The University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering has chosen two mechanical engineering students as Outstanding Senior and Junior for the 2012-2013 academic year. Senior John Alred and junior Ryan Hannemann were selected for superlative academic performance, representing a group of high-achieving students from each of the college’s undergraduate programs.

The defining characteristic of nanotechnology, where devices and their features are measured in billionths of a meter, is size. But size isn’t the only thing that sets the nano-realm apart. Materials and devices can behave differently – startlingly differently even – at the nano-scale than they do when in larger forms.

UH Cullen College of Engineering faculty and staff were honored for outstanding performance in teaching, research and service at the college’s Spring 2012 Faculty-Staff meeting on May 2. President Renu Khator addressed the group with a special message of her vision for the college, and Dean Joseph Tedesco discussed the college’s progress in a number of areas.

David Zimmerman, a professor in the Cullen College of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, passed away Tuesday, April 10, 2012.

Zimmerman earned his doctorate, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering, all from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1982, 1984 and 1987, respectively. He then served as a faculty member at the University of Florida before joining the Cullen College in 1993.

The University of Houston honors its faculty each year for their teaching, research and service contributions during the annual UH Faculty Excellence Awards ceremony. Held this year on April 20, five Cullen College of Engineering faculty received high honors for excellence in teaching, research and mentoring, while 17 faculty were recognized for years of service.

Teaching Excellence Award

University of Houston researchers received a nearly $3 million grant this month to support an initiative aimed not only at enriching the education of university graduate students, but engaging area schoolchildren and teachers in physical sciences.

Funds from a nearly $400,000 grant received by two mechanical engineering professors could help researchers better understand the origins of the super-charged piezoelectric effect at the nanoscale.

Dean Joseph Tedesco recognized UH Cullen College of Engineering faculty members for outstanding teaching and research during the 2007-2008 academic year at the college's Spring Faculty/Staff Meeting on April 29.

Interdisciplinary team from three universities will seek to create “piezoelectrics on steroids.”

Artificial limbs that can perform a variety of complex tasks by more closely mimicking natural movement and levels of strength and high-tech military equipment powered by every step a soldier takes are just two of the many innovations that may arise through the work of a research team based at the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering.