UTSA College of Engineering

Electrical Engineering Professor Qian Receives Teaching Award

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:14:00 -0500

Professor Chunjiang Qian of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is among the initial recipients of the prestigious Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award from The University of Texas System.

To be honored with this award, Qian underwent a rigorous campus-level review. Once identified as one of UTSA’s most qualified candidates for this award by UTSA President Ricardo Romo, Qian and his fellow nominees were evaluted by an external review committee.

Only a select number of faculty members from across The University of Texas System were chosen.

Congratulations, Dr. Qian, on this esteemed accomplishment.

Federal Security Agencies Name UTSA a National Center of Academic Excellence in Research

Tue, 19 May 2009 15:00:00 -0500

Want to learn about information assurance and security? You might want to consider The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). The university has received the elite National Center of Academic Excellence in Research (CAE-R) designation from the National Security Administration (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security for five years through 2014.

“This designation is not a college designation, but a designation for the entire university,” said Glen Dietrich, chair of the Information Assurance Department in UTSA’s College of Business. “It takes into account faculty, programs, research and funding from the College of Business, the College of Engineering, the College of Sciences and our Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security.”

The CAE and CAE-R programs are jointly sponsored by the NSA and DHS to reduce vulernabipity in the U.S. information infrastructure by promoting higher education and research in information assurance and by supporting a growing number of professionals with information assurance expertise. Specifically, the CAE-R program in information assurance aims to increase the understanding of robust technologies, policies and practices that will enable the U.S. to effectively prevent or respond to a catastrophic cyber event.

UTSA, an emerging research institution with a strong focus in security, first applied for CAE designation in 2001. It received that designation in 2002, making it the only CAE-designated university in Texas. Since then, six other universities and colleges in Texas have joined suit, earning their CAE designations, and one other, UT Dallas, has received the prestigious CAE-R designation.

Considerations for the CAE-R designation include:

a university’s research, faculty and academic programs in information assurance and security
its Carnegie Foundation classification
its peer-reviewed publishing rate in security
the overall number of graduate students it produces in security
its level of funding for security programs

(by: Christi Fish)

UTSA Earns Accolades from Magazine

Tue, 19 May 2009 14:50:00 -0500

The University of Texas at San Antonio has been recognized as one of the national leaders in educating and graduating Hispanic students by Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education magazine.

According to the May issue of the magazine, the university (UTSA) ranked fourth in the nation in the number of undergraduate degrees and twelfth nationally in the number of master’s degrees award to Hispanic students.

The magazine looked at the 2007-08 school year of the top 100 predominantly Hispanic-serving colleges and universities in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

In a prepared statement, UTSA President Ricardo Romo said the recognition demonstrates the university’s vision of providing access to “educational excellence.”

“To have nine of our programs ranked in the Top 10 among the nation’s leading Hispanic Serving Institutions shows UTSA continues on the right path to building the next great Texas university,” Romo said.

UTSA is one of 200 Hispanic Serving Institutions in the U.S. It is one of the fastest-growing higher education institutions in Texas and the second largest of nine academic universities and six health institutions in the UT System.

UTSA serves more than 28,400 students through 64 bachelor’s, 47 master’s and 21 doctoral degree programs.

(via: San Antonio Business Journal)

Mechanical Engineering Students Win Awards at Regional Conference

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:39:00 -0500

At the AIAA Southwestern Regional Student Conference held April 17th and 18th at UTSA, Carlos Acosta and Juan Ocampo won first place in the Team category for their paper, High Performance Computing Implementation in a Risk Assessment Problem. The students received a $500 prize and travel expenses for one author to present the work at the International Aerospace Sciences meeting in Orlando, Florida. Another UTSA Engineering student, Andy Voorhees, won third place in the Masters category for his paper, Complex Variable Methods for Fatigue Sensitivity Analysis.

UTSA IEEE Robotics Team Places 4th The UTSA IEEE Robotics Team...

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:45:00 -0500

UTSA IEEE Robotics Team Places 4th

The UTSA IEEE Robotics Team traveled to Lubbock, Texas on April 17th, 2009 to compete in the annual IEEE Region 5 Robotics Competition where teams were challenged with designing an autonomous robot capable of detecting color and blindly maneuvering a course in search for specific boxes. The boxes on the course had to be found and moved to other locations according to their color and original location.

The Region 5 robotics Competition attracts some of the larger universities in and around Texas, such as The University of Texas at Austin, Air Force Academy, and the University of Houston. This year’s competition drew in more than twenty teams from eight different states

UTSA IEEE finished 3rd place in the first round of competition, having a score high enough to qualify the team for the final round. The team finished the final round and earned an overall place of 4th in the competition.

