One of the biggest challenges faced here on Earth – how to manage water resources for an ever-growing global population – may soon be solved more than 20,000 miles above our heads.

UH civil and environmental engineering Professor Craig Glennie assisted in a new U.S. Geological Survey-led study that finds deformation below the Earth’s surface caused by earthquakes is expressed much differently than displacement at the surface.

Hyongki Lee, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Cullen College, is making quite a splash. Lee has accomplished so much in the field of water you could say he’s all over the map, but soon his work will be high above the map. He’s helped Pakistani officials manage water resources and was selected by NASA to do the same in Indochina.

Using data collected from twin NASA satellites, a UH engineering professor is helping officials from the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) to manage the country’s groundwater resources from approximately 300 miles above Earth.

Tropical wetlands are one of the most important sources of methane and carbon emissions, which means these land areas play a key role in climate change. Hydrology and hydrodynamics in the tropical wetlands are controlling factors of plant and animal ecosystems, sediment delivery, nutrient exchange and global climate change.

Smartphones and other personal electronic devices could, in regions where they are in widespread use, function as early warning systems for large earthquakes, according to newly reported research. This technology could serve regions of the world that cannot afford higher quality but more expensive conventional earthquake early warning systems.

Hyongki Lee, assistant professor in the Cullen College’s department of civil and environmental engineering, has won a grant through NASA’s Applied Sciences Program to help South Asian nations independently manage their water resources using softwar

Computers and other technologies have vastly increased our ability to collect data on just about anything you can imagine. However, one major drawback to this is our inability to keep up with the amount of data being produced by these technologies. In many cases, the vast amounts of data being collected are going unused – that is, until more sophisticated software or other data-mining tools can be developed to decipher, apply and use this data in meaningful ways.

Researchers with the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering are creating what will likely be the most accurate and detailed map of a forested area the world has ever seen.