College of Engineering Highlights

Spring 2008

A total of 276 students were certified to receive degrees during the spring commencement ceremonies – 27 doctorates, 101 master’s and 148 bachelor’s. Roger A. Krone (’81 MS Aerospace Engineering), president of Network and Space Systems, a business of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, delivered the Charge to Graduates.

Groundbreaking for a new, $9.8 million Civil Engineering Laboratory Building (CELB) situated on the west side of the campus took place in January. The CELB will include replacement labs for the materials/structures facilities currently located in the Engineering Lab Building (ELB), which will undergo major interior and exterior renovations as soon as the CELB is functional this summer.

The Civil & Environmental Engineering Department changed its name to the Civil Engineering Department to more accurately reflect the current status of the department. “The change will allow the department to be recognized as one where all areas of civil engineering are represented and valued equitably,” said Dr. Nur Yazdani, professor and chair of the department.

Computer Science & Engineering Assistant Professor Nan Zhang received a prestigious CAREER Award by the National Science Foundation. Dr. Zhang proposes to analyze, understand and optimize tradeoffs between privacy protection, data utility and system resources in privacy-preserving data mining.

Electrical Engineering Professor Frank L. Lewis was elected a Fellow of the International Federation of Automatic Control, the oldest feedback control systems society. Dr. Lewis was cited for his contributions in Neural Network Control, Systems Structure and Control Systems Education. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Royal Institute of Measurement and Control.

Electrical Engineering Assistant Professor Michael Vasilyev was identified by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as one of 39 rising stars in university microsystems research receiving its Young Faculty Award. As part of the award, Dr. Vasilyev will receive as much as $150,000 to further develop and validate his research project, “Coherent Nonlinear-Optical Image Processing in Plasmonic Metamaterial,” over the next 18 months

Electrical Engineering Assistant Professor Weidong Zhou will collaborate with researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and U. S. Air Force research laboratories on a multidisciplinary, multi-university project investigating various photonic and electronic devices based on silicon nanomembranes – flexible, single-crystalline sheets of silicon with applications as flexible electronics, photonics, sensors, and thermoelectric and other devices. The team is being supported by a multi-million dollar grant through the Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI).

Mechanical Engineering Professor Dereje Agonafer received the “Thermi” award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Society. The award honors a history of significant contributions to thermal issues affecting the performance of semiconductor devices, optoelectronics, and microelectromechanical and related systems.

Bioengineering Assistant Professor Kytai Nguyen received a $352,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue her research to develop platelet-mimicking nanoparticles that can carry drugs to injured blood vessel walls after cardiovascular interventions such as angioplasty. Dr. Nguyen began this study last year, thanks to a $260,000 Scientist Development Award from the American Heart Association.

Civil Engineering Drs. Stefan Romanoschi and Guillermo Ramirez and collaborators at Kansas State University have received a grant from the state departments of transportation of Kansas and New York to calibrate a new design method to optimize the use of funds for the construction and maintenance of highway pavements. The new design method, which will consider materials, traffic and climate conditions in the two states, will provide an accurate estimation of the evolution of wear over the lifetime of the pavement structure.

Computer Science & Engineering Assistant Professor Vassilis Athitsos began work with collaborators at Boston University to develop methods to aid the learning of American Sign Language by both deaf and hearing individuals. The three-year, $900,000 project is being funded by the National Science Foundation.

Faculty in the interdisciplinary Autonomous Vehicles Laboratory received a $364,000 grant from the Texas Workforce Commission to develop educational programs that will provide a growing supply of technically-proficient workers for Texas’ defense and aerospace industries. Two sessions – for high school students and skilled workers – will be conducted in July at no cost to the participants.

Computer Science and Engineering researchers led by Dr. Fillia Makedon have received almost $500,000 from the National Science Foundation’s Cybertrust program to design robust, privacy preserving and efficient recommendation systems that prevent the malicious manipulation of commercial systems and any application that involves an overload of information.

