The Cullen College of Engineering will celebrate six distinguished award winners at the inaugural 2024 Cullen Gala.
This year’s event will be held on Thursday, October 10 at the Hilton Americas Hotel. For more information, and to purchase tickets or sponsorships, visit the event’s website.
Meet our 2024 Honorees:
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Frank C. Adamek, P.E. (BSME ’72, MSME ’75)
President of Adamek Engineering & Engineering Technology Solutions, LLC
Frank Adamek has over 40 years of experience in the Oil and Gas industry in a variety of engineering, R&D, and quality leadership positions. Frank’s illustrious career spans over four decades involving him with nearly all elements of the oil and gas arena for both onshore and offshore operations. An engineer at heart, he has a natural curiosity of learning as much as possible about a topic and mechanical system. This has served him well over the years, as he has tackled some of the industry’s most difficult challenges. From the burning wellhead fires in Kuwait, to helping in NASA’s return to flight initiative after the Challenger failure, to leading a key recovery effort for Macondo, to representing the industry in various capacities in Washington DC, Frank has served the industry honorably and continues to do so today.
Frank has served in a variety of leadership capacities for a major international oil and gas equipment supplier, including Director of Product Engineering, Director of Advanced Seal Systems, Director of R&D, Vice President of Customer Quality, Global Technical Director, and Executive Chief Engineer. Along with his technical and market knowledge, his innovative skills have led to 18 US patents.
In addition to his technical achievements, Frank has a rich history of community involvement. He has chaired the University of Houston Energy Industry Crawfish Boil, an event he helped originate and has supported for over 30 years. He also served as past president of the Lakes of Cypress Forest Homeowners Association.
Frank earned both a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1972 and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1975 from the University of Houston Cullen College.
He was awarded the Distinguished Alumni award in 2003 from the University of Houston. In his spare time, Frank enjoys time with his wife, kids, and grandchildren boating on Lake Livingston.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Tommy Cooper, P.E. (BSEE ’74, MSEE ’81)
Founder of Cooper Consulting Service (CCS)
Tommy Cooper is the founder of Cooper Consulting Service (CCS) and has been a consultant to the medical device community for over 25 years. He received a B.S.E.E. degree from the University of Houston in 1974 and a M.S.E.E. degree in 1981. He has registered as a professional engineer in Texas. He served as industry co-chairman of the AAMI Blood Pressure Monitoring Committee for twelve years. He is currently the Chair of the IEEE Houston Consultants Network and serves on the board of the Gulf Coast Medical Device Manufacturers. He has written articles for publication in professional journals and holds 15 patents in the field of medical devices.
Mr. Cooper has worked in medical instrumentation for over thirty-eight years. He started his career at Baylor College Medicine, where he worked in the Cardiovascular Engineering Laboratory for five years developing cardiac assist devices. He worked as a project engineer for five years for several companies where he designed and developed a Portable Medical Status and Treatment System for NASA, a portable a defibrillator-monitor, catheter tipped pressure transducers, a disposable pressure transducer and disposable pressure monitoring kits. He was director of engineering a Narco BioSystems for 1.5 years before starting CCS.
DISTINGUISHED ENGINEERING ALUMNI AWARD
Eliza Paul, P.E. (MS ’98)
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
Eliza Paul has been with the Texas Department of Transportation for over 30 years and currently serves as the Houston District Engineer for the six-county Houston District.
Eliza earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering in August 1984 from the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, England, and a Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Houston in August 1988. Eliza became a registered Professional Engineer in January 1992.
One of her major accomplishments is her contribution to the I-10 Katy Freeway reconstruction project. Eliza worked on construction challenges to ensure contractors stayed on schedule. As Houston District Engineer, Eliza is responsible for overseeing the planning, designing, building, operation, and maintenance of the State Transportation System for the six counties in the district. As a leader, she looks for innovative ways to manage District resources and projects. In addition, she assists in ensuring efficient administrative, engineering, construction and maintenance operations are maintained.
She began her career as an Engineering Assistant in the Houston District Laboratory in January 1989 where she worked on different geotechnical designs for numerous projects throughout the Houston District.
Eliza was selected by the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) - Houston Chapter as the 2016 WTS Woman of the Year for her commitment to her craft and exceptional leadership skills. Demonstrating a strong desire to share her life and professional experiences, she serves as a role model for future generations of female engineers and transportation professionals.
