Just yesterday it seemed to be an empty office space you probably ignored as you walked off the elevator on the third floor of the Cullen College of Engineering Building Two. What a difference a day – and the Engineering Career Services Center – can make.

As one of the pioneering instructors in the subsea engineering program, Phaneendra Kondapi is a familiar name at the UH Cullen College of Engineering. Now Kondapi is forging new paths at the college once again, this time as the founding director of engineering programs in Katy, Texas.

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Wearing a bulky version of La Forge’s visor from “Star Trek,” a man pinches and pulls the air in front of him; behind the lens of his futuristic goggles, reality is altered.

Imagine an electronic “tattoo” on your skin that could continuously monitor your health, or tiny, biocompatible sensors that could treat a traumatic brain injury at the site. It may seem like science fiction, or at least a dream of a very distant future – but as John Rogers of Northwestern University explained to the UH community last week, these are both current examples of biocompatible devices that can integrate with the human body.

From his office in west Houston, UH Cullen College of Engineering alumnus Giancarlo Mitterhofer (BSME ’03) looks down at his smartphone and realizes two things: he’s not making as much money as he could and his environmental footprint is growing instead of shrinking.

If you drive in the U.S., the chances are pretty high that you’ve driven over a structurally deficient bridge at some point or another. In fact, over two hundred million trips are taken each day across deficient bridges in America’s 102 largest metropolitan regions, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.

When Jameel Jordan became a petroleum engineering student at the Cullen College he never dreamed he'd also become a mentor to third graders.

“It never crossed my mind,” said Jordan.

But the opportunity found him when he learned of iEducate, a group that pays you to share your knowledge of STEM courses (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) with students in Houston’s underserved communities.

It seemed a good fit. Turns out it was perfect.

Last year the lives of 85 UH Engineering undergraduate students changed drastically when they received scholarships donated by the incredibly generous alumnus Dr. William A. Brookshire. On Feb. 9, these students had the opportunity to meet and thank the man who made such a lasting impact in their lives at the Brookshire Scholarship Luncheon held at the UH Hilton.

Engineering may not be elementary, but elementary-aged students can still enjoy engineering. And they did, en masse, during two Passport to UH events hosted by the Cullen College’s subsea engineering program.

On Jan. 20, baby engineers from Lamar ISD 5th grade classes gathered at UH during Subsea STEM Day, which encourages young students to become involved in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.