From improvements in cellular base stations to the development of more efficient electric transmission lines and energy storage systems, high-temperature superconductors (HTS) are nearing their commercial viability. Two-time UH mechanical engineering graduate, Venkat Selvamanickam, will present a special seminar — “Second-generation HTS Conductors” — from 3 to 4 p.m., Monday, May 2, in room 102 of the Houston Science Center at UH. Part of the Texas Center for Superconductivity and Advanced Materials (TcSAM) Special Seminar series, the event is free and open to the public. Selvamanickam, currently a program manager of materials technology at SuperPower Inc. in Schenectady, New York, recently was named “Superconductor Industry Person of the Year 2004.”