Research News Highlight

UH Cullen College of Engineering Presents Inaugural Innovator Awards

Posted on July 30, 2019
Venkat Selvamanickam, M.D. Anderson Chair professor of mechanical engineering at the UH Cullen College of Engineering, won the 2019 Career Innovator Award

Faculty, students recognized for innovation, creative entrepreneurial spirit

 

Innovation is the engine that drives all of humanity’s greatest achievements – from the creation of the first wheel to electricity to heart transplants. And it is the entrepreneurial spirit that puts these advances into the hands of the people who can use it the most.

Research Moves Closer to Brain-Machine Interface Autonomy

Posted on June 13, 2019
By examining the interactions between single-neuron activities and the information flowing to these neurons, biomedical engineering Professor Joe Francis found that a brain-computer interface, a form of artificial intelligence, can sense when its user is expecting a reward. Photo courtesy: GettyImages

Findings Could Help Seamlessly Integrate Prosthetics

 

A University of Houston engineer is reporting in eNeuro that a brain-computer interface, a form of artificial intelligence, can sense when its user is expecting a reward by examining the interactions between single-neuron activities and the information flowing to these neurons, called the local field potential.

UH Engineer’s Battery Research Gets New Charge With Additional DOE Funding

Posted on May 22, 2019
Dr. Yan Yao holds the solid-state battery, with Dr. Yanliang Liang next to him and Dr. Xiaowei Chi behind them at the UH Cullen College of Engineering.

Yan Yao’s “Battery500” Award Selected for Phase II

 

A quest for better batteries has led the U.S. Department of Energy to invest an additional $800,000 in Yan Yao’s research project titled “High-Energy Solid-State Lithium Batteries with Organic Cathode Materials.”

Solving a Scientific Mystery and Finding a Solution for Industry

Posted on May 21, 2019
Yandi Hu, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Houston, led a team of researchers in developing a better understanding of the presence of strontium-rich barite in seawater.

Researchers Determine Why Strontium-rich Barite is Found in Oceans

 

In solving a scientific mystery, researchers from the University of Houston and the nation’s national laboratories also discovered a new avenue for clearing toxins from water, including wastewater produced by hydraulic fracturing.

UH, MIT Thermal Research Published in Nature Communications

Posted on May 2, 2019
By mixing polymer powder in solution to generate a film that they then stretched, researchers have changed polyethylene's microstructure, from spaghetti-like clumps of molecular chains (left), to straighter strands (right), allowing heat to conduct through the polymer, better than most metals. Credit: Image courtesy of Ji Liu, Shaoting Lin, and Xinyue Liu (Gang Chen et al).

New polymer films conduct heat like metals

Polymers, also known as plastics, can be found in almost every kind of modern technological products – from soft robotics and organic electronics to 3D printing and artificial skin. The unique characteristics of polymers, which are cost-effective, lightweight and corrosion-resistant, make them ideal components in general.

Could Robots Make a Documentary about a 5K Race?

Posted on April 16, 2019
Students are building a robotic car capable of traveling up to 10 mph as part of the project.

UH-Led Project Focuses on Training Robots to Observe and Make Decisions

 

A 5K race can offer both victory and heartbreak, but capturing those moments on video requires both planning ahead and making on-the-spot decisions about where the camera operators should be.

Getting Closer: Finding Out Why the Immune System Attacks Itself

Posted on April 11, 2019
B cells are lymphocytes, or white blood cells, that make protein antibodies that attack a patient’s healthy proteins in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Photo courtesy: GettyImages

B Cells Gone Bad Could be the Culprit in Rheumatoid Arthritis

 

Biomolecular researcher Navin Varadarajan recently published in Arthritis & Rheumatology journal a first-of-its-kind study -  a comprehensive profile of B cells in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). B cells are lymphocytes, or white blood cells, that make protein antibodies that attack a patient’s healthy proteins in patients with RA.

Imaging Technology Will Offer New Clues to Embryonic Development

Posted on April 8, 2019
Researchers from the University of Houston and Baylor College of Medicine are developing a new technology to allow simultaneous imaging of both embryonic structural development and the molecular underpinnings that occur in the developing circulatory system.

