have registered through 2-1-1.
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Dr. Kenneth Diller Department Chair
Longtime biomedical engineering professor Dr. A. J. Welch will be honored with a symposium organized by former students on January 28-30, 2008. Welch has served the university for 40 years and will retire in 2008. Students who earned graduate degrees under his supervision are raising a scholarship honoring A. J. and his wife, Pat. For more information contact Garrett Polhamus, garrett.polhamus@brooks.af.mil.
The first new engineering building in almost 20 years, the 140,000 square-foot bio-medical engineering building will be completed in the summer of 2008. Constructed with funding from the university, the Whitaker Foundation and university alumni and friends, the building will house students and faculty of the new biomedical engineering department (established in 2001-02).
The Department of Biomedical Engineering has completed its initial academic year as a tri-institutional department consisting of The University of Texas at Austin, the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, and UT Health Science Center-Houston (UTHSC). The department has established joint graduate educational and research programs and is offering a core graduate curriculum via distance learning methods. The Houston partners are constructing a 315,000 square-foot Center for Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research (CABIR) to be completed in late 2009 and shared by MD Anderson and UTHSC.
Dr. Stanislav Emelianov will study the use of microbubbles generated by a pulsed laser to evaluate and treat common eye conditions, thanks to a five-year, $1.6 million grant from The National Institutes of Health. His research could lead to a tool that improves the outcome of LASIK surgeries or treats presbyopia, the inability to see objects at close range that develops with age.
Dr. Pengyu Ren is developing software that will improve the process of identifying the most effective chemical structures for new drugs. Ren received a five-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for this work, which will help identify better drugs to treat arthritis, cancer and other diseases.
Department of Chemical Engineering
Dr. Roger Bonnecaze Department Chair
Much of the chemical engineering department’s recent success is a direct result of the input and generosity of its alumni. With the launch of the Alumni Endowed Excellence Fund (AEEF) in 2004, the department has seen a tremendous spike in its alumni participation in Friends of Alec (more than $150,000 a year, raised for three years in a row). AEEF, which has a ten-year, $10 million goal, is the effort to increase the department’s endowments for scholarships, fellowships, faculty support and recruiting efforts. With more than $5 million pledged or in hand, AEEF is well underway.
Crediting the work of Dr. Adam Heller, health care company Abbott recently received the European CE Mark approval for its continuous glucose monitoring system. Heller pioneered the system’s biosensor. The FreeStyle Navigator™ Continuous Glucose Monitoring System helps people with diabetes obtain minute-by-minute glucose readings. Heller will receive the 2008 American Chemical Society Award for Creative Invention for his development of the biosensor.
Dr. Thomas M. Truskett’s work to study how materials undergo changes at the nanoscale level continues to create a buzz in the industry. Last year he discovered how to predict the mobility of confined fluids at nanometer scales. The ability to predict these changes has applications in cell biology and geophysics, as well as important implications for the design of nanoscale devices. He received the 2007 Allan P. Colburn Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), which recognizes members under the age of 36 who have exhibited research excellence.
In recognition of the broad impact of his drug delivery work using nanotechnology, Dr. Nicholas Peppas served as the Institute Lecturer for the 2007 AIChE Annual Meeting. His talk shared broad lessons uncovered by his Laboratory of Biomaterials, Drug Delivery, Bionanotechnology and Molecular Recognition.
Dr. George Georgiou’s successful antidotes for biological warfare agents, his rapid protein manufacturing technologies and his combinatorial library screening methods earned the 2008 James E. Bailey Award from the AIChE.
Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Dr. Gerald Speitel Department Chair
More than 700 under-graduates and 350 graduate students are enrolled in the #4 ranked Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering program in the country, making it one of the largest and highest ranked programs in the United States. The department fulfilled its fundraising goal from the 2003 Centennial Celebration, passing the $5 million mark on August 31, 2007. More than 2,000 gifts came in over four years, and 30 new endowments were created to support the department in its second century. The campaign has boosted the department’s alumni outreach, resulting in increased involvement in alumni gatherings and the establishment of the Academy of Distinguished Alumni.
Dr. Robert Gilbert keeps reliving Hurricane Katrina. In June, Gilbert, professor of civil engineering, helped issue the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) expert engineering report recommending steps to reduce hurricane damage in New Orleans. He spent his fall and winter holidays the past couple of years with his civil engineering students rebuilding the city. As both the risk expert on the ASCE panel and a hands-on reconstruction crew member, Gilbert has strong opinions about the city’s future.
“The risk of flooding should influence everything from how people are evacuated to where and how houses are rebuilt and land is redeveloped. Building houses on ground that is five to 10 feet below sea level and assuming they will never get wet is nonsensical.”
Dr. Travis Waller enjoys sitting in traffic his entire workday. In fact, the assistant professor of civil engineering creates traffic, manipulates it and then unsnarls it—on his computer. Traditional transportation models use steady-state traffic conditions; for example, the number of vehicles on a roadway over a 24-hour period. Waller’s research uses dynamic models, which can provide the number of vehicles per minute, or even per second, on a roadway and are much more useful in evaluating traffic networks. This fall Waller participated in the prestigious National Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers of Engineering program.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dr. Tony Ambler Department Chair
Redesigning the American electrical grid has become a major focus for faculty in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Dr. Ross Baldick is exploring ways to safeguard the country’s power system from terrorist attacks. Baldick—along with colleagues at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.—has developed software that analyzes various terrorist scenarios and assesses the amount of disruption each would cause.
Drs. W. Mack Grady, Ari Arapostathis and Edward Powers are designing a power system allowing a ship to adapt dynamically to battle damage. The system prioritizes functions needing electricity and routes power around damaged circuits to deliver it to the most important parts of the system.
New assistant professor Dr. Alexis Kwasinski is studying microgrids—small power networks powered by their own local sources. Microgrids can improve reliability by avoiding the need for vulnerable power transmission lines and bulk generation stations. This project is supported by the National Science Foundation.
For the past three years, the department’s Edison Lecture Series has inspired and informed 14,000 middle and high school students about the exciting career opportunities in technology through shows on the university campus and two day-long video conferences presented by the Texas Education Telecommunications Network. The 2008 Edison Lecture topic is “Surveillance, TV and Image Processing.” The rapidly evolving technology of image processing offers both ethical dilemmas and improved health and safety. For instance, the same technology that could make widespread public monitoring a la “Big Brother” cost effective also makes mammograms more reliable.
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Joseph Beaman Department Chair
This fall the department is celebrating the renovation of its new and improved “T-Room.” The department’s home in ETC has transformed to a community-oriented, student-centered base of operation that includes an updated entryway called the Byron Short Entryway. All was made possible thanks to the generosity of more than 750 alumni, whose names will be emblazoned on the T-Room donor wall, and the Ford Motor Company Foundation, which had the original vision.
A technology to produce fuel cells that serve as easily replaced, lightweight power sources for cell phones, laptops, MP3 players and other devices is being developed by a team led by Dr. Arumugam “Ram” Manthiram. He received $3.5 million from the U.S. Office of Naval Research to develop novel materials and manufacturing processes for methanol-powered fuel cells as an alternative to lithium ion batteries.
Dr. Dale Klein, mechanical engineering professor on leave, finished his first year as chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last spring. Simultaneously, his employees voted his commission the No. 1
large government agency to work for, according to a nonprofit group survey. Employees ranked the NRC high in effective leadership, training and development, teamwork and support for diversity. The agency employs about 3,400 workers to regulate commercial nuclear power plants and safe handling of radioactive materials. Although the nation’s newest nuclear power plant was built more than 30 years ago, growing nuclear energy interest indicates Klein should expect to review license applications for 27 new nuclear reactors in the next two years. As a result, the commission plans to add 400 workers this year. The Partnership for Public Service and American University’s Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation conduct the employee survey every two years.
Nanotechnology expert and physical chemist Dr. Rodney Ruoff joined the mechanical engineering faculty this fall and will hold a Cockrell Family Regents Chair in Engineering. Ruoff has become a leader in understanding the mechanical and chemical properties of carbon structures. He is developing a new class of materials, which he calls “graphene-based materials,” that include graphene sheets (a single layer of carbon atoms) with potential applications in solar cells and chemical sensors.
Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering
Dr. Larry Lake Department Chair
To help prepare a new generation of petroleum engineers, alumni Drs. Tim Taylor and Paul Bommer, each with more than 25 years’ experience in the oil business, returned to the university within the last few years.
Concerned about the shortage of petroleum engineers and highdemand for hydrocarbons, Taylor (BSPE ’71, MSPE ’72, PhDPE ’79) left the oil business to become a senior lecturer in the department. His direction of the school’s new intensive recruiting program significantly increased the number and academic qualifications of freshmen seeking petroleum and geosystems engineering degrees. Taylor has started programs that regularly take groups of petroleum engineering students to Shell Oil Company facilities in Louisiana and Halliburton facilities in Oklahoma, where they gain hands-on petroleum engineering experience.
After 25 years in his family’s successful oil business, Bommer (BSPE ’76, MSPE ’77, PhDPE ’79) returned to the university in 2004. He teaches the undergraduate petroleum engineering production course. With Taylor, he serves as a faculty sponsor for the department’s practical edu-cation experiences with ShellOil Company and Halliburton.
With help from key alumni and companies, Bommer refurbished the drilling lab, acquiring four drilling simulators and an acoustic cement analyzer, cement testing equipment and supplies. Students now receive hands-on training in simulating multiple drilling scenarios and developing cement technology, as well as the traditional drilling fluids lab experiences.
Enhanced oil recovery—the attempt to recover part of the oil left behind after conventional recovery—is making a comeback. In petroleum engineering research, new industrial consortiums in heavy oil recovery, miscible flooding and chemical methods abound. Leading the latter effort is an alliance between Chevron and the university on surfactant, polymer and alkaline-surfactant methods. The Chevron-UT Alliance is a five-year effort that will ultimately result in almost $5 million in support coming into the university.