houck2040/tees huggingface dataset:
dr katy kao a tees researcher and assistant professor in the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering at texas a&m university has been awarded a faculty early career development (career) award sponsored by the national science foundation (nsf) as a recipient of the prestigious award kao will receive $511 609 throughout the next five years for her research which will examine the evolutionary processes associated with how microbes adapt to their environments this will be accomplished kao notes via the development of the visualizing evolution in real-time (vert) method which uses genetically identical but differently colored cells to identify when adaptive evolution has occurred in laboratory cultures vert will be used to engineer escherichia coli for enhanced tolerance to a biofuel (1-butanol) and genomic tools will be used to determine the underlying evolutionary processes and molecular mechanisms involved kao explains kao completed her undergraduate career at the university of california irvine and earned her phd at the university of california los angeles before joining texas a&ms chemical engineering department in 2008 at texas a&m kaos research focuses on genomics systems biology and biotechnology her laboratory is interested in using genomic and system biological tools to study microbial adaptation in various environments specifically kao is focusing on evolving microorganisms such as yeast and e coli for enhanced tolerance to the toxicity of desired bioproducts such as biofuels she also is utilizing ultra-high throughput sequencing technology along with related tools to study the transcriptome and the metabolism in an effort to identify the cellular components responsible for the selected traits 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
jodie lutkenhaus a tees researcher and assistant professor in the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering has been awarded a faculty early career development (career) award sponsored by the national science foundation (nsf) as a recipient of the prestigious award lutkenhaus will receive $500 000 throughout the next five years for her research which will examine the materials properties of ultra thin polymer films specifically lutkenhaus will be studying a class of films called layer-by-layer (lbl) assemblies made from the alternating layers of oppositely charged molecules lbl films have applications in energy storage and production biomaterials self-cleaning surfaces and more however little is known regarding whether these films melt soften or crosslink at a given temperature such knowledge she notes is important to discern if lbl assemblies are to be commercialized the lutkenhaus laboratory has expertise in measuring and identifying thermal phenomena in thin solid films and is the first to observe crosslinking in lbl assemblies using calorimetry and temperature-controlled ellipsometry these techniques will be applied to various kinds of lbl assemblies to identify other thermal phenomena previously unknown in lbl assemblies if successful this information will be used to design thermally responsive thin films lutkenhaus says lutkenhaus who completed her undergraduate career at the university of texas at austin earned her phd at the massachusetts institute of technology in 2007 before joining texas a&ms chemical engineering department in 2010 at texas a&m lutkenhaus focuses on designing organic thin films and nanostructures to enable the development of novel organic energy systems and smart-coatings areas of her research include learning how polymer thin films behave in confinement; fabrication of polymer nanowires and nanotubes; polyelectrolytes and layer-by-layer assembly; designing lithium-ion battery electrode and electrolyte materials; and understanding electrochemical processes within these materials 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
dr kamran entesari a tees researcher and assistant professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at texas a&m university has received the prestigious faculty early career development (career) award from the national science foundation (nsf) entesari received his award for his proposal "versatile integrated platforms for broadband microwave dielectric spectroscopy" his proposal describes low-cost small-size microwave spectroscopy systems that could significantly enhance the capabilities for point-of-care medical diagnosis bio-threat detection agriculture and food and drug safety the objective of this research is to address the need for versatile broadband microwave dielectric spectroscopy systems based on fully integrated silicon platforms entesari received the bs degree in electrical engineering from sharif university of technology (iran) in 1995 the ms degree in electrical engineering from tehran polytechnic university (iran) in 1999 and the phd degree from university of michigan in 2005 in 2006 he joined the department of electrical and computer engineering at texas a&m university his research interests include the design of rf/microwave/millimeter-wave integrated circuits and systems microwave biological/chemical sensors rf micro-electromechanical systems (mems) and medical electronics he is a previous co-recipient of the 2009 semiconductor research corporation (src) design contest second project award for his work on dual-band millimeter-wave receivers on silicon nsf established the career program 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
a ceremony at the khalifa university of science technology and research in abu dhabi united arab emirates was held feb 20 to commemorate the official signing of a memorandum of understanding (mou) between khalifa university the texas engineering experiment station (tees) and sandia national laboratories to jointly operate the gulf nuclear energy infrastructure institute (gneii) located in abu dhabi gneii will be a khalifa university institute housing a regional education program offering both classroom instruction and hands-on experience in topics related to nuclear energy safety security safeguards and nonproliferation dr raymond juzaitis who heads tees nuclear engineering division and the department of nuclear engineering at texas a&m university signed the mou on behalf of tees high-ranking officials from the us department of state the us embassy in abu dhabi and the national nuclear security administration (nnsa) were also in attendance the mou-signing ceremony also marked the official beginning of gneiis initial pilot course a 12-week educational program focused on nuclear power safety safeguards and security sponsored by the us state department and nnsa the course is being developed by the tees nuclear security science and policy institute and sandia national laboratories each of whom will provide course materials and instructors for gneiis pilot operation gneii aims to promote international interests in developing a nuclear energy security and safety culture increase collaboration between the nuclear energy security and safety communities and help to enhance global standards for nuclear energy technology in the middle east the institute was recognized by the white houses office of science and technology policy as number 5 on a list of the "top 17 science and technology activities" in terms of "science and technology engagement with the muslim world" for the period of june 4 2009 through june 4 2010 tees is an engineering research agency of the state of texas and a member of the texas a&m university system
