Members of the Cullen College of Engineering faculty are affiliated with the following University of Houston research facilities. Those facilities indicated with an asterisk (*) are based in the college.

Allied Geophysical Laboratories
The Allied Geophysical Laboratories at the University of Houston are organized around research into the technologies of oil and gas exploration and production. The largest (and oldest) of the Laboratories is the Seismic Acoustics Laboratory (SAL) which managesone of the world's largest physical modeling facilities for research into 3-dimensional seismic wave propagation.

Bioengineering Research Center*
The center promotes research and graduate education in bioengineering at UH. It sponsors a Bioengineering Seminar Series and fosters interaction of college faculty involved in bioengineering research with colleagues at UH and in the greater Houston area, including the Texas Medical Center, Rice University, and the UT Medical Branch at Galveston. It also coordinates UH's presence in the Annual Houston Conference on Biomedical Engineering Research, organized by the Houston Society for Engineering in Medicine and Biology.

Biomedical Engineering Research Center Activities
The support for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Bioengineering Program is already at the $122 million level, and it is expected to rise significantly in the future. Biomedical engineering is a new initiative at NIH, and represents an opportunity for UH researchers to gain research support for their activities. Active Grants

BioNano Technology

Center for Innovative Grouting Materials & Technology*
CIGMAT was established in 1994 as an industry-university consortium due to growing demand from industry for better management of information on grouts and grout applications. Ongoing research projects include rehabilitation of wastewater facilities, a new generation of deep foundations, and new pipes and materials.

Center for Nanomagnetic Systems
Research in the Center for Nanomagnetic Systems covers a range of topics related to the development and applications of novel magnetic materials and devices at nanoscale dimensions. These include nanomagnetic materials and devices directly related to the current and future magnetic storage technologies such as disk drive storage and probe storage based on MEMS, magnetic random access memory (MRAM), and magnetic cellular logic (QCA).

Center for Neuro-Engineering and Cognitive Science
This center is the successor of the Cognitive Science Initiative, and its primary mission is to conduct basic and applied research in neuro-engineering and cognitive science. Other important objectives include the education of students in a multi-disciplinary approach to topics relevant to neuro-engineering and cognitive science and the continuation and fostering of research alliances with the Houston and Galveston educational institutions and medical centers.

Center for the Reliability of Ceramics
The center provides a cooperative forum for university, national lab, and industrial researchers to cooperate on research directed toward the improvement of ceramic performance in engineering applications. Research topics include crack growth resistance modeling in brittle materials, statistical prediction of failure of engineering components, multi-scale determination of failure mechanisms in ceramics, and fatigue degradation in ceramics and ceramic composites.

Composites Engineering and Applications Center (CEAC)*
The Composites Engineering and Applications Center (CEAC) for Petroleum Exploration and Production at the University of Houston was established in 1994 through a joint initiative of U.S. petroleum companies and the U.S. Minerals Management Service. Members recognize the potential enabling technical and life-cycle cost benefits of composite materials in onshore and offshore operations. Of special current interest are structural components such as risers, tethers and spoolable sub-sea flow lines for deep water applications where present materials may have performance and economic limitations.

Diesel Vehicle Research and Testing Facility
The University of Houston Diesel Vehicle Research and Testing Facility is a heavy-duty diesel vehicle emissions testing laboratory. Capabilities range from bench scale reactor testing of emerging emission reduction technologies through chassis dynamometer testing of heavy-duty diesel vehicles.

Houston InfoComm Technology Center
Created within the UH Cullen College of Engineering, The HIT Center is a consortium that provides support for collaborative research in first response, traffic mobility, clean air mitigation and homeland security.

Institute for Fluid Dynamics and Turbulence*
The objectives of the Institute for Fluid Dynamics and Turbulence's experimental, computational and theoretical research are to understand turbulence physics and to apply this knowledge in technologically relevant flows to control entrainment, mixing, drag, combustion, and aerodynamic noise, as well as transport phenomena in two-phase flows.

Institute for Improved Oil Recovery
The Institute is an industry/university consortium for conducting research in both improved recovery from, and characterization of, hydrocarbon reservoirs. Ongoing projects include miscible flooding for Alaskan shallow sands, surfactant treatment for fractured carbonates, improved characterization of NMR logging, and effect of capillary/bond numbers on relative permeability.

Institute for Integrated Systems

Institute for Molecular Biology

Institute for Molecular Design
The Institute for Molecular Design is leading the national effort to harness the power of advanced computers for the discovery of new medicines, industrial catalysts, agrochemical, and other useful materials. The IMD is a multidisciplinary unit with representation from two colleges and seven academic departments. The mission of the TCCIS is to foster and conduct collaborative interdisciplinary research, education and training and to provide the administrative and technical support and facilities required to achieve this objective.

Institute for Space Systems Operations
The Houston Partnership for Space Exploration (HPSE) was established by the State of Texas in 1992 for the University of Houston System. The general mission of HPSE is to advance the development of the aerospace community in the Houston area and Texas. Particular emphasis is directed to the academic, industrial, and government programs associated with the NASA L.B. Johnson Space Center. The Institute of Space Systems Operations (ISSO) is the operational agency of Houston Partnership for Space Exploration.

Institute for Theoretical and Engineering Science

NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC-UH)
The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC-UH) on Advanced Oxides and Related Materials was established by the National Science Foundation in 1996. The research program of the Center focuses on advanced oxide materials with technologically important applications in ionic devices including membrane and electrocatalytic reactors, fuel cells and chemical sensors.

Seismic Acoustics Laboratory

Southwest Public Safety Technology Center
The Southwest Public Safety Technology Center (SWTC) is a collaborative effort on the part of the Cullen College of Engineering and the Sheriffs' Association of Texas (SAT). SWTC is made possible through a congressionally-mandated grant administered by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Office of Science & Technology. SWTC's Mission is to develop integrated technology solutions for the public safety and homeland security community in keeping with our nation’s move toward an integrated homeland security infrastructure, including, but not limited to critical infrastructure (seaport, airport and other public utilities) protection and security, interoperable communications, intelligent transportation, emergency health services, incident command, and mass evacuation.

Texas Center for Superconductivity and Advanced Materials
In March 2002 two internationally renowned institutes, the Texas Center for Superconductivity and the Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center, merged to form the Texas Center for Superconductivity and Advanced Materials. The new center creates and develops high temperature superconducting and advanced materials and furthers their fundamental understanding. The center also advances new terrestrial and space applications based on these materials, and disseminates fundamental and applied knowledge through education and outreach.

UH Telecom Center
The main mission of this center is to build a bridge between Telecommunications industry/Texas Medical Center and UH through joint research projects and educational/training programs. Its current research areas are smart antenna systems, wireless devices and systems for Telemedicine and Homeland Security. In addition, the center leads the way in radio-frequency radiation and interference standards and compliance, and provides educational/training programs, including the Engineering Entrepreneurism program.

University Research, Engineering and Technology Institute for Intelligent Bio-Nano Materials and Structures for Aerospace Vehicles
UH engineers are concentrating on two broad research areas, establishing distributed intelligence architectures to improve flight and mechanical performance and safety of future aircraft and spacecraft, and fabricating new nanomaterials that are stronger and lighter than conventional materials. The center is based at Texas A&M University, and other institute members include Prairie View A&M University, Rice University, Texas Southern University and the University of Texas at Arlington.

Well Logging Laboratory*
The laboratory investigates the electric properties of reservoir rocks over a wide range of frequencies. In addition, theoretical and experimental studies have been carried out to obtain a better understanding of electric tool response in complex borehole environments, such as dipping formations, thin invaded beds, and anisotropic formations. All of these studies have the primary objective of improving interpretation of logs obtained with existing tools and issupported by a consortium of oil and service companies.