Better Understanding Could Lead to New Prevention and Treatment for Birth Defects

 

Soon after conception, an embryo’s circulatory system connects to that of its mother. Complications that occur at this critical time can result in miscarriage or birth defects with long-term chronic conditions. Unfortunately, limitations in imaging technologies prevent researchers from fully understanding the cellular-level events leading up to this crucial point.

Researchers Developing Early Detection, Home Monitoring Tests for Lupus Nephritis

Posted on April 2, 2019
Early detection and monitoring of kidney nephritis, or inflammation, in patients who have Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, known simply as lupus, is under examination at UH. Photo courtesy: GettyImages

Transformative Research Empowering Patients to Monitor Themselves

 

With $5 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), two University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering biomedical researchers are moving the needle on early detection and monitoring of kidney nephritis, or inflammation, in patients who have Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, known simply as lupus.

Cullen College Alumna Conducts Fulbright Research in Germany

Posted on March 15, 2019
Megan Goh, a UH biomedical engineering alumna, is studying infantile brain disorders with a Fulbright grant.

Alumni Spotlight

 

Megan Goh (BSBE ’18), a 2018-2019 Fulbright grant recipient, is conducting research in Germany. She is studying how and when infantile brain disorders occur in animal models using photoacoustic imaging.

UH Researchers Forge Ahead With Low-Cost, High-Efficiency Solar Cell Device Development

Posted on March 14, 2019
Researchers have developed a better quality, high-efficiency gallium arsenide solar cells on low-cost metal foil.

An article citing improvements in research involving a new generation of flexible photovoltaic devices reported by the Selva Research Group at the UH Cullen College of Engineering was recently published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science. The article is titled “Flexible GaAs Solar cells on roll-to-roll processed epitaxial Ge films on metal foils: a route towards low-cost and high-performance III-V photovoltaics.”

Researchers Report Advances in Stretchable Rubbery Semiconductors, Rubbery Integrated Electronics

Posted on February 1, 2019
Researchers from the University of Houston have reported significant advances in stretchable electronics, moving the field closer to commercialization.

Researchers from the University of Houston have reported significant advances in stretchable electronics, moving the field closer to commercialization.

In a paper published Friday, Feb. 1, in Science Advances, they outlined advances in creating stretchable rubbery semiconductors, including rubbery integrated electronics, logic circuits and arrayed sensory skins fully based on rubber materials.

Two UH Cullen College Engineers Among Most Cited Researchers in the World

Posted on January 2, 2019
Zhu Han, John and Rebecca Moores professor of electrical and computer engineering at the UH Cullen College of Engineering.

Two Cullen College of Engineering professors at the University of Houston – Zhu Han, John and Rebecca Moores professor of electrical and computer engineering, with expertise in the field of computer science; and Yan Yao, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and a principal investigator at the Texas Center for Superconductivity – are on a list of researchers whose work has been most often cited by colleagues in their resp

Understanding Congenital Heart Defects To Prevent Them

Posted on November 13, 2018
Determining how hearts develop in utero is critical to understanding congenital heart defects.

UH Engineer Using Optical Equipment to Watch Heart Develop

 

To understand cardiovascular failures, the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths in infants, UH professor of biomedical engineering Kirill Larin is teaming up with Baylor College of Medicine professor of cellular and molecular physiology Irina Larina on a chicken and egg hunt.

Pages

News Contacts

riward [at] uh.edu (Rachel Knudsen)
UH Cullen College of Engineering
713-743-4379

Radio Program

Engines of Our Ingenuity, written and hosted by engineering prof. John Lienhard, airs in Houston on KUHF-FM 88.7 M-F 7:35am and 3:55pm. The series is broadcasted by over 30 NPR affiliates nation-wide.

UH Engineering Podcast

Ph.D. student Nicole Guinn hosts and explores topics related to geology and geosensing systems engineering AND stories of Women in STEM at UH. Listen now.