houck2040/tees huggingface dataset:
with budgets being tightened and funds being slashed energy efficiency has been thrust to the forefront and one entity of the texas a&m university system is doing its part to help system members as well as other government agencies save money and increase energy efficiency in their buildings through a program known as the continuous commissioning® process the energy systems laboratory (esl) a center within the texas engineering experiment station (tees) has worked to produce more than $100 million in savings in more than 300 buildings throughout texas the united states and the world the continuous commissioning® process uses an ongoing effort to resolve operating problems improve comfort and optimize energy use for existing commercial and institutional buildings and central plant facilities the process has been trademarked by tees and is being commercialized through the office of technology commercialization "when i was growing up we tuned our cars up pretty often and that could make a significant difference in gas mileage " said dr david e claridge director of esl and a mechanical engineering professor at texas a&m university "the continuous commissioning® process is a structured process for providing that kind of tune-up to building operation "it is a systematic way of looking at buildings and locating problems and then working with the building operators to correct them"
the work of the texas center for applied technology (tcat) was recently featured on krhd the abc affiliate in bryan-college station
dr zhilei chen a researcher in the chemical engineering division of the texas engineering experiment station (tees) has been awarded a faculty early career development (career) award sponsored by the national science foundation (nsf) chen is also an assistant professor in the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering at texas a&m university as a recipient of the prestigious award chen will receive $400 000 throughout the next five years for her research which will develop a novel protein polymer hydrogel as a general scaffold for the immobilization of enzymes and bioactive proteins enzymes are versatile catalysts and are playing an increasingly prominent role in modern biotechnology chen notes however poor long-term stability and difficulties in recovery and recycling of enzymes in solution have greatly hampered their usefulness in biotransformation she says immobilization of enzymes on solid supports can significantly enhance their stability and enable convenient recycling and recovery chens proposed protein hydrogel takes advantage of intein-mediated protein splicing/ligation to form an inter-connected network of protein polymers successful completion of this project will provide a general method for the synthesis of protein hydrogels that densely and efficiently incorporate multiple bioactive proteins with a highly controlled molecular architecture chen says insights from these studies she adds will benefit several industries employing biocatalytic processes; advance the ability to assemble efficient enzymatic pathways for biotransformation and enzymatic fuel cells; and facilitate the creation of new bioactive protein hydrogel scaffolds for tissue engineering and drug delivery applications chen completed her undergraduate studies at east china normal university in shanghai china in 2000 and earned her phd at university of illinois urbana-champaign in 2006 she went to the rockefeller university for postdoctoral studies before joining texas a&ms chemical engineering department in 2008 at texas a&m chens research focuses on applying protein engineering principles for biotechnology applications one of her interests is to develop new proteinaceous material for use in tissue engineering and biofuel cells such as protein hydrogels as protein/enzyme immobilization scaffolds she is also working on engineering agents for the treatment of various viral infections including hepatitis c virus and hiv and the identification of novel drug targets the career award was established to support junior faculty within the context of their overall career development combining in a single program the support of research and education of the highest quality and in the broadest sense through this program the nsf emphasizes the importance on the early development of academic careers dedicated to stimulating the discovery process in which the excitement of research is enhanced by inspired teaching and enthusiastic learning tees is an engineering research agency of the state of texas and a member of the texas a&m university system
dr dennis oneal deputy director of the texas engineering experiment station (tees) has been selected to receive two awards from the american society of heating refrigeration and air-conditioning engineers (ashrae) for a paper published in 2011 oneal and co-authors jacob l edmonson dr john a bryant and dr michael a davis will receive the ashrae crosby field award for their paper "performance of series fan-powered terminal units with electronically commutated motors" the award is presented to the authors of the best paper published by the society during 2011 the group will also receive a 2011 technical paper award for their paper they will be recognized at the societys annual conference in san antonio june 23 oneal is a researcher in the tees mechanical engineering division he is also associate dean for research in the dwight look college of engineering at texas a&m university and the holdredge-paul professor in the department of mechanical engineering which he headed from 2004 to 2011 he is a fellow of ashrae and the american society of mechanical engineers oneal has held various ashrae leadership positions and received the societys distinguished service award oneal is previous holder of the ed brockett professorship and has received the texas a&m association of former students distinguished teaching award in the dwight look college of engineering he was among the first named a look college faculty fellow and has earned the texas a&m mechanical engineering departments outstanding undergraduate teaching award and the tees senior fellow award oneal holds a bachelors degree in nuclear engineering from texas a&m he earned a masters degree from oklahoma state university and his phd from purdue university both in mechanical engineering
john sharp chancellor of the texas a&m university system made his first official visit to the texas engineering experiment station (tees) april 24 the chancellor spent the afternoon learning about tees mission to serve the citizens of texas through engineering and technology research and education as well as taking part in hands-on demonstrations of engineering research technologies (including tcats dreams ambulance pictured right) dr m katherine banks vice chancellor and dean of engineering and director of tees provided the chancellor an overview of the nearly 100-year-old state agency "tees fills a unique role for the texas a&m university system " banks said "one that is complementary to higher education by facilitating engineering and technology-oriented research and development through its laboratories research capabilities and support of industry and workforce development across the state" sharp learned how tees partners with the universities and agencies of the a&m system to establish unique engineering labs and research; enhance engineering research capacity and workforce development statewide; and support and assist the technology industry in creating the workforce of the future by developing academic and outreach programs in science technology engineering and mathematics (stem) sharp heard from several tees research engineers representing biomedical computer science and engineering and industrial and systems engineering divisions within the agency "tees has been fulfilling its land-grant mission in the state of texas since 1914 " banks said "engineering and technology needs in texas have changed significantly since then and so has tees as we look to a rapidly changing technology-driven world tees is more relevant now than ever before in its century of service" about the texas engineering experiment station (tees) as an engineering research agency of texas tees conducts research to provide practical answers to critical state and national needs tees partners with academic institutions governmental agencies industries and communities to solve problems to help improve the quality of life promote economic development and enhance the educational systems of texas
nasa has selected vectornav technologies llc for a phase 1 sttr contract to develop a model for space debris removal technology through a partnership with the texas engineering experiment station (tees) and faculty at texas a&m university the research will combine advanced robotic technologies developed by texas a&ms land air and space robotics laboratory (lasr) along with vectornavs inertial sensing and dynamics modeling expertise to achieve accurate sensing required both for high-fidelity simulation and autonomous proximity operations the problem of debris in low earth orbit is an issue of rising concern among nasa and other organizations seeking to launch successful space missions as ground-based modeling and simulation of missions to remove space debris are notoriously difficult nasa has enlisted vectornav technologies in partnership with tees to develop a ground-based simulation platform that will model space debris removal missions the approach proposed by vectornav and tees significantly increases the capability of such testing operations and improves the chance of successful active debris removal missions as the principal investigator for the project dr john l junkins distinguished professor of aerospace engineering at texas a&m university and a member of the national academy of engineering will play a key role in establishing supporting robotic platforms with the omnidirectional and six degree of freedom robot homer as well as providing resources for hardware-in-the-loop testing at lasrs facilities "were looking forward to leveraging our extensive in-house expertise in sensing and dynamic systems to address this pressing global issue of space debris in low earth orbit " said jeremy davis vectornavs director of engineering and project manager for the contract "especially so in that this work will be conducted with two great partners in nasa and tees" the nasa sttr program provides opportunities for high technology companies and partnering research institutions to participate in federal government-sponsored research and development efforts in key technology areas being investigated by nasa the contract is the first of its kind awarded to vectornav technologies by nasa about vectornav technologies: vectornav technologies specializes in manufacturing high-performance navigation and orientation sensors using the latest miniature solid-state mems inertial sensor technology since its founding by five graduates of texas a&m university in 2008 vectornav has been providing customers worldwide access to high quality fully calibrated orientation sensors with state-of-the-art digital filtering technology with a strong background in aerospace engineering and experience in the development and testing of spacecraft launch vehicles and micro-aerial vehicles vectornav brings high-performance aerospace filtering and calibration techniques into the world of low-cost industrial grade mems sensors expanding the possibilities of todays navigation technologies
the water desalination work of tees researcher dave burnett has been featured in the battalion texas a&m universitys student newspaper the research has sparked the interest of colombian officials in the market for clean water researchers offer water-cleaning technology called membrane filtration which purifies water contaminated from oil and natural gas production burnett director of technology at the global petroleum research institute said more than 15 years of research lie behind tees and texas a&ms water filtration technologies and the demand for water filtration is not limited to colombia