The fourth place finish is among one of the top finishes in the history of UTSA’s participation in the competition, next to the team’s second place finish last year. IEEE Student Chapter Chair, Kevin Messenhimer and Robotics Chair, Daniel Seiler agree that, “the competition has been an invaluable learning experience for everyone. Next year we hope to supersede this year’s accomplishments and extend the team’s knowledge to more students.”

The team would like to thank the College of Engineering, CPS Energy, Nerd: The Focus and Energy Beverage, and Southwest Research Institute for their financial support and sponsorship of the robotics team.

Congratulations to the 2009 IEEE Robotics team: Daniel Seiler, Terrence Leonard, and Chris Weldon for their commitment and outstanding representation of not only UTSA IEEE but also the College of Engineering and UTSA at large.

Ruyan Guo Elected SPIE Fellow

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:57:00 -0500

SPIE will honor 59 new Fellow of the Society this year. Fellows are members of distinction who have made significant scientific and technical contributions in the multidisciplinary fields of optics, photonics, and imaging. They are honored for their technical achievement, for their service to the general optics community, and to SPIE in particular. More than 600 SPIE members have become Fellows since the Society’s inception in 1955.

“The annual recognition of Fellows provides an opportunity for us to acknowledge outstanding members for their service to the general optics community,” says Maria Yzuel, SPIE President.

Ruyan Guo, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is being recognized for achievements in advanced optical materials.

Guo has a distinguished career in academics and is a recognized leader in electronic and optical materials research. She is known for her research on ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and nonlinear optical materials.

She has made significant contributions on the synthesis, characterization, and growth of single crystals. This includes work on crystal chemistry and structure-composition-property relationships, low loss and frequency agile microwave dielectrics and devices. She also excels in research on electro-optic, photorefractive, and nonlinear optical materials, optical fiber communications, and tunable wireless optical interactions.

Her research abilities and accomplishments are well established. For example, Guo’s contribution on the scientific basis of high-temperature superconducting substrate materials is well known. Another great contribution is on badly needed but rarely available piezoelectric and electro-optical crystals and on properties of new strategic materials.

Guo is an active member of several societies including the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), the Materials Research Society (MRS), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and as a fellow of the American Ceramic Society and senior member of IEEE. With SPIE, Guo has contributed greatly such as organizer and co-organizer of the Photonic Fieber and Crystal Devices Conference since 2002. Additionally, she served on the editorial board of the APIE journal Optical Engineering from 2001-2007.

Guo joins Professor Sos Agaian as one of only two faculty members in the ECE department who are SPIE Fellows.

ECE Grad Student Wins 3rd Place at ASEE GSW Conference Marcos...

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:45:19 -0500

ECE Grad Student Wins 3rd Place at ASEE GSW Conference

Marcos Bird, ECE graduate student who received his BS last year from the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering placed 3rd in the undergraduate student paper competition at ASEE GSW conference in March 2009. Bird was funded by Dr. Jin’s NSF Reserach Experience for Undergraduates (REU grant) during his tenure as an undergraduate.

All Across Texas Leadership Development Conference Invites COE Students

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:48:16 -0500

The All Across Texas Leadership Development week, hosted by TETC, sponsors engineering and computer science students representing 36 different colleges and universities across the state of Texas. For information on how to attend this conference, please click here to download the information.

COE Initiates New Ambassador Program

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:46:09 -0500

A new College of Engineering specific ambassador program has just been launched. If you feel you’d make a great ambassador of the COE, please click here to download the information.

Congratulations to the Winners of the Excellence Awards

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:44:00 -0500

Last fall, we began accepting nominations from faculty and staff to recognize the hard and selfless work of our colleagues. After a merit based selection by the College of Engineering Advisory Council, the following individuals have been recognized with awards:

Staff Excellence Award: Diane Crosby
COE Undergraduate Advising Office
Excellence in Engineering Research Award: Dr. Frank Chen
Mechanical Engineering

Congratulations on a job well done!

UTSA, SwRI Partner to Join Elite National Research Roundtable

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:39:00 -0500

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) today jointly announced they have joined the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable (GUIRR), an elite sub-unit of the National Academies , the nation’s advisers in science, engineering and medicine.

GUIRR provides a platform for leaders in science and technology from academia, government and business to discuss and take action on national and international scientific matters. This includes such topics as university-industry partnerships, scientific training in academia, the relationship between academia, government and business, and the effects of globalization on U.S. research. Through roundtable meetings and working groups, GUIRR’s university and industry partners provide guidance and suggest possible solutions to streamline policies and procedures unique to the government-university-industry interface. This counsel, often documented in advisory reports, is distributed to key national leaders, including the President’s staff.

