Engineering faculty, staff and students recognized

The UH Cullen College of Engineering celebrated excellence in the ranks at its recent faculty and staff meeting. Joseph W. Tedesco, Elizabeth D. Rockwell Dean of the College, handed out numerous awards recognizing faculty, staff and students for their outstanding contributions in teaching, research and service.

Lead poisoning has become a national concern as aging water pipes pose a threat to public health. You just have to mention Flint, Mich. for Americans to acknowledge the dangerous realities of contaminated water.

An invention by a University of Houston engineer that turns your smartphone into a microscope, allowing it to detect whether your pond water is healthy, is getting attention in the media. Houston’s CBS affiliate, KHOU-TV Channel 11 aired a story about the invention of the DotLens, which came to life in the laboratory of electrical and computer engineering Associate Professor Wei-Chuan Shih.

Three years after his discovery of porous gold nanoparticles – gold nanoparticles that offer a larger surface area because of their porous nature – a UH Cullen College of Engineering researcher is continuing to explore the science and potential applications.

Researchers at the Cullen College of Engineering have discovered an innovative method for destroying bacteria in a matter of seconds by using light to heat highly porous gold nanodisks. A research paper describing the method was featured on the cover of the April issue of Optical Materials Express.

The October cover of the Journal of Biophotonics featured molecular sensing research conducted by Wei-Chuan Shih, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the

A professor in the UH Cullen College of Engineering received the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) award with a project titled “DotLens Smartphone Microscopy.” This grant will provide his team with seed funding and guidance to take one of their innovative ideas out of the laboratory and pursue commercialization.

Two UH engineering professors have developed novel optical probes with potential applications in improving diagnosis and treatment for patients with kidney disease.

At this month’s Cullen College of Engineering faculty and staff meeting, Dean Joseph Tedesco announced the recipients of the 2014–2015 faculty excellence awards, which recognize faculty members for their outstanding performance in teaching, research and service.