There are a handful of naturally occurring materials, known as piezoelectric materials, which generate electricity if you bend, stretch, or apply another mechanical force to them, and vice versa – if you apply a voltage across them, they’ll deform accordingly. These materials are currently the subject of intense research for their potential applications in energy harvesting, artificial muscles and sensors, among others.

Hyongki Lee, assistant professor in the Cullen College’s department of civil and environmental engineering, has won NASA’s New (Early Career) Investigator Award in Earth Science.

Haleh Ardebili, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the UH Cullen College of Engineering, has won a one-year, $10,000 New Investigator Award from the NASA Texas Space Center Grant Consortium to develop flexibl

Researchers across the world are looking into various sources of sustainable feedstock for energy and chemicals production with the hope that these cleaner sources will dramatically reduce our need for petroleum-based feedstock and lower our carbon footprint in the future.  One such renewable energy source is biomass derived from naturally-occurring raw materials such as wood and agricultural waste, which can be converted to biofuels and biochemicals.

A paper co-written by a University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering professor has stayed at or near the top of the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology’s “Most Read” list since last fall.

Smart phones are capable of giving us directions when we’re lost, sending photos and videos to our friends in mere seconds, and even helping us find the best burger joint in a three-mile radius. But thanks to UH Cullen College of Engineering researchers, smart phones may soon be boasting another very important function: diagnosing diseases in real time.

Sergey Shevkoplyas wants to make one thing perfectly clear: Blood transfusions save millions of lives every year. Without them, routine surgeries would become life threatening. They’re one of modern medicine’s absolute necessities.

Lars Grabow has been given a $750,000 grant to solve a multi-billion dollar problem.

Methane, the majority component of natural gas, is cheap and plentiful, thanks in large part to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Ideally, it could be converted into rarer and far more valuable chemicals like methanol, ethane or ethylene, all of which have dozens of uses, many involving the creation of plastics and polymers.

Researchers with the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering are creating what will likely be the most accurate and detailed map of a forested area the world has ever seen.