A team led by Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering Associate Professor Victoria Chen began working with the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to develop decision-making tools to optimize physical resources and monitor the discharge of spent chemicals during aircraft deicing operations at the airport. Their project is supported by a $302,000 award through the National Science Foundation’s Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) program and an additional $115,000 from the D/FW Airport. The project was the subject of a story in the May issue of Industrial Engineer magazine.

Computer Science & Engineering Assistant Professor Yu “Jeff” Lei received an $188,000 grant from the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) to develop new test generation algorithms and tools that will help programmers reduce the time needed to identify and correct flaws in new programs.

Three projects conducted by College researchers have each received $50,000 through the Texas Ignition Fund in an effort to stimulate the commercialization of products and processes developed in UT Arlington laboratories:

Electrical Engineering Professor J. C. Chiao and his associates at UT Southwestern – clinicians Shou-Jiang Tang, Stuart Spechler and H. Fred Tibbals – are perfecting a flexible, battery-powered sensor that can be placed in a patient’s esophagus to monitor the symptoms of gastroesophageal acid reflux;
Electrical Engineering Associate Professor Meng Tao and Assistant Professor Weidong Zhou have developed a unique process that should reduce the cost of solar-generated electricity by improving sunlight collection. Microscale silica spheres partially immersed in a spin-on-glass film gather sunlight effectively over a wider angle of incidence, improving the performance of various types of fixed-orientation solar panels, such as those used on roof tops;
Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Brian Dennis, Industrial Engineering Professor John Priest and Associate Dean of Engineering Research Dr. Richard Billo are developing a low-cost process to convert lignite coal into heavy crude oil. They will work with researchers at West Virginia University, hoping to produce heavy crude at approximately $25 per barrel.

The Civil Engineering Department completed its first year in a general agreement with the Beijing Institute of Exploration Engineering and the China University of Geosciences to foster international cooperation in infrastructure research. Assistant Professor Mohammad Najafi, director of the Center for Underground Infrastructure & Education, visited the China University of Geosciences-Wuhan in October, along with 14 representatives from U.S. universities and industries.

Two faculty members – Electrical Engineering Professor K. R. Rao and Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering Senior Lecturer Bonnie Boardman – received prestigious honors from the University during the Spring Faculty Meeting. Dr. Rao was inducted into the University’s Academy of Distinguished Scholars; Dr. Boardman received the Provost’s Teaching Award.

Civil Engineering Professor Anand Puppala was the recipient of the University’s Graduate Academic Advisor Award for 2007-2008. He has been advising graduate students since 1996.

Computer Science & Engineering Assistant Professor Gautam Das received another grant from Microsoft Research’s data mining group to continue his research in data mining and data base technologies. This is Dr. Das’ fourth grant from the software developer; he has collaborated with them continually for four years.

The College of Engineering honored a Hall of Achievement inductee, three faculty and one staff member at the Annual Awards Banquet for their outstanding achievements in research, teaching and administrative support. In addition, many awards were presented to students, recognizing their superior academic performance.

Alan L. Boeckmann, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Fluor Corporation, was inducted into the College of Engineering’s Hall of Achievement.
Bioengineering Professor Hanli Liu received the College’s Excellence in Research Award. A tireless researcher, Dr. Liu has secured more than $3.5 million in project funding, has had 53 peer-reviewed journal articles published, has presented more than 65 conference papers, and has been invited to give 36 talks.
Computer Science & Engineering Assistant Professor of Yonghe Liu received the College’s Outstanding Young Faculty Award. Though he has been with the college for less than five years, Dr. Liu has been the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on research projects valued at more than $1 million. He published 37 refereed journal or conference papers, developed two new courses and is currently teaching three undergraduate and graduate courses.
Mechanical Engineering Professor David Hullender received the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award honors distinguished educators who have demonstrated their dedication to the teaching profession by their superior classroom instruction and exceptional interactions with students.
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Administrative Assistant Donna Woodhead received the Fay Van Dam Outstanding Staff Award. Letters of nomination and recommendation described her as “an indispensable staff member who always shows a cheerful willingness to help the faculty and staff.”