dr robin r murphy raytheon professor in the department of computer science and engineering at texas a&m university and director of the center for robot-assisted search and rescue (crasar) was named one of the 2011 most influential women in technology by fast company crasar is a center within the texas engineering experiment station (tees) which is a member of the texas a&m university system murphy was one of five women named in "the brainiacs" category of the list other categories included "the entrepreneurs " "the gamers " "the advocates " "the media " and "the executives" fast company began the list of most influential women in tech in 2009 and this years list highlights 30 women in the six different categories murphy joined the faculty at texas a&m in 2008 and is best known for her work with search and rescue robots which have been used in the rubble of the world trade center following the attacks on sept 11 2001 as well as in mud slides caved-in-mines and collapsed buildings around the world she has been honored with the 2010 motohiro kiosoi award from the international rescue system institute for her outstanding academic contributions in establishing a new research field in rescue engineering additionally in 2009 she was named an alpha geek by wired magazine and in 2008 she was awarded the al aube outstanding contributor award by the auvsi foundation the first time the award has been given to an academic she was also profiled in the june 14 2004 issue of time magazine as an innovator in artificial intelligence murphy received a bme in mechanical engineering and ms and phd degrees in computer science from georgia tech where she was a rockwell international doctoral fellow her basic research focuses on artificial intelligence and human-robot interaction for unmanned systems these efforts are/have been funded by doe (rim) darpa onr nasa nsf and industry and have led to more than 100 publications in the field including the textbook ai robotics (mit press) fast company is the worlds leading progressive business media brand with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology ethonomics (ethical economics) leadership and design
march 4 2011 - texas a&m engineerings turbomachinery laboratory presented the first middle east turbomachinery symposium (mets) in doha qatar in february qatar petroleum (qp) was the primary sponsor qp said they were pleased at the success of the first mets and announced in the feb 20 gulf times that they would be please to sponsor a second mets in 2013 the first mets saw more than 1 000 participants and guests from 35 countries it attracted more than 560 experts and specialists who gave and attended its presentations the mets program was organized by an advisory committee representing major oem and support manufacturers of turbomachinery and major turbomachinery users the committee was co-chaired by dr dara childs director of the turbomachinery laboratory and abdul aziz al naimi lead specialist engineer (ees) technical services department qp an international exhibition took place within mets and attracted over 60 exhibiting companies representing 35 countries childs said "the exhibitors displayed their latest products and services and their top engineers manned the booths many exhibitors want to take an expanded role in a next mets exhibition" he the minister of energy and industry dr mohamed bin saleh al-sada accompanied by exxonmobil corporation executives and senior officials from qp and rasgas visited the exhibits the gulf times stated "the minister was impressed with the exhibition and the number of people who visited the symposium he suggested regional universities must take advantage of future mets as it will provide a great learning opportunity for young engineers to meet with world-class experts that attend this event" qp served as the host sponsor; exxonmobil the platinum sponsor; qatar electricity and water co the gold sponsor; and rasgas the silver sponsor texas a&m university at qatar - particularly dr mark weichold dean and ceo - has supported mets from the outset the mets symposium was modeled after the turbomachinery symposium in houston the turbo lab will host its 40th turbomachinery symposium in september at the george r brown convention center in houston in conjunction with the pump users symposium and cheminnovations the turbomachinery laboratory is part of the department of mechanical engineering at texas a&m university and the texas engineering experiment station an engineering research agency of the state of texas and a member of the texas a&m university system
march 11 2011 - john pappas has been named associate director of the texas a&m energy engineering institute (eei) institute director dr stephen a holditch announced recently "john has a solid grasp on the issues involving energy supply demand and distribution " said holditch "with johns leadership i expect eei to become a major force in the development and deployment of energy technology globally" pappas who holds a master of science degree in electrical engineering from the university of texas is also the vestas director of the texas a&m wind energy center the first center formed under the eei pappas is a registered professional engineer and was previously employed as a principal investigator program manager and director of business development at the center for electromechanics one of the largest research institutes at ut-austin holditch also announced several other changes in the structure of the organization including the appointment of dr marcelo laprea as assistant director supply and mark m ellison as assistant director corporate and government relations laprea spent 24 years in academic positions as a faculty member of the