Cullen College engineering professors collaborate to solve monolayer catalyst mystery

The South Texas Section (STS) of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) chose a paper written by two UH Cullen College of Engineering professors and their Ph.D. students for its Best Fundamental Paper Award.

The award was presented Tuesday at the monthly STS-AIChE meeting in Galveston.

If there were Academy Awards in the field of electrochemical material science, Stanko Brankovic, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Cullen College and past chair of the materials science division of the International Society of Electrochemistry, would be taking home an Oscar.

Two Cullen College of Engineering Ph.D. students, studying under the direction of Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Stanko Brankovic, are back from Honolulu, Hawaii, where they presented talks on their groundbreaking work at the biggest conference in the electrochemistry field.

Stanko Brankovic, associate professor of electric and computer engineering at the Cullen College, was invited to serve as a guest editor for a special issue of the Journal of the Electrochemical Society (JES).

Researchers at the UH Cullen College of Engineering have synthesized and characterized a novel metallic monolayer catalyst with far superior catalytic properties than those currently used in industry.

A semiconductor industry group has awarded an $80,000 grant to a University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering professor to develop a new way to connect transistors in integrated circuits (ICs), which are at the heart of practically every electronic device.

National Semiconductor, the world’s largest maker of analog circuits, has given $160,000 to a Cullen College of Engineering professor to develop new metal alloys for possible use in devices that require top-notch reliability.

The grant to Stanko Brankovic, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, will be used to support two graduate students and to design and build an entirely new machine for testing the properties of these alloys.

Each year, the university recognizes excellence in teaching, service, research and scholarship through a variety of awards given to faculty.

Presented during the 32nd Annual University of Houston Faculty Awards Ceremony April 27, five engineering professors were honored for their distinguished contributions to the university.

To better understand the fundamental laws of nature, researchers worldwide utilize particle accelerators to explore high-energy interactions at the atomic level. By propelling high-velocity beams of protons, neutrons or electrons toward their targets, these instruments are capable of shattering the nucleus of an atom to reveal its subatomic structure—the very particles that make up matter.