san antonio - texas a&m university system chancellor john sharp recently announced the formation of a new a&m system center to address multiple water issues in and develop solutions for texas texas agrilife research texas agrilife extension service texas engineering experiment station and texas a&m university-san antonio are collaborating on the development of the water conservation and technology center that will support high priority projects that focus on texas water issues "the state of texas has a rich history that has always been linked to water - rights conservation and control this unique agency collaboration will lead to development of more efficiency and effectiveness in managing this vital resource " sharp said administered by the texas water resources institute an entity of the texas a&m system the center will increase the systems ability to meet existing and emerging statewide needs in water conservation and technology according to dr neal wilkins the institutes director "the center will accelerate the development and adoption of new and innovative technologies to solve emerging water problems and meet future water supply needs " wilkins said the center includes a collaborative relationship with the texas engineering experiment station through the texas center for applied technology and will be located at the texas engineering extension services south presa campus in san antonio cindy wall the applied technologys executive director said the center will target its work on four high priority efforts: water conservation water reuse groundwater desalination and energy development and water use "the center will establish a team of scientists engineers and water professionals dedicated to applied research and development testing and validation technology transfer and training and extension education in these four areas " wall said the center will work with industry state and federal agencies municipalities trade associations and other research institutions to undertake projects and develop solutions within these four areas
the tees biomedical engineering division will host the inaugural biomedoptex symposium at texas a&m university may 23-25 the three-day symposium -- sponsored by tees the department of biomedical engineering at texas a&m and spie the international society for optics and photonics -- will be held at the annenberg presidential conference center at the george bush presidential library the program will highlight new trends and progress made in biomedical optical technologies and applications in diagnostics and therapeutics to improve public health worldwide a student development workshop at the emerging technologies building will feature a session with author peter fiske and an entrepreneurial panel discussion with industry leaders and university researchers tours of the facilities and biomedical optics labs round out the three-day event and are open to all symposium participants rebecca richards-kortum the stanley c moore professor of bioengineering professor of electrical and computer engineering at rice university and founder of beyond traditional borders and lihong wang the gene k beare distinguished professor of biomedical engineering at washington university and author of biomedical optics: principles and imaging will give invited talks robert nordstrom from the national cancer institute sohi rastegar from the national science foundation and ramesh raghavachari from the food and drug administration will lead a panel discussion on the future direction of biomedical optics "we hope this inaugural symposium will become an annual event " said dr kristen maitland (pictured) a biomedical engineering researcher and assistant professor and chair of the biomedoptex symposium "optical techniques play a critical role in biomedical studies ranging from basic biological science to in vivo imaging and therapies we have a high concentration of researchers in biomedical optics at texas a&m and at other institutions across texas this symposium will showcase cutting edge research in the region provide an opportunity for students to interact with experts in the field and foster collaborations" presentations and a panel discussion will feature academic researchers and industry leaders from across the region to showcase research and promote knowledge exchange between institutions and industry a student poster reception will provide a venue for students to present their research and interact with the experts student poster award recipients in each student category (undergraduate and graduate) will be presented at the completion of the conference
dr dimitris c lagoudas has been appointed interim deputy director of the texas engineering experiment station (tees) dr m katherine banks vice chancellor and dean of texas a&m engineering announced recently lagoudas appointment as interim deputy director of tees will be effective july 1 and he will assume the position of deputy director upon approval of the texas a&m university system board of regents additionally banks announced that lagoudas has been appointed senior associate dean for research and associate vice chancellor for engineering research "dr lagoudas is internationally known for his work on shape memory alloys and has provided significant leadership for many major research initiatives funded by nasa nsf and afosr " says banks "in addition to outstanding contributions to research dr lagoudas has demonstrated effective leadership of the aerospace engineering department and will be integral to enhancing and advancing our organization into the future" lagoudas will be replacing dr dennis l oneal who has accepted the position of dean of engineering and computer science at baylor university lagoudas currently serves as head of the department of aerospace engineering and holds the john and bea slattery chair of aerospace engineering he also serves as the director for the texas institute for intelligent materials and structures (tiims) his research involves the design characterization and modeling of multifunctional material systems at nano micro and macro levels with averaging micromechanics methods developed to bridge the various length scales and functionalities including mechanical thermal and electrical properties of nanocomposites he has authored or co-authored more than 340 scientific publications (140 in archival journals) he also served as the co-chair of nasas roadmap panel for nanotechnologies he was the inaugural recipient of one of the two ford motor company professorships he is a tees fellow a tamu faculty fellow and an associate fellow of aiaa and a fellow of asme he was selected as an ses fellow in 2009 he served as an associate vice president for research for texas a&m university from 2001-2004 and as the first chair of the materials science and engineering program at tamu about the texas engineering experiment station (tees) as an engineering research agency of texas tees conducts research to provide practical answers to critical state and national needs tees partners with academic institutions governmental agencies industries and communities to solve problems to help improve the quality of life promote economic development and enhance the educational systems of texas
dr jeffrey e froyd has been elected a fellow of the american society for engineering education (asee) froyd is a research professor in the texas engineering experiment station (tees) and director of faculty climate and development at texas a&m university he will be recognized at the 2012 asee annual conference and exposition in san antonio june 10-13 froyd previously served as project director for the foundation coalition an nsf engineering education coalition in which six institutions systematically renewed assessed and institutionalized their undergraduate engineering curricula and extensively shared their results with the engineering education community he co-created the integrated first-year curriculum in science engineering and mathematics at rose-hulman institute of technology which was recognized in 1997 with a hesburgh award certificate of excellence he also served as project director for changing faculty through learning communities which was intended to create compelling learning experiences for faculty members on gender equity he has served for as an abet program evaluator for electrical and computer engineering since 1999 and authored or co-authored more than 70 papers on curriculum innovation curriculum integration assessment of curricular innovations and the process of curricular change froyd is an ieee fellow and a senior associate editor for the journal on engineering education he has served as a program co-chair for the 2003 2004 and 2011 frontiers in education conferences and the general chair for the 2009 frontiers in education conference
the texas a&m university systems office of technology commercialization recently presented patent awards to individuals and teams who are currently employed by the a&m system and whose inventions were granted patent protection from the united states patent & trademark office in 2011 "this event gives us the chance to formally recognize the researchers within the a&m system whose work has significant real-world applications " chancellor john sharp said "through commercialization of their inventions research that began in a lab now has the chance to extend its reach and make a difference in peoples lives" patent award winners from tees were: dr andrew r mcfarland mechanical engineering dr b don russell electrical and computer engineering carl l benner electrical and computer engineering dr charles h culp iii energy systems laboratory dr david e claridge energy systems laboratory and mechanical engineering dr jeff haberl energy systems laboratory dr john c criscione biomedical engineering karthick muthu-manivannan electrical and computer engineering dr mark holtzapple chemical engineering dr mehrdad ehsani electrical and computer engineering dr saurabh biswas biomedical engineering and office of technology commercialization dr sunil p khatri electrical and computer engineering dr william d turner energy systems laboratory and mechanical engineering dr zixiang xiong electrical and computer engineering
making commercial buildings more energy efficient is the goal of a new training program offered by the texas engineering extension service (teex) energy efficiency for commercial building technicians is a training program designed to help technicians identify areas of improvement and implement applications and techniques that optimize energy performance in new and existing commercial buildings development of the course was a collaborative effort by teex and the texas engineering experiment station (tees) and sponsored by the us department of energy the blended learning course offers a prerequisite online introduction and overview followed by 32 hours of classroom sessions and practical applications topics include building codes and system components test equipment safety tools and measurements building assessment options for energy efficiency and project planning the course concludes with students conducting an on-site building assessment "were very excited to be offering this new program which could help businesses save money on energy costs " said bill stansbury program director for utilities training with teexs infrastructure training & safety institute he said the first open-enrollment course will be offered aug 20-24 at the teex campus in san antonio at 9350 s presa
