By Stephen Greenwell
A look back at past Parameters stories and interview subjects,
and what those Cougars are up to now...
5 YEARS BACK...
Pictured left: A recent image of Jameel Jordan. Pictured right: Bionka Edmundson and Jameel Jordan at Blackshear Elementary in 2017.
A story in “The Houston Dream,” Fall 2017 issue, shone a spotlight on the work of Bionka Edmundson and Jameel Jordan with a cooperative program between the University of Houston and iEducate, which provides tutors to H-Town schools. Both were at Blackshear Elementary in Houston's Third Ward, a Title I campus where 100 percent of the 536 students at the time qualified for food stamps. Since that time, Edmundson — who earned her B.S. in 2017 in Petroleum Engineering — worked for two years as a field engineer. Since August 2021 though, she has been a sixth grade teacher at the Spring Leadership Academy. In that role, she has been nominated for Rookie Teacher of the Year and Teacher of the Year. Jordan earned his Petroleum Engineering degree in 2018, and has been a system engineer for Northop Grumman — an aerospace and defense company with yearly revenue of more than $30 billion — for four years.
10 YEARS BACK...
An image produced using LIDAR data in Ramesh Shrestha's lab of a lost city in Honduras.
Toby Weber wrote a feature on the work of the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping, which was in its 10th year of operation. “Geosensing Engineering” looked at the work done by Ramesh Shrestha, Bill Carter, Craig Glennie, Hyongki Lee and Saurabh Prasad using aerial radars and laser arrays on a variety of tasks — from finding lost cities in Honduras, to mapping landmasses from space. All five remain with the university, although Shrestha and Carter are now emeritus investigators. In recent years, Pietro Milillo and Juan Carlos Fernandez Diaz have joined the College, and provided insight into the erosion of ice from arctic glaciers and the mapping of nearly 500 ancient villages and sites of Mesoamerica.
15 YEARS BACK...
Mitch Bunnell, a 1985 Electrical Engineering graduate, was profiled for being the CEO of Pixelux. The company developed Digital Molecular Matter technology for video games and CGI. In the years after the profile, the technology was used in blockbuster movies like Avatar and Skyfall, and games like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The company was recognized with an Academy Award in 2015. Also 15 years ago, the Department of Chemical Engineering was renamed to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. According to Mike Harold, the Dow Chair Professor and Department Chair at the time, the change was to reflect the direction of the field of chemical engineering. “We’re expanding into different areas, notably biotechnology. Biomolecular engineering is a reflection of one component of biotech where chemical engineers are making an impact,” he said. Since then, the department received a generous gift from an alumni in 2020, and is now known as the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
20 YEARS BACK...
This issue featured a “Spotlight on Students” that included Kathleen Akkerman, who was balancing the rigors of an engineering career with a music minor. While working a summer internship at NASA and participating in eight different engineering societies, she also played the viola in a community orchestra and performed professionally in a string quartet. She graduated with her B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 2003 and earned her master's degree in 2005. Since graduating from UH, Kathleen has worked in engineering leadership roles at several aerospace and defense companies in California over the past 17 years. In 2018 she became the Chief Engineer for Antcom Corporation in Torrance, which specializes in antennas for GPS navigation and airborne communications. In August 2022, she took on a new challenge as Engineering Director at Ducommun, where she will lead the development of radar components, high-reliability motors, and human-machine interface products.
When it came to her time at the university, Kathleen said, “UH prepared me for leadership and gave me a place to grow. Working with Fritz Claydon and Stuart Long were formative experiences that allowed me to experience research firsthand and to gain confidence in myself. My UH experience prepared me for whatever I’ve wanted to do, from interning at NASA to innovating at the national laboratories to driving change at multi-national corporations.”
Kathleen Fasenfest with son Maxwell.
She is also now Kathleen Fasenfest, after marrying Benjamin Fasenfest, another Cougar alum from the Cullen College of Engineering. Kathleen and Ben have a son named Maxwell who is still learning the famous equations. The family enjoys ice hockey, skiing and hiking together, and they're generally active outdoors each weekend. Kathleen continues to play the viola as a member of the Beach Cities Symphony Orchestra.
For current students, Kathleen offers this advice:
“Get involved in the extra-curricular activities, the internships, and the undergraduate research programs. These programs will give you experiences to draw upon in the working world and will help connect the dots between courses to see how it all fits together. The people you meet and the things you achieve together will help you learn to form and guide teams throughout your career.”