By Stephen Greenwell
A look back at past Parameters stories and interview subjects,
and what those Cougars are up to now...
5 YEARS BACK...
The Cullen College of Engineering was gearing up to be one of the prominent programs involved with the launch of the University of Houston at Katy. The Katy campus offers students an “engineering academy,” which allows students to be enrolled concurrently at the nearby Houston Community College and UH. As long as students meet all course and GPA requirements at HCC, they can seamlessly transition into pursuing an engineering degree at Cullen without going through the formal transfer process. Now several years into the development of the Katy campus, the first cohort of students have graduated with their engineering degrees.
10 YEARS BACK...
Jim Kaucher
The alumni spotlight was on Jim Kaucher, then the vice president of Tech Services & Supply Chain Management at Cheniere Energy, Inc. A Mechanical Engineering graduate from Cullen, he spent 30 years at M.W. Kellogg, which was renamed KBR following a merger in 1998. His work with LNG was highlighted as a way to explain the burgeoning market for that form of fuel. According to the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers, trading of LNG was first measurable in 1971, at a rate of 2.6 million tons. In 2000, this was still relatively low by the scope of the global energy market at 96.24 MT, but this swelled to 239.18 by 2013. In 2023, trading of LNG reached a new peak of 401 MT. Kaucher retired in May 2016, and lives in the Houston metro area with his wife, Lynn. The couple established the Jim and Lynn Kaucher Endowed Scholarship to support undergraduate students in the greater Houston area.
15 YEARS BACK...
Abdeldjelil “DJ” Belarbi
Metin Akay and Abdeldjelil “DJ” Belarbi joined the faculty of the Cullen College of Engineering, in the Biomedical and Civil & Environmental engineering departments, respectively. Both remain at the college to this day. Akay is the founding chairman of his department. Recently, he received several honorary degrees from international universities. and he is one of 50 top scientists to publish a roadmap for groundbreaking research to transform the landscape of medicine in the coming decade.
20 YEARS BACK...
Raymond W. Flumerfelt
The Cullen College of Engineering produced its first ever video for this edition of Parameters. Available in the Quicktime format, the six-minute presentation features interviews with Raymond W. Flumerfelt, dean of the college at the time, voiceover narration from John Lienhard, and interviews with professors like Stuart Long. It was produced by Harriet Yim, who remains with the college’s communications office. Visit our YouTube account to see some great visuals from the past featured in this video!