more than 230 engineers from 28 countries recently met in san francisco to discuss the latest technologies and future practice of high voltage direct current (hvdc) transmission of electric power in an event organized by the department of electrical and computer engineering at texas a&m university the high voltage dc colloquium was hosted by the united states national committee of the international council of large electric systems (cigré) the us cigre secretariat is under contract with texas engineering experiment station (tees) the program included a broad range of tutorials paper sessions and working group meetings on the latest hvdc and high voltage power electronic applications to electric power transmission "the engineering program is privileged to host the usnc secretariat offices of cigré " said dr m katherine banks vice chancellor and dean of engineering at texas a&m "cigré provides an opportunity for universities and industry to collaborate on developing new technologies and practices to improve the efficient delivery of electric power electric power engineering has been a significant research and education emphasis at texas a&m university for more than a hundred years" dr b don russell distinguished professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering manages the usnc secretariat and serves as vice president of administration of the usnc cigré he also is a member of the cigré us executive committee russell is an a&m system regents professor and holds the bovay chair in the dwight look college of engineering he is a member of the national academy of engineering and is former president of the institute of electrical and electronics engineers power and energy society conference planning and coordination was handled by sharon loe program coordinator for the usnc secretariat cigré is an international organization of more than 80 countries headquartered in paris it is dedicated to the development and dissemination of the best practices and new technologies to improve electric power generation transmission delivery and utilization throughout the world
a beryllium oxide (beo) nuclear fuels research collaboration between texas a&m university the texas engineering experiment station (tees) purdue university and ibc advanced alloys corp has been selected to receive the significant contribution award from the materials science and technology division of the american nuclear society (ans) the research team members are dr sean mcdeavitt (pictured) dr jean ragusa michael naramore and robert miller from texas a&m and tees; shripad revankar and alvin solomon from purdue; and james malone from ibc advanced alloys corp the team is being recognized for its paper "introducing a high thermal conductivity uo2-beo nuclear fuel concept" "i am honored to receive this award from the american nuclear society " said mcdeavitt texas a&ms lead researcher "it is gratifying to receive peer recognition and affirmation for the quality and direction of our nuclear fuels research the whole team at texas a&m and purdue is looking forward to continuing our relationship with ibc as we advance this exciting technology to the next phase and hopefully closer to a commercial reality" ibc says the company is committed to its beo enhanced nuclear fuel research with purdue and texas a&m which is focused on developing a high thermal conductivity nuclear fuel for both current and future nuclear power reactors the aim of the research is to develop a commercial application of the fuel that is more efficient and safer than existing nuclear fuels and also to increase downstream demand for beryllium oxide
cindy wall has been appointed assistant agency director for operations for the texas engineering experiment station (tees) dr m katherine banks vice chancellor and dean of texas a&m engineering announced recently walls appointment will be effective august 1 she currently serves as executive director of the texas center for applied technology in her new position wall will coordinate and manage operations of tees divisions develop and maintain processes for teess resource allocation in accordance with the strategic plan and coordinate and implement technical assistance to small businesses she will also oversee activities of the compliance office payroll human resources and contract negotiations it and strategic initiatives
dr jim wall has been appointed executive director of the texas center for applied technology (tcat) dr m katherine banks vice chancellor and dean of texas a&m engineering announced recently walls appointment will be effective aug 1 he currently serves as the deputy director and director of computing and information technology for tcat a center within the texas engineering experiment station (tees) in his new position wall will be responsible for establishing the direction goals agendas implementation strategies and policies for the center additionally he will be instrumental in the implementation of workforce development technical assistance to small businesses and new programs and services designed to meet state needs including seeking funding from state and national agencies industry and foundations
a research team led by dr richard j malak jr a researcher in the mechanical engineering division of the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) was recently awarded a national science foundation (nsf) grant through the emerging frontiers of research and innovation (efri) program the grant which is for four years is for nearly $2 million malak is also an assistant professor in the department of mechanical engineering at texas a&m university the research team consists of malak who is the principal investigator; co-principal investigators dr dimitris lagoudas (aerospace engineering) dr nancy amato (computer science and engineering) dr ergun akleman (department of visualization at texas a&m); dr daniel mcadams (mechanical engineering); and senior personnel dr darren hartl (aerospace engineering) the research objective of the award is to discover new techniques for synthesizing complex 3d structures from programmable self-folding 2d elements this will be made possible by the incorporation