petroleum engineering department at universidad de oriente in puerto la cruz venezuela he also spent 13 years with petroleum consulting and service companies as an independent consultant he was director of curriculum for the network of excellence in training (next) for schlumberger texas a&m university university of oklahoma and heriot-watt university prior to joining eei laprea received his master of science and phd in petroleum engineering from texas a&m ellison previously held the position of director corporate relations for the texas engineering experiment station (tees) and associate vice chancellor for economic development for the texas a&m university system he also served as director of the texas emerging technology fund for the office of governor rick perry ellison received his bachelor of science degree in agriculture from texas a&m the organizational changes are part of an effort to increase the eeis profile within the texas a&m system the state of texas and among industrial partners maintaining eeis relevance by being in touch with industry needs is critical to the success of the institute eeis goal is to be the go-to place for industrys needs in fundamental research applied research demonstration and implementation eeis offices are located in suite 710 of the richardson building on the texas a&m university campus more information is available at http://energyengineeringorg or by calling 979-458-1644
march 31 2011 - dr kenneth r hall professor in the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering and deputy director of the texas engineering experiment station (tees) has accepted the positions of associate vice chancellor and associate director of tees and associate dean for research and graduate studies at texas a&m university at qatar in these roles he will report to the vice chancellor and dean of engineering and director of tees in college station and the dean and chief executive officer of texas a&m at qatar respectively hall assumes the post april 1 relocating to doha qatar where he will serve a four-year term hall is an inventor or co-inventor in 12 patents including four that support the gas to liquids process that is licensed to synfuels inc his research includes thermophysical fluid properties obstruction flowmeters and gas to liquid processing in addition to his administrative duties hall is an active researcher and a professor in the chemical engineering department where he holds the jack e and frances brown chair he also served as the head of the department for four years
april 1 2011 - the texas engineering experiment station (tees) has appointed charles h (chip) hill director of the space engineering research center (serc) effective may 1 2011 serc performs research and development of space technologies in cooperation with academia industry and government agencies hill has a broad background in technical program development and execution he was a career air force officer who directed national-level programs including the $100 million survivability technology program at the strategic defense initiative organization he was the us department of defense lead for space debris research served on a national committee on high-power microwaves and on the electromagnetic effects advisory board and coordinated programs with congressional oversight committees he led a number of test programs at government simulator facilities and national ranges such as the national test site and kwajalein missile range he briefed programs to senior government officials including the secretary of defense and the presidents science adviser in industry he was a vice president at jaycor inc and titan inc and manager of a multiple-contractor team at the boeing co he led interdisciplinary teams developing and testing hardware and software for government customers coordinated programs with the office of science and technology policy and other government agencies and managed organizations at the group and department level since 2005 hill has been an associate director at serc with responsibilities for project management and business development he has led a serc-texas a&m faculty team in a significant effort developing space situational awareness technologies for the air force research laboratory
april 15 2011 - laura ortiz and benjamin garza were civil engineering majors at texas a&m university-kingsville when they participated in the 2010 tees-sponsored undergraduate summer research grant (usrg) program at texas a&m universitys dwight look college of engineering annually the program gives high-achieving engineering students system-wide the chance to conduct research in a faculty lab because undergraduates who have the opportunity to do research are much more likely to continue their studies toward a doctoral degree thats exactly what happened with ortiz and garza who decided a phd was the path for them and are now enrolled as engineering graduate students at texas a&m as a graduate student in structural engineering ortiz is continuing her summer research with dr mary beth hueste professor of civil engineering at texas a&m under the usrg program ortiz developed a framework for ranking older bridges that takes into account historical significance structural condition and functionality to guide engineers in deciding whether a historic bridge (those more than 50 years old) should be rehabilitated or replaced her research is particularly relevant to texas considering the state has 384 bridges that are 50 years or older additionally ortiz has been selected to receive a 2011 national science foundation graduate research fellowship one of the most prestigious awards a graduate student can receive "the usrg program gave me the tools to accomplish my goal of graduate school and encouraged me to apply for fellowships " ortiz said "dr hueste introduced me to the subject of historic bridges and i feel my research will make an impact by helping to preserve our nations historic bridges and ensure their structural and functional adequacy i would recommend a summer research program for anyone interested in graduate school" for his summer research garza investigated carbon nanotubes and nanofibers as reinforcement materials for portland cement the substance that binds concrete together reinforcing concrete with carbon nanotubes could eliminate the need for steel reinforcement bars making concrete stronger lighter and more economical since concrete is the worlds most popular structural material now that garza is a graduate student at texas a&m he will be meeting with his faculty mentor for the usrg program dr rashid abu al-rub assistant professor of civil engineering on the next research steps "although i had already made my decision to attend graduate school the usrg program provided me with a glimpse into engineering research that otherwise i would not have had because my experience was so great i knew that texas a&m was the right school for me i highly recommend the usrg program to any student who is considering attending graduate school " garza said
