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fellowship LK Mestha, an adjunct professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and director of biometric research at KinetiCor Inc., was elected to the National Academy of Inventors. He has received 246 patents and has worked for companies such as GE Global Research, Xerox Research Center, the Superconducting Super Collider, and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

award Social work Assistant Professors Kathy Lee and Rebecca Mauldin won the Best Human Services App Idea Award at the 2018 Social Work, Education, and Social Development Conference for SageServe, an app that provides older adults with online-based volunteer opportunities.

grant Subhrangsu Mandal, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and psychology Associate Professor Linda Perrotti received a $439,360 grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate the link between ovarian hormones and the blood cholesterol balance in the body.

fellowship Jamie Rogers—Distinguished Teaching Professor and associate chair of the Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Department—was named a fellow of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.

grant The National Institutes of Health awarded Michael Nelson, assistant professor of kinesiology, a five-year, $3.3 million grant to study the link between fat storage in the heart and cardiovascular disease.

paper Wayne Crawford, assistant professor of management, co-authored a study in Occupational Health Psychology on how using a mobile device at home for work purposes has negative implications for an employee's work life and relationships.

grant Presidential Distinguished Professor of Physics David Nygren and Assistant Professor Ben Jones received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a detector that may offer insight into the universe's matter-antimatter imbalance.

grant Department of Art and Art History Lecturer Billi London-Gray won a Puffin Foundation grant for her ongoing project, The Loop and Saw Choir.

award Hanli Liu, an expert in brain imaging and professor in the Bioengineering Department, was among 26 women named by the Dallas Business Journal as winners of the fifth annual Women in Technology Awards, which celebrate and honor the tech mavericks who are forging the way for both women and future tech leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth.

appointment Civil engineering Professor Jim Williams was named president of Chi Epsilon, the national civil engineering honor society.

grant Anand Puppala, civil engineering professor and associate dean for research in the College of Engineering, won a $600,000 contract from the U.S. Department of Transportation regional center and TxDOT to employ geopolymers for soil modification and sustainable cement materials to strengthen highway embankments.

paper Distinguished University Professor in electrical engineering Weidong Zhou published a paper in the journal Advanced Materials with John Rogers, a world leader in the field of bioresorbable or biodegradable electronics, that describes their use of flexible optical waveguides in biosensors.

grant The National Science Foundation awarded a three-year, $750,000 grant to electrical engineering Professor Michael Vasilyev to address the challenges of large-scale deployment of quantum communication systems.

paper Robert Gatchel, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and the Nancy P. and John G. Penson Endowed Professor of Clinical Health Psychology, led a federal advisory group that published its recommendations on the prevention of acute and chronic pain to the Federal Research Pain Strategy, an interagency committee that oversees the government's long-term strategic plan to support pain research.

grant The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration awarded civil engineering Assistant Professor Yu Zhang a $515,565 grant to apply inputs from the joint polar satellite system to create a paradigm that could be applied to the National Water Model and allow both services to be considered in predictions and warnings.

award Purnendu "Sandy" Dasgupta, Hamish Small Chair of Ion Analysis in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, won the 2018 American Chemical Society's Division of Analytical Chemistry Chemical Instrumentation Award.

grant Robert Magnusson, the Texas Instruments Distinguished University Chair in Nanoelectronics and an electrical engineering professor, won a $360,000 National Science Foundation grant for his research into band flips and bound states in leaky-mode resonant photonic lattices.

paper Shima Hamidi, assistant professor in the College of Architecture, Planning, and Public Affairs, and doctoral students Jinat Jahan and Somayeh Moazzeni published "Does Location Matter? Performance Analysis of the Affordable Housing Programs with Respect to Transportation Affordability in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolis" in the Transportation Research Record Journal.

grant The National Science Foundation awarded biology Professor Esther Betran a $570,197 grant for her research on transposable elements, or "jumping genes."

paper A study published in Hypertension provides potential insight into the higher prevalence of hypertension reported in black men. It was written by Jennifer Vranish, postdoctoral research fellow; Paul Fadel, professor of kinesiology and College of Nursing and Health Innovation associate dean; David Keller, professor and chair of the Department of Kinesiology; and doctoral students Jordan Patik and Benjamin Young.

grant The National Institutes of Health awarded a $441,000 grant to build new imaging technology that will study blood vessel function in patients with heart failure to Michael Nelson, assistant professor of kinesiology; Mark Haykowsky, professor and Moritz Chair in Geriatrics; and Fenghua Tian, bioengineering faculty research associate.

paper Kyungsuk Yum, an assistant professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department, and doctoral student Amirali Nojoomi developed a process by which 2D hydrogels can be programmed to expand and shrink in a space- and time-controlled way. They published their groundbreaking research in Nature Communications.

grant Yi Hong, associate professor in the Bioengineering Department, is leading an interdisciplinary team that will use a five-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a new method of treating a vaginal prolapse before the vagina completely detaches.

award John Romig, assistant professor of special education, was recognized by the Council for Exceptional Children's Division for Research with a 2019 Student Research Award.

grant Frank Lewis, the Moncrief-O'Donnell Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Associate Professors Yan Wan and Ali Davoudi received a $220,000 National Science Foundation grant for their work into controlling power networks and other complex dynamic systems more effectively during unexpected events.

appointment Krishnan Rajeshwar, Distinguished University Professor of chemistry and biochemistry, was appointed editor in chief of the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, a publication of the Electrochemical Society.

grant Civil engineering professor Sahadat Hossain won a $1.37 million proof-of-concept contract from TxDOT to use recycled plastic pins to strengthen mechanically stabilized earth walls on North Texas highways.

award Muhammad Farooq Wahab, a research engineering scientist, was named to the "Analytical Chemists Top 40 Under 40 Power List" of young analytical scientists, published by the British magazine The Analytical Scientist.

grant Civil engineering Associate Professor Michael Zaretsky and College of Architecture, Planning, and Public Affairs Dean Adrian Parr secured a $1 million UT System STARs (Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention) grant to further their research in sustainable water management.

award Michele Bobadilla, assistant provost for Hispanic student success and senior associate vice president for outreach services and community engagement, received the prestigious 2018 Medallion of Excellence in Education, Science, Medicine, or Civil Rights from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

grant Endel Iarve, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is leading a $1 million U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory grant looking at establishing fatigue and durability standards for materials used in aircraft.

award Frank Foss, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Regina Urban, clinical assistant professor in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, both won the UT System Board of Regent's highest honor, the 2018 Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award for excellence in the classroom.

grant Andrew Makeev, director of the Advanced Materials and Structures Lab and a professor of aerospace engineering, received two Office of Naval Research grants worth nearly $1.5 million. One is to upgrade UTA's unique computed tomography facilities; the other is to study the physics phenomena governing the manufacturing irregularities or defects in composite parts.

award David Hullender, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, was named a 2018 Piper Professor by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation. The award recognizes outstanding college professors across Texas.

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