“UTSA aspires to become a top research university, and our membership in GUIRR demonstrates this commitment,” said Robert Gracy, vice president for research at UTSA. “UTSA’s partnership with Southwest Research Institute to join GUIRR will not only strengthen the relationship between our respective institutions, it will allow our institutions to contribute to the development of national policies that will facilitate science and technology research collaborations in the future.”

“As a contract research and development organization serving multiple industries and government clients, SwRI strives to apply scientific discoveries and new technologies in innovative ways,” said Walter Downing, executive vice president of Southwest Research Institute. “Teaming with UTSA as GUIRR university-industry partners gives us a unique opportunity to participate in, learn from and contribute to the leading research collaborations in the nation.”

James Casey, director of UTSA’s Office of Contracts and Industrial Agreements, was instrumental in encouraging both UTSA and SwRI to join GUIRR. Casey, an active participant in GUIRR and a co-chair of its International Research Collaboration working group notes, “Both UTSA and Southwest Research Institute are very deserving of membership in GUIRR. Both have a clear commitment to advancing society through research, and both will serve as active participants in GUIRR’s collaborative process.”

GUIRR’s member roster reads like a who’s who of research, offering both UTSA and SwRI access to top research universities, industry leaders and federal officials. UTSA and SwRI are GUIRR’s 17th university-industry pair. They join The University of Texas at Austin, previously GUIRR’s only member from Texas, as well as:

Industry Partner

Battelle
The Boeing Company
Corning, Inc.
General Electric Company
Hewlett-Packard Company
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Intel Corporation
Deere & Company
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Mars, Inc.
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems
Pacific Northwest National Lab
Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems
Semiconductor Research Corporation
Southwest Research Institute
Telos Corporation

University Partner

The Ohio State University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Pennsylvania State University
University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of California, Los Angeles
Stanford University
University of California, Berkeley
Iowa State University
University of Maryland
University of California, Davis
California Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Washington State University
University of Massachusetts
The University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at San Antonio
George Washington University

To learn more about GUIRR, please visit GUIRR’s Web site.

BME Professor Rena Bizios Receives Prestigious HSEMB Award

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:16:00 -0500

Rena Bizios, professor of Biomedical Engineering, recently received the 2009 Distinguished Scientist Award from the Houston Society of Engineering in Medicine and Biology (HSEMB). Bizios was recognized for pioneering contribution in cellular engineering, cell/polymer interactions and surface modification of novel biomaterials.

Bizios, a Lutcher Brown Distinguished Professor, is only the fifth recipient of this prestigious award and the first woman recipient in the 26 year history of HSEMB.

Stimulus Spending Targets Modernization of the Nation's Research Infrastructure

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:19:26 -0500

The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), allocates billions of dollars to the NIH, NSF, NIST, DOE and state governments for new construction, renovation, and modernization of the nation’s research facilities. These funds will be distributed to research institutions across the country over the next 18 months.

Funding proposals will be due in the coming months. The Research Facilities 2009 conference, on April 20-21 in San Antonio, Texas provides a unique opportunity to gain critical knowledge of the components needed for a successful project - research program focus, renovation and construction strategies, sustainability features, green technologies, core facility features, equipment, and instrumentation.

The Research Facilities 2009 conference is an annual gathering of the nation’s top research institutions - research program leaders, facility group leaders, capital planners, and project directors - who link up to benchmark plans and programs, monitor the successes of others, and shape actionable new research facility plans for their institutions.

The Research Facilities 2009 conference will feature speakers from some of the world’s most renowned research institutions: Battelle Memorial Research Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The National Institutes of Health, The University of Texas at San Antonio, Wyeth Research, Yale University, McGill University, DOE-National Renewable Energy Lab, and many more. Attendees will take away the most up-to-date renovation, new construction, and modernization strategies for research facilities; construction cost forecasts; LEED project strategies & carbon-neutral research facility strategies; new plans for alternative energy research labs; leading-edge reports on core facilities, equipment, and instrumentation; and research facility productivity features.

Conference attendees will also have an opportunity to tour The Texas Research Park - Barshop Institute for Longevity & Aging and The Institute for Biotechnology (IBT); The Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute; The Southwest Research Institute (SwRI); and The University of Texas at San Antonio Biotechnology, Sciences and Engineering Buildings I & II.

For more information about the Research Facilities 2009 conference on April 20-21 in San Antonio, Texas, go to http://www.TradelineInc.com/Research2009 .