of active shape memory layers that provide actuation capabilities elements will be programmed by specifying the locations and sequences of localized folding operations fold characteristics and locations will be of near-infinite variety and not limited to pre-engineered folds or joints the research team will create new theories and methods for multi-scale and multidisciplinary systems analysis and optimization; active materials modeling and structural analyses; computational folding algorithms for design synthesis; geometric modeling and visualization and bio-inspired folding-based design synthesis methods the combined design theory and methods will address a class of design problems -structures made from programmable self-folding active material elements -for which no methods presently exist if successful the results of this research will constitute a substantial leap forward in engineering technology and knowledge allowing engineers to design complex systems in fundamentally new ways additionally underrepresented students from the sixth through 12th grades will learn about science technology engineering and mathematics (stem) topics through a robotics competition organized in partnership with national instruments the research team in partnership with the center for puppetry arts in atlanta will produce origami-themed lessons about stem subjects that will reach more than 10 000 elementary-age school children across the country annually
the board of regents of the texas a&m university system established the texas engineering experiment stations (tees) center for emergency informatics (cei) at its aug 3 meeting recognizing the faculty effort in radically changing disaster response through advances in technology thirty faculty members in the dwight look college of engineering at texas a&m university have been working together since 2008 to create unmanned systems new sensors wireless networks data mining simulation and visualization social networking and other technologies that can revolutionize response and recovery the center is unlike any other in the united states as it focuses on how new and evolving information technologies can be improved integrated and put to use for disaster prevention preparedness response and recovery "the time is now " said cei director dr robin murphy raytheon professor in the department of computer science and engineering at texas a&m "texas needs the economic resilience to handle disasters such as hurricane ike which cost more than $22 billion to recover from "the technology exists to get better information to the responders cities and citizens information technologies are literally springing up overnight with more than 1 000 new apps being created every day and emergency informatics can create jobs; returning veterans for instance are already highly skilled and they need jobs" cei will serve to connect members of the texas a&m family including the texas engineering extension service (teex); center for robot-assisted search and rescue; hazards reduction and recovery center; institute for science technology and public policy; internet2 technology evaluation center; and the rfid/sensor lab the cei will absorb the emergency informatics edge® innovation center which is the nucleus for the 275-member industry consortium led by general dynamics activities will commence with a seminar series throughout the academic year and a summer institute at teexs disaster city ® is being scheduled for may 2013
the center for the advancement of science in space inc (casis) announced july 25 that it has named the space engineering research center (serc) an implementation partner serc is a tees engineering center that specializes in providing space-related services and technologies to government and industry clients often in close collaboration with texas a&m university faculty and students casis was chosen by nasa in 2011 to be the sole manager of the international space station us national laboratory the mission of casis is to maximize use of this unique platform for innovation to benefit all humankind and inspire a new generation to look to the stars the casis organization has the responsibility of inciting the imagination of entrepreneurs and scientists accelerating and facilitating space-based microgravity research as well as creating public awareness of national lab activities and making space science more accessible to the world casis acting in partnership with nasa has the charter to select research and fund projects; by connecting investors to scientists with great ideas and by making access to the station faster and easier; enabling groundbreaking new technologies and products that will tangibly affect our lives to facilitate its mission casis is partnering with a number of experienced organizations as implementation partners these partners have the capability to provide a wide range of services to experimenters to help them build microgravity experiments and get them placed on the international space station these services include mission planning experiment design ground testing safety and risk assessment and other experiment payload integration tasks serc was selected after a series of interactions with casis including a visit to center by casis chief operation officer duane ratliff and discussions at the international space station research and development conference the serc is only one of two university-centered organizations named as an implementation partner serc director chip hill said that this selection follows the announcement earlier this year that xcor had chosen the serc as a payload integrator for its suborbital lynx space plane enhancing sercs position for providing microgravity and zero-gravity space payload integration services serc is currently teamed with nasa johnson space center on a payload that will undergo parabolic flights on the zero g corporation aircraft in september followed by suborbital flights on virgin galactics spaceshiptwo space plane