Civil Engineering’s Dr. Mohammad Najafi, director of the Center for Underground Infrastructure Research and Education; Dr. John Matthys, director of the Construction Research Center; and Dr. Nur Yazdani, chair of the department, organized and conducted the International Symposium on Underground Freight Transportation. International authorities on transportation, underground infrastructure and interstate commerce explored the potentials and challenges associated with creating and operating systems to move freight in underground capsule pipelines and other tube/tunnel modes.

Computer Science & Engineering Department faculty, led by Professor and Chair Fillia Makedon, organized the first international conference devoted to examining different types of technology to address important social and healthcare issues. The Conference on Pervasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments (PETRA) will be held in Athens, Greece in July.

The Computer Science & Engineering Department’s Data Management Group organized and conducted the first Regional Symposium on Data and Information Management. The purpose of the symposium was to initiate collaborations and interactions among the large number of research groups in universities and businesses in Texas and nearby states working on topics related to data and information management.

Electrical Engineering Professors Donald Butler and Zeynep Celik-Butler were profiled in a “Brilliant Minds of Tarrant County” feature in the May issue of Fort Worth, Texas magazine.

Recruiters from 57 employers came to the College in February to participate in the Career Fair conducted as a part the College’s National Engineers Week activities.

The College hosted the FIRST Tech Challenge Southwest Regional Competition in March. Twenty three teams of motivated and creative high school students from across Texas, Arkansas, Colorado and Louisiana participated in the event.

Papers submitted by two Materials Science and Engineering graduate students – Hong-Wen Huang and Vishva Ray – tied for the Best Paper Award presented at the 2008 meeting of TMS, the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society. Both papers dealt with the development of ultra-small devices.

Computer Science & Engineering Ph.D. student Habib Ammari has won the Best Paper Award at the 5th European Conference on Wireless Sensor Networks held in Bologna, Italy.

Aerospace Engineering graduate student Jolanta Matusewicz has been awarded an Amelia Earhart Fellowship from Zonta International, an international organization of executives and professionals working together to advance the status of women through service and advocacy. Ms. Matusewicz’s research is in astrodynamics, particularly in tracking the position and velocity of the debris objects in space.

Christopher Harrison, an aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering senior, received the lopezgarcia group Outstanding Student Leader Scholarship at the Annual Awards Banquet and subsequently was recognized as UT Arlington’s Outstanding Engineering Senior by the Technical Club of Dallas. Harrison is the past president of the student chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the membership director of the student chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and president of the College’s Joint Council of Engineering Organizations, an umbrella organization comprised of 27 engineering student organizations.

Bioengineering student Kristy Cloyd received a prestigious Whitaker Foundation fellowship that will allow her to spend 12 months under the direction of Professor Molly Stevens at the Imperial College in London. Dr. Stevens is world-renowned for developing novel approaches to tissue engineering and biomaterials. The Whitaker Foundation granted only 18 fellowships in the United States this year.

Materials Science & Engineering doctoral student Hande Demirkiran received an esteemed scholarship to attend a leadership-training program sponsored by the materials society ASM International.

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Ph.D. candidate Nitin Uppal was awarded a Newport - Spectral Physics Research Excellence Travel Award to attend the SPIE Photonics West conference in January. Only 15 awards were presented nationwide. At the conference, he presented his paper with Dr. Panos Shiakolas “Three-dimensional Waveguides Fabricated in PMMA Using a Femtosecond Laser Micromachining System.”

Aerospace Engineering junior Kotaro Tagawa took second place at the AIAA Region IV Student Paper Conference in Houston. The paper described his development of an automated technique for survey and calibration of the low-speed wind tunnel in Engineering Lab 107. The AIAA Region IV comprises of universities in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Two Civil Engineering students received scholarships from the DFW Chapter of WTS, the Women’s Transportation Seminar. Junior Tamara Gart won the Undergraduate Scholarship and Sophomore Rachael Williams won the Undergraduate Leadership Scholarship.

UT Arlington is #1 in the nation for students participating in MentorNet, the award-winning nonprofit e-mentoring network that positively affects the retention and success of engineering, science and mathematics students, particularly but not exclusively women and others underrepresented in these fields. At UT Arlington, MentorNet is administered by Sally Hoelke in the College’s Counseling & Advising Center.