American Chemical Society awards grant to mechanical engineer to study gas hydrates

World-renowned for their anti-icing materials and research, UH engineer Hadi Ghasemi and his research group are applying their expertise to a new subject – gas hydrates.

As many times as Hadi Ghasemi thought about wood frogs, a cold, hard fact seemed to hop out at him: They can tolerate freezing of more than half their body’s fluids and still survive, even in the winter. So the Bill D.

Of the almost 5,000 species of frogs around the world, one of them hops immediately to Hadi Ghasemi’s attention. You might wonder why the Bill D. Cook Assistant Professor of mechanical engineering has amphibians on his mind when he is so clearly a man versed in mechanics.

The University of Houston-Materials Research Society Chapter (UH-MRS) hosted its first student symposium in the main lobby of engineering building 1. At the symposium students presented their work to an esteemed crowd of professional members across various engineering and science disciplines at UH. The 40 presenters came from different departments including chemistry, physics; and chemical, mechanical, materials and electrical engineering.

UH-MRS winners are:

In 1989, an Air Ontario flight, with ice and snow covering its wings during takeoff, fails to attain the proper altitude. Unable to get above the trees, it crashes into them, killing 25 passengers. In 1994, an American Eagle plane flies into treacherous icing conditions and the pilots lose control of the plane. It crashes, killing all 68 souls onboard. From 1990 to 2000, 12 percent of all weather-related air disasters were due to icing.

Joseph W. Tedesco, Elizabeth D. Rockwell dean of the Cullen College, recognized faculty, staff and students for their outstanding performance in teaching, research and service at the spring faculty and staff meeting held on May 3.

The University of Houston’s Graduate Research and Scholarship Projects (GRaSP) Day offers students the opportunity to network and introduce their research to a wide audience through oral and poster presentations. Now in its second year, GRaSP Day celebrates the research, scholarship and creative endeavors of UH graduate and professional students across all disciplines.

This fall, the American Society of Indian Engineers (ASIE) took notice of several Cullen College of Engineering students and awarded their academic excellence with scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.

Mechanical engineering students Sonika Gahlawat, Abhilash Reddy and Himani Agrawal were just a few of the students honored by the ASIE at their banquet in November. Ken White, professor of mechanical engineering, also attended.

About 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, and just less than 97 percent of this water is held in the world’s oceans. As a resource in its own right, water is hugely abundant, but harnessing it in efficient ways that benefit humanity proves challenging for researchers.