the texas a&m engineering experiment station and the dwight look college of engineering at texas a&m university have been selected to participate in a new science technology engineering and mathematics (stem) outreach program administered by the national aeronautical and space administration (nasa) the electronics engineering technology program (eet) at texas a&m will team with the project management institute clear lake-galveston (pmi-clg) to provide an innovative approach to project management education and training for students at three high schools - cypress woods cypress ranch and conroe high through its high school students united with nasa for the creation of hardware (hunch) program nasa sponsors high school teams for projects that fabricate training and flight hardware support for nasas international space station national laboratory education projects one teacher at each of the three high schools has been selected by nasas hunch program to do a project and texas a&m was chosen to teach project management to their students "project management is one of the most important aspects of education " said dr joseph a morgan a professor in the department of engineering technology and industrial distribution at texas a&m "the nasa award will allow us to develop and teach project management tools and processes to the high school teams participating in the hunch projects" morgan along with other texas a&m engineering faculty members will begin working with the students on friday (sept 21) the professors will meet with the students at their high schools on fridays to provide training in project management additionally four student volunteers from texas a&ms eet program who are currently working on their capstone design project will serve as mentors to the high school students the volunteers who are working on their own product design and development projects will work with the high school teams in using project management tools to better manage their projects pmi-clg will serve as advisors to both the texas a&m student mentors and the high school teams "introducing project management principles within engineering projects is a great way to motivate high school stem students while teaching them the importance of these processes for project success " said dr wei zhan associate professor and co-principal investigator
what can a state concerned with resource adequacy learn from an army general with a plan for energy security it turns out plenty the clean air through energy efficiency (catee) conference offers community leaders from around the state a forum for discussing new changing standards and exploring solutions for a healthy built environment serving a growing urbanizing population the energy systems laboratory (esl) at texas a&m university will host catee 2012 in galveston texas october 9-11 2012 catee is a premiere educational conference and energy-related business expo aimed at government development and civic leaders its purpose is to heighten awareness and facilitate implementation of successful policies and investments that reduce energy and water intensity and reduce emissions an outstanding array of speakers will include: major general dana jh pittard commanding general of fort bliss on sustainability leadership and legislative insights from state representatives jim pitts wayne smith and lyle larson a complete program and registration information are available on conference website http://cateetamuedu all conference events will be held at the historic hotel galvez in galveston events include several free pre-conference workshops on october 9 and two full days of conference and exhibits october 10 and 11 2012 rotating annually among texas metropolitan air quality non-attainment and near-non-attainment areas the conference includes both local/regional emphasis and broad state/national relevance the core participants of catee include: community leaders development and design professionals government and school district officials and staff business owners and executives facility managers utility and energy services representatives researchers and energy and air quality advocates and thought leaders this group is defining the pathways to a healthy future for our cities the energy systems laboratory is a division of the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) esl began hosting an annual conference in 2004 as a mechanism for sharing information on how to implement related policies raise awareness of their impacts and highlight the range of successful local policies and practices being implemented to achieve emissions reductions through energy efficiency in the built environment the conference has become a premiere venue for gathering air quality and energy efficiency stakeholders to discover and advocate sustainable community strategies and energy efficiency improvement opportunities schedule of events tuesday oct 9 10:00 am - 5:00 pm pre-conference workshops (times vary) wednesday oct 10 8:30 am - 5:00 pm conference & exhibits; 5:00-7:00 pm reception thursday oct 11 8:30 am - 5:00 pm conference & exhibits; noon awards luncheon
two researchers from the aerospace engineering division are part of a team led by the boeing co that has been awarded $12 million from nasa dr rodney bowersox and dr edward white who are also faculty members in the department of aerospace engineering at texas a&m university will receive $590 000 to use the oran w nicks low-speed wind tunnel for experiments on how active flow control can mitigate dynamic stall on helicopter blades the experiments will focus on blades operating in the transonic regime the flow control actuators will be designed by advanced fluidics llc and integrated by texas a&m and boeing the project will include substantial improvements to the low-speed wind tunnel to increase its maximum speed to mach 05 (385 mph) the tunnel typically operates up to mach 025 and its current speed record is mach 033 higher speeds are necessary to explore why helicopter rotors fatigue quickly in high-speed forward flight and how active flow control might prevent this measurements will include dynamic pressure readings for unsteady lift and pitch moment and high-resolution particle image velocimetry for off-body flow visualization achieving the higher speed will make use of the newly installed 3 000 horsepower wind-tunnel motor and will require other mechanical and electrical upgrades in the next 18 months
