Skip to main content

National Awards & Recognition

2023

Fellow-National Academy of Inventors (NAI)

Vincent M. Donnelly
Chemical and Biomolecular

Fellow-National Academy of Inventors (NAI)

Christine Ehlig-Economides
Petroleum

Will Allis Prize for the Study of Ionized Gases-American Physical Society (APS)

Vincent M. Donnelly
Chemical and Biomolecular

Most Cited Researchers in the World

Jiming Bao and Zhu Han
Electrical and Computer

Inaugural Member-Hart Energy Hall of Fame and Agents of Change in Energy (ACEs)

Mohamed Soliman
Petroleum

Honorary Member Award-Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)

Birol Dindoruk
Petroleum

Data Analytics Award-Industrial Engineering & Operations Management (IEOM)

Ying Lin
Industrial

Pilot Program Award-HEALTH-RCMI

Zhengwei Li
Biomedical

$63.5 Million Contract (Largest Contract/Grant Awarded to UH)-U.S. Department of Defense

Craig Glennie
Civil and Environmental

Distinguished Educator Award-Industrial Engineering & Operations Management (IEOM)

Gino J. Lim
Industrial

Fellow-American Geophysical Union (AGU) LANDInG Academy

Juan Carlos Fernandez-Diaz
Civil and Environmental

CAREER Award-National Science Foundation (NSF)

Jerrod A. Henderson
Chemical and Biomolecular

Frank Prize-International Organization for Crystal Growth (IOCG)

Peter Vekilov
Chemical and Biomolecular

Raymond Viskanta Young Scientist Award-Elsevier/JQSRT

Bo Zhao
Mechanical

CAREER Award-National Science Foundation (NSF)

Konrad Krakowiak
Civil and Environmental

Young Exceptional Service Award-Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Power Electronic Society (PELS)

Harish Krishnamoorthy
Electrical and Computer

CAREER Award-National Science Foundation (NSF)

Harish Krishnamoorthy
Electrical and Computer

Associate Editor, Macromolecules

Megan Robertson
Chemical and Biomolecular

Emerging Leader-Offshore Technology Conference

Xingpeng Li
Electrical and Computer

2023 Outstanding Mentor Award-Conference of Southern Graduate Schools

Jeffrey Rimer
Chemical and Biomolecular

BRITE Award-National Science Foundation (NSF)

Yashashree Kulkarni
Mechanical

Fellow-Society of Engineering Science (SES)

Haleh Ardebili
Mechanical

2023 Legend of Hydraulic Fracturing-Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)

Mohamed Soliman
Petroleum

Senior Member-National Academy of Inventors (NAI)

Triantafillos Mountziaris
Chemical and Biomolecular

Associate Editor, Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering

Jerrod A. Henderson
Chemical and Biomolecular

Vice President-TAMEST

Ganesh Thakur
Petroleum

2022

Fellow-National Academy of Inventors (NAI)

Hao Huang
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Fellow-American Physical Society

Jacinta C. Conrad
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Most Cited Researchers in the World

Jiming Bao and Zhu Han
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Fellow-American Chemical Society

Megan Robertson
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Editor-in-Chief for the American Society of Mechanics Engineers (ASME) Journal of Applied Mechanics

Pradeep Sharma
Mechanical Engineering

Program Director-NSF Partnerships for Innovation Program

Debora Rodrigues
Civil and Environmental Engineering

Fellow-American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

Roberto Ballarini
Civil and Environmental Engineering

Fellow-American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

Yashashree Kulkarni
Mechanical Engineering

Global Energy Prize-Global Energy Association

Kaushik Rajashekara
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Distinguished Speaker-Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

Zhu Han
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Emerging Leader-Offshore Technology Conference (OTC)

Harish Sarma Krishnamoorthy
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Distinguished Service Award-American Concrete Institute (ACI)

Abdeldjelil "DJ" Belarbi
Civil and Environmental Engineering

Senior Member-National Academy of Inventors (NAI)

Hadi Ghasemi
Mechanical Engineering

Senior Member-National Academy of Inventors (NAI)

Navin Varadarajan
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Member-National Academy of Engineering (NAE)

Pradeep Sharma
Mechanical Engineering

CAREER Award-National Science Foundation (NSF)

Jinsook Roh
Biomedical Engineering

2021

Fellow-Electrochemical Society 

Stanko Brankovic
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Innovation Award-Polymer Processing Society 

Anil Bhowmick
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Alan S. Michaels Award from ACS BIOT 

Richard Willson
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

ASCE Distinguished Member Status 

Roberto Ballarini 
Civil and Environmental Engineering

NSF CAREER Award 

Shailendra Joshi
Mechanical Engineering

Pediatric Device Prize 

Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Associate Editor for ACS Crystal Growth & Design 

Jeffrey Rimer
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

NSF CAREER Award 

Kyung Jae Lee
Petroleum Engineering

National Academy of Engineers (NAE) 

Donald Wilton 
Electrical and Computer Engineering

National Academy of Inventors (NAI)

Hien Van Nguyen, Jeffrey Rimer, and Gangbing Song 
Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering

NSF CAREER Award 

Mehmet Orman
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

IEEE Senior Member 

Yasmin Akay 
Biomedical Engineering

SPIE Fellow 

Wei-Chuan Shih 
Electrical and Computer Engineering

IEEE EMBS President 

Metin Akay
Biomedical Engineering

2020 Distinguished Achievement Award  

Thomas T.C. Hsu
Civil and Environmental Engineering

2020

National Education Leadership Award 

Jerrod A. Henderson
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies 

Kaushik Rajashekara 
Electrical and Computer Engineering

2020-21 Interstellar Initiative 

Rose Faghih
Electrical and Computer Engineering

SPE International Distinguished Membership 

Phaneendra Kondapi
Subsea Engineering

Kiyo Tomiyasu Award 

Zhu Han
Electrical and Computer Engineering

SPE Regional Distinguished Achievement Award 

Mohamed Soliman 
Petroleum Engineering

2020 Innovator Under 35 

Rose Faghih
Electrical and Computer Engineering

COVID-19 Vaccine 

Navin Varadarajan
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

“Woman to Watch” 

Rose Faghih
Electrical and Computer Engineering

ASCE Outstanding Technical Contribution Award 

Olga Bannova
Mechanical Engineering

Guggenheim Fellowship

Pradeep Sharma
Mechanical Engineering

NAI 

Yuhua ChenYan Yao, and Hung “Harry” Le
Electrical and Computer Engineering

2019

TAMEST 

Jeffrey Rimer 
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow 

Zhu Han
Electrical and Computer Engineering

American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows 

Kirill Larin 
Biomedical Engineering

Distinguished Member of the Association for Computing Machinery 

Zhu Han
Electrical and Computer Engineering

2019 Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois 

Jerrod A. Henderson
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Fellow of American Physical Society  

Jiming Bao
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Awards 

Phaneendra Kondapi  and Ganesh Thakur
Subsea Engineering and Petroleum Engineering

IEEE Achievement Award 

Kaushik Rajashekara 
Electrical and Computer Engineering

ASME Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award 

Pradeep Sharma
Mechanical Engineering

NAE’s U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium 

Rose Faghih
Electrical and Computer Engineering

2019 Mindlin Medal 

Roberto Ballarini
Civil and Environmental Engineering

Southwest Catalysis Society (SWCS) Award for Excellence in Applied Catalysis  

Michael P. Harold
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)’s Service to the Institute Award 

Jerry Rogers
Civil and Environmental Engineering

National Academy of Inventors (NAI) 

Wei-Chuan Shih
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Computing Community Consortium (CCC)’s “Great Innovative Ideas” Series 

Hien Van Nguyen
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Most Cited Researchers in the World 

Zhu Han and Yan Yao
Electrical and Computer Engineering

2018

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow 

Venkat Selvamanickam 
Mechanical Engineering

IEEE Fellow

Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal
Electrical and Computer Engineering

American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering’s (AIMBE) College of Fellows 

Badri Roysam
Electrical and Computer Engineering

2019 James R. Rice Medal  

Pradeep Sharma
Mechanical Engineering

Fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA) 

Jiming Bao
Electrical and Computer Engineering

2018 Class of Influential Researchers by Industrial & Engineering (I&EC) Research 

Jeffrey Rimer and Lars Grabow 
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)/AIME Honorary Membership 

Christine Ehlig-Economides
Petroleum Engineering

D.C. Art Science Evening Rendezvous (DASER) 

Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal
Electrical and Computer Engineering

BYUradio’s “Top of Mind with Julie Rose” 

Michael Harold
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Associate Editor of Clean Water Journal 

Debora Rodrigues
Civil and Environmental Engineering

2018 Sparks-Thomas Award 

Megan Robertson
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

American Academy of Water Resources (AAWRE) Service to the Academy Award 

Jerry Rogers
Civil and Environmental Engineering

IEEE Distinguished Educator Award 

Stuart Long
Electrical and Computer Engineering

NSF CAREER Award 

Sheereen Majd 
Biomedical Engineering

Legion of Honor Award 

Ali Daneshy 
Petroleum Engineering

Distinguished Achievement Award 

H. Brian Skeels 
Subsea Engineering

Distinguished Achievement Award-Gulf Coast Region of the Society of Petroleum Engineers 

Konstantinos Kostarelos 
Petroleum Engineering

Scialog Award- Research Corporation for Science Advancement 

Yan Yao
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Program Director-NSF 

Elebeoba E. May
Biomedical Engineering

2018 Hackerman Award 

Jeffrey Rimer 
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

35 Innovators Under 35-MIT Technology Review 

Cunjiang Yu
Mechanical Engineering

IEEE Fellow 

Badri Roysam
Electrical and Computer Engineering

2017

Career Development Award-Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program 

Navin Varadarajan 
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

NSF CAREER Award 

Zheng Chen
Mechanical Engineering

What’s In The Water? - Houston Chronicle 

Hanadi Rifai
Civil and Environmental Engineering

Inspiring STEM Leader Award-INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine 

Jerrod A. Henderson
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Is Houston Missing the Next Wave? -Houston Chronicle 

Daniel Araya
Mechanical Engineering

FRI/John G. Kunesh Award-American Institute of Chemical Engineers in Separations Division and Netherlands Center for Multiscale Catalytic Energy Conversion (MCEC) Lectureship Award 

Jeffrey Rimer
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

X-Factor Innovations- NASA iTech Competition 

Hadi Ghasemi 
Mechanical Engineering

Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award-Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) 

Xiaonan Shan
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Electrodeposition Division Research Award-The Electrochemical Society (ECS) 

Stanko Brankovic
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Shale Task Force- The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) 

Christine Ehlig-Economides
Petroleum Engineering

Cataldo Agostinelli e Angiola Gili Agostinelli International Prize-Accademia dei Lincei 

Andrea Prosperetti 
Mechanical Engineering

Advisory Board-ACS Catalysis and ChemCatChem 

Lars Grabow
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Regional Distinguished Achievement Award and SPE Regional Technical Award 

Phaneendra Kondapi 
Subsea Engineering

2017 Sia Nemat-Nassar Early Career Award-American Society of Mechanical Engineers 

Yashashree Kulkarni
Mechanical Engineering

Scialog Fellow in the Advanced Energy Storage (AES) category 

Yan Yao
Electrical and Computer Engineering

National Science Foundation Honors 

Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal
Electrical and Computer Engineering

2016

UH Engineers Who Are Changing the World- Houston Chronicle 

Venkat Selvamanickam, Debora Rodrigues, and Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal
Mechanical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering

Joe W. Hightower Award- American Chemical Society-Greater Houston Section 

Jeffrey Rimer 
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

“Seating secrets: How airlines decide what fare you pay”-CNN 

Andrew Boyd
Industrial Engineering

American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award 

Cunjiang Yu 
Mechanical Engineering

2016 Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Research Award 

Debora Rodrigues
Civil and Environmental Engineering

2016 Owens Corning Early Career Award- American Institute of Chemical Engineers 

Jeffrey Rimer 
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

National Science Foundation’s National Robotics Initiative  

Aaron Becker
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Vice Chair for Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division-American Institute of Chemical Engineers 

Lars Grabow 
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Chair- United States National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science 

David Jackson
Electrical and Computer Engineering

2016 Fellow of the Neutron Scattering Society of America  

Ramanan Krishnamoorti 
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Guest Editor-Special Issue of the Journal of the Electrochemical Society 

Stanko Brankovic
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Most Downloaded Paper on Inkjet-Printed Lens for Smartphone Microscopy  

Wei-Chuan Shih
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Editor-ECE Source  

Badri Roysam
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Young Investigator Award-U.S. Air Force 

Hadi Ghasemi 
Mechanical Engineering

NSF CAREER Award 

Aaron Becker
Electrical and Computer Engineering

NSF CAREER Award 

Cunjiang Yu
Mechanical Engineering

UH Research Exploring Creativity and the Brain- Houston Public Media 

Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal
Electrical and Computer Engineering

“U.S. Has the Edge for Developing Unconventional Resources”- Forbes.com 

Christine Ehlig-Economides
Petroleum Engineering

2015

Exploding Hoverboards-KHOU 11 News 

Yan Yao
Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Oxford Handbook of Perceptual Organization 

Haluk Ogmen
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Fellow of the Optical Society 

Kirill Larin 
Biomedical Engineering

American Vacuum Society’s (AVS) Thin Film Division Paul H. Holloway Young Investigator Award  

Cunjiang Yu 
Mechanical Engineering

2015 Pierce Award in Affinity Technology-International Society of Molecular Recognition 

Richard Willson 
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

NSF I-Corps Award for “DotLens Smartphone Microscopy” 

Wei-Chuan Shih
Electrical and Computer Engineering

“Future of Healthcare: The Innovative Spirit”-The Smithsonian Magazine 

Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Immunotherapy Software-Forbes.com 

Badri Roysam and Navin Varadarajan 
Electrical and Computer Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

UH Moment- Houston Public Media  

Wei-Chuan Shih
Electrical and Computer Engineering 

2015 EURASIP Best Paper Award-EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing 

Zhu Han
Electrical and Computer Engineering

2015 Melville Medal- American Society of Mechanical Engineers 

Pradeep Sharma
Mechanical Engineering

Testimony Before Congress on Energy Training Program 

Ramanan Krishnamoorti 
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Honorary Doctoral Degree from Aalborg University 

Metin Akay 
Biomedical Engineering

Distinguished Membership- American Society of Civil Engineers  

Thomas Hsu
Civil and Environmental Engineering

“Top 35 Houston Latinos You Should Know”-Houston Chronicle 

Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers 

Joseph W. Tedesco
Civil and Environmental Engineering

NSF CAREER Awards 

Bora Gencturk and Lars Grabow 
Civil and Environmental Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

IEEE Technical Field Award 

Donald Wilton
Electrical and Computer Engineering

2015 SPIE Fellow 

Kirill Larin 
Biomedical Engineering