(via PRWeb)

Biomedical Engineering Student Selected for Presidential Dissertation Fellowship

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:20:34 -0600

Courtney Creecy, a Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. Candidate, has been selected to receive a Presidential Dissertation Fellowship this fall. Creecy’s dissertation, A Strategy to Optimize Mesenchymal Stem Cell Function Pertinent to Bone Tissue Engineering, was only one of four dissertations selected for Spring 2009 after undergoing a lengthy review process involving a college committee and a committee comprised of the Associate Deans for Graduate Studies from each college. UTSA President Ricardo Romo said of the selected students, “Each recipient is an outstanding student who is conducting important research in their area of study, and who is making good progress toward his or her degree.”

Mechanical Engineering Senior Lecturer given Fulbright Award

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:03:36 -0600

Antonio Campo, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was awarded a Fulbright Award. This award will send Campo to Chile to perform research for three months this summer.

As part of the Fulbright Program, the Fulbright Award fosters international research and collaboration and is considered a very prestigious bestowment.

Biomedical Engineering Prof. Installed as VP of AIMBE

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:52:08 -0600

Professor Rena Bizios, Ph.D., of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was named the new Vice President At-Large of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.

Bizios, who is a Peter Flawn Professor, focuses her research on tissue-biomaterials interactions, cellular engineering, tissue engineering, and biocompatibility. As the Vice President At-Large of AIMBE, Bizios will serve on its board of directors with academics from universities such as the University of California San Diego, the University of Virginia, and the University of California Los Angeles.

Aerospace Professor Featured in Magazine Colonel Lisa C. Firmin,...

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:27:00 -0600

Aerospace Professor Featured in Magazine

Colonel Lisa C. Firmin, Professor of Aerospace Studies at The University of Texas at San Antonio and Commander of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Detachment 842, was featured in Latina Style magazine. Click here to read her editorial in Latina Style’s ¡Punto Final! section.

Photos taken during Engineers Week events—from our Ice Cream...

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:21:00 -0600

Photos taken during Engineers Week events—from our Ice Cream Social to our video visit from alumnus and Microsoft employee, John Collins, to the activities of the Engineering Career Expo—have been posted to our Flickr Photostream.

We’d also like to take this moment to thank everyone who helped make our Engineers Week this year a success:

The UTSA Career Center
Robert Granado (Academic Technology)
John Collins
The COE Development Team
Engineering Career Expo Company Recruiters
Engineering Students
Aramark
Faculty and staff of the College of Engineering.

UTSA Electrical Engineering alumnus, John Collins, returns to...

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:18:05 -0600

UTSA Electrical Engineering alumnus, John Collins, returns to his alma mater in video form to give a presentation to students about his experiences and advice he has about how to land the dream job. Click here to view more photos.

UTSA Wins $500,000 to Develop Biosensor and Regenerative Medicine Ph.D. Program

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:56:16 -0600

By: Christi Fish

The University of Texas at San Antonio announced today it will receive $500,000 from The University of Texas System over the next five years to develop a unique Graduate Program Initiative emphasizing biosensors and regenerative medicine. Of the 37 proposals received by the UT System from its nine academic and six health institutions, only seven were funded and only two were awarded to academic institutions. UTSA’s Graduate Program Initiative builds upon existing programs in its College of Engineering and College of Sciences to prepare students for careers in academia, federal agencies and the biomedical industry.

“This program will provide qualified students with an exciting opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary research in science and engineering. This unique program will allow students to integrate courses and research training in biomedical engineering, electrical engineering and/or chemistry into their educational curriculum,” said Dorothy Flannagan, dean of UTSA’s Graduate School.

“Funding from this grant will foster and formalize new innovative collaborations among participating faculty and students,” added Anson Ong, USAA Foundation Distinguished Professor and chair of UTSA’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. “Each Academic discipline has a different way of thinking and a different way of solving problems. By working together, the students in this program initiative will better understand the complex healthcare problems as well as finding novel and innovative solutions to solving these problems.”

Regenerative medicine and biosensors are key elements for the advancement of science and the improvement of human health. Regenerative medicine allows scientists and practitioners to regenerate functional tissues in patients. Current treatments use tissues from the patient’s own body or from a cadaver. However, both approaches have many potential risks. A biosensor is a device that allows scientists to detect biological chemicals such as enzymes, antibodies and disease-representing biomarkers, thereby providing early diagnosis and detection and improving treatments.

To learn more about UTSA’s new interdisciplinary Ph.D. program, contact Anson Ong atanson.ong@utsa.edu. To learn more about UTSA’s graduate programs, visit http://utsa.edu/graduate.