a recent research article co-written by dr dimitris lagoudas and dr darren hartl from the department of aerospace engineering was recently featured as the cover article in the journal smart materials and structures which is the leading journal for the active materials and adaptive structures community lagoudas holds the john and bea slattery chair in aerospace engineering and is the senior associate dean for research in the dwight look college of engineering; the deputy director of the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees); and associate vice chancellor for engineering research of the texas a&m university system hartl is a tees assistant research professor with the department together they lead the texas institute for intelligent materials and structures (tiims) a tees research center lagoudas has been working in the area of smart material modeling and analysis for the past 20 years and has been working with hartl since 2002 their research team continues to develop new and enhanced methods for addressing the behavior of smart and multifunctional materials at the nano- micro- and macro-scales including implementation into aerospace applications stephen oehler a recent masters graduate and current structures analyst for boeing research and technology was lead author the paper which demonstrates a new framework for the optimized design of morphing structures also includes contributions from dr richard malak of the department of mechanical engineering this work represents the initiation of a new collaborative effort between the two departments related to the design of morphing aerostructures the paper highlighted specifically considers the design of morphing chevrons for installation in jet engine exhaust flows for the purposes of selectively mixing fluid streams and reducing aircraft noise the journal "is dedicated to technical advances in smart materials systems and structures including materials sensing and actuation optics and electromagnetics structures control and information processing"
the tees space engineering research center (serc) recently participated in reduced gravity aircraft flights as part of the nasa flight opportunities program nasa johnson space center led a team of researchers from serc the jet learning laboratory and advanced cooling technologies to evaluate a gas-liquid separator designed by serc researchers under microgravity conditions dr cable kurwitz and dr frank little supported flight activities by providing the test platform and data logging as well as directing flight operations the aircraft flight is part of a larger suborbital program to qualify the separator for future space system applications and will be scheduled for a future flight by one of the commercial suborbital flight providers
leading robotics researchers from 10 countries will meet in college station nov 5-8 for the annual ieee symposia on safety security and rescue robotics the nearly 100 scientists will share findings on how rescue robots are being used throughout the world and discuss advances needed to help responders address disasters such as hurricane sandy land sea and aerial robots were first used at the world trade center disaster and have been used in at least 26 disasters since most recently they were used at fukushima after the japan tsunami the conference will produce a roadmap of additional advances needed to get these tools into the hands of more emergency workers "the timing with hurricane sandy is particularly meaningful " said dr robin murphy director of the tees center for robot-assisted search and rescue (crasar) and the raytheon professor in the department of computer science and engineering at texas a&m "rescue robotics really took off because of 9/11 and here at the 10th anniversary of our conference we are once again focused on new york" murphy has participated in 15 disasters including the world trade center collapse hurricanes charley wilma dennis and ike and the tohoku tsunami unlike purely academic symposia the majority of the 43 papers report on practical results from responders and police who used new types of robots sensors and human-robot interfaces in the field one set of papers describes how military and commercially available robots have been used for underwater and aerial inspection of bridges and roads damaged by flooding hurricanes or tsunamis others present results on using ground robots for exploring rubble and helping to care for and extract victims the symposium also includes emerging technologies such as sophisticated snake-like robots and "soft robots" which use fluids and shape alloys to flow through rubble this years symposia will feature dr satoshi tadokoro and dr hajime asama who were active in the use of robots for fukushima and the tokohu earthquake and tsunami dr gill pratt the darpa program manager for the darpa robotics challenge which was inspired by the inability of workers at fukushima to enter key areas of the facility to vent hydrogen in time to prevent an explosion will also be featured attendees will tour the 279-acre emergency preparedness campus of the texas a&m engineering extension service (teex) which that includes disaster city® and will meet with responders tees is an engineering research agency of the state of texas and a member of the texas a&m university system for more on the center for robot-assisted search and rescue visit wwwcrasarorg and for more on the texas a&m engineering extension service (teex) and disaster city® visit wwwteexcom