Eliza was also selected to receive the Dewitt C. Greer Award which was presented to her at the 2016 TxDOT Annual Short Course Meeting.
DISTINGUISHED ENGINEERING ALUMNI AWARD
Dr. Abdeldjelil Belarbi, Ph.D., P.E. (TX, MO), F.ACI, F.SEI, F.ASCE, F.IIFC
Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor
University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering
Dr. Abdeldjelil Belarbi is Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Houston. Prior to joining the University of Houston in 2009, he was a Distinguished Professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology.
During his career he taught more than fourteen different undergraduate and graduate courses on subjects related to civil and structural engineering. He is actively engaged in a broad spectrum of structural engineering research areas. His primary research contributions focus on the constitutive modelling, analytical, and experimental investigations of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures. His research has also focused on seismic and wind structural performance of building envelopes, including experimental structural investigation of glass curtain wall systems employed in low- and high-rise buildings, as well as research to smart structures and use of FRP composites with focus on the development of advanced materials and use of FRP for rehabilitation and strengthening of aging and deteriorated civil engineering infrastructure.
Dr. Belarbi has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous research projects with a research expenditure of over fourteen million US dollars, has published over 220 technical papers and had supervised over 50 MSCE theses and PhD dissertations. Dr. Belarbi is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI). He is also very active (member and/or Chair) on several technical and educational and national committees within ACI, ASCE, and TRB. He is also a current member of ACI318E dealing with Shear and Torsion code issues.
EXCELLENCE IN LEADERSHIP AWARD
Urmi Prasad Richardson (MSBE ’95)
President EMEA at Thermo Fisher Scientific
Urmi’s impact on improving global public health is easy to observe. Having studied and worked in over half a dozen countries, she considers herself a global immigrant who is able to find commonalities and differences with diverse people and start conversations that lead to extraordinary outcomes in the areas of biotechnology and healthcare. As a global leader, her industry experience includes molecular diagnostics, cancer genomics, infectious diseases, point of care and medical devices, clinical laboratory testing and respiratory care. Early in her career she launched the first Nucleic Acid Test for the West Nile Virus, helping to prevent an epidemic in the U.S.; she negotiated with the South African Ministry of Health to install modern blood testing technology which saved millions of people from contracting HIV and Hepatitis, which were rampant in the population of the country at the time; she accelerated access to targeted therapies in oncology in Brazil, India, and many other developing nations…the list goes on. She hasn’t stopped yet.
Urmi joined Thermo Fisher Scientific in June 2021 as President of Europe, Middle East and Africa. She is currently based in Munich, Germany. Prior to joining Thermo Fisher, Urmi was Global Head of Healthcare at Linde AG, VP International at Foundation Medicine (Roche), and held senior positions in business development and strategy for Novartis, Immucor, Chiron and G.D.
Urmi has an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management, an MS in Biochemical Engineering from the University of Houston, a BA in Biology and French from Rutgers University, and an International Baccalaureate Diploma from the American School of Paris. She is fluent in English, French and Hindi, and conversational in Spanish, German and Bengali.
DISTINGUISHED YOUNG ENGINEERING ALUMNI AWARD
William Q. Walker, Ph.D. (Ph.D. ’16)
Chief Technology Officer, KULR Technology Group
Dr. William Q Walker received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Houston (UH). Walker’s professional and research related activities are focused on spacecraft thermal control and on thermo-electrochemical testing and analysis of lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery assemblies designed for human spaceflight applications. He currently serves as Chief Technology Officer for KULR Technology Corporation leading a team of high caliber engineers in the development of thermal management solutions and battery safety related product lines. He was previously employed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) for 10+ years with a focus on (i) spacecraft thermal control, (ii) thermal test and analysis techniques, (iii) spacecraft systems management, (iv) designing battery assemblies for human spaceflight applications capable of safely mitigating the effects of thermal runaway and preventing cell-to-cell propagation, and (v) project management. Walker was recently recognized with a NASA Trailblazer award and with the RNASA Stellar Award for his early career contributions to Li-ion battery thermal analysis and calorimetry methods. Walker continues to be engaged in the academic and professional communities focused on battery safety.
For sponsorship and event information, please contact:
Cathy Brown, cmbrow31 [at] central.uh.edu (cmbrow31[at]central[dot]uh[dot]edu)
Director of Relations, Cullen College of Engineering
713-743-2804
www.egr.uh.edu/cullen-gala