Houston’s leaders in industry, academia and government who make up the UH Cullen College’s Engineering Leadership Board (ELB) gathered for the annual ELB Dinner at The Houston Club on Nov. 11.

At the UH Cullen College of Engineering, undergrads are strongly encouraged to engage in hands-on, real-world research while pursuing their degrees – and there’s no shortage of cutting-edge research projects for undergraduate students to get involved in at the college.

More than 200 UH undergraduate students presented their research at the 2016 Undergraduate Research Day held at the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion on October 13.

Once upon a time you got your best action and science fiction fix from the movies.

“2001: A Space Odyssey” showed us how pedestrian structures on the moon might seem; Walt Disney brought us tiny robots called microbots in “Big Hero 6”; Robert Zemeckis convinced us we wouldn’t need roads when he created Marty McFly’s hoverboard in “Back to the Future II”; and, “The Fast and The Furious” showed us what it would be like to fly like the wind while staying on track.

Deep within a UH computer, models being built by Theocharis Baxevanis, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, just may cause a sea change in the aerospace industry. The hydro-mechanical system actuator, like an on/off switch, that controls the wing flaps (you see them coming up as a plane is landing) could be replaced with a new solid-state actuator made of a new High Temperature Shape Memory Alloy (HTSMA) that is lighter and more cost efficient.

Deep within your body there exists donut-shaped objects – many of them, in fact. No, these donuts aren’t from the box of Shipley’s that mysteriously disappeared, despite the fact your diet had just started. These particular donuts are the membranes of the nuclear envelope, which surround and protect the cell’s nucleus, where the all-important genetic material, or DNA, is stored.

Just as the University of Houston kicks off another fall semester with expectations of record enrollment (more than 43,700 as of Friday), the Princeton Review is highlighting why more students are choosing Houston.

The renowned University of Houston engineering professor John Lienhard, who heralds “how inventive minds work” as the creator and voice of the KUHF radio program The Engines of Our Ingenuity, is collaborating with ConocoPhillips to rev up audiences again.

Imagine a battery that doesn't fit neatly into its appointed slot, one that's neither cylindrical nor square shaped, but perhaps as thin as a business card and as stretchy as Play Dough. If you can envision that, then you've just jumped into the mind of Haleh Ardebili, Bill D. Cook Associate Professor in mechanical engineering at the UH Cullen College of Engineering.