april 25 2011 - aerospace vehicle systems institute (avsi) director dr david redman has announced that embraer (embraer - empresa brasileira de aeronáutica sa) has joined the avsi cooperative "we are pleased that embraer one of the largest airplane manufacturers in the world has chosen to join the cooperative " redman said "they bring their impressive capability and experience with cutting edge technologies to the table working on common issues with the other leading aviation industry companies that are already avsi members will enhance the value that avsi projects can deliver to the participants" embraer is a brazilian aerospace conglomerate that produces commercial military and executive aircraft and is headquartered in são josé dos campos brazil "avsi has had an european presence for some time with member companies including smiths aerospace [now ge aviation] bae systems and most recently airbus " redman said "embraers membership expands our international outreach to south america as the major aircraft original equipment manufacturer on the continent i am hopeful that this will provide opportunities to collaborate with additional south american organizations" avsi provides a forum for aerospace industry organizations to collaborate on common pre-competitive issues avsi addresses issues that impact the aerospace community through international cooperative research and collaboration conducted by industry government and academia a division of tees avsis membership includes airbus bae systems boeing the us department of defense embraer the us federal aviation administration goodrich ge aviation honeywell lockheed martin nasa rockwell collins and the united technologies corp "initially embraer will be working with seven other members on our system architecture virtual integration [savi] project and with several other members and associate members on our wireless avionics intra-communication [waic] project " redman said "these are the two largest current avsi projects "savi is focused on developing the technologies necessary to enable virtual integration of complete aircraft while waic is performing the work necessary to enable the development of avionics that can interoperate without the traditional data cabling that adds weight and reliability issues to aircraft systems i look forward to working with embraer to identify additional projects that can help them develop safer and more reliable aircraft"
april 27 2011 - dr g kemble bennett vice chancellor and dean of engineering and director of the texas engineering experiment station (tees) has appointed dr dennis oneal associate dean for research and interim deputy director of tees oneals appointment is effective may 1 oneal the holdredge-paul professor and head of the department of mechanical engineering joined the texas a&m engineering faculty in 1983 he was appointed department head in 2004 he is a fellow of the american society of mechanical engineers and the american society of heating refrigeration and air-conditioning engineers (ashrae) 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
may 20 2011 - the texas engineering experiment station (tees) a research agency within the texas a&m university system has joined the edge® innovation network a collaborative open-environment initiative enabling industry and academia with government input to work together to enhance the delivery cycle of new technologies and innovative capabilities to warfighters and first responders "membership means that we can connect our research development and training expertise in disaster response to an almost unimaginably large and diverse set of companies " said dr robin murphy a professor in the department of computer science and engineering and leader of the multidisciplinary emergency informatics community at texas a&m sponsored by general dynamics c4 systems there are seven edge innovation centers worldwide and more than 180 edge members recent new members include general dynamics land systems (sterling heights mich); raytheon bbn technologies corp (cambridge mass); windtamer corp (rochester ny); information is power (houston); and sherborne sensors (wyckoff nj) more information can be found online at http://wwwedge-innovationcom "the edge provides a new military and government acquisition paradigm by using both physical and virtual environments where edge members and users can collaborate and innovate together to deliver gap-filling capabilities in months rather than years " said pete palmer edge innovation network director about tees the texas engineering experiment station is a member of the texas a&m university system with a mission to identify and conduct research in areas critical to the nations economic development and quality of life; promote new technology and entrepreneurship; leverage and network human physical and financial resources and enhance and strengthen education about texas a&m university texas a&m university is a state land sea and space grant college and the world leader in research development and training in emergency response it is the sixth largest university in the united states (48 000 students) with the second largest undergraduate and fourth largest graduate programs in engineering texas a&ms dwight look college of engineering is third only to mit and georgia tech in national research expenditures emergency informatics expertise is reflected in the bush school of government and public service the center for robot-assisted search and rescue the hazard reduction and recovery center the internet 2 technology evaluation center (next generation 9-1-1) the mary kay oconnor process safety center and the nuclear security science and policy institute
may 17 2011 - the texas center for applied technology (tcat) a center in the texas engineering experiment station was recognized by the us army training and doctrine command (tradoc) deputy chief of staff for intelligence (g-2) for its role as the system integrator for a federated training system designed to counter improvised explosive device (ied) networks ben jordan director of the tradoc g-2 operational environment laboratory presented the award april 19 to joe r gonzalez who led the system integration effort with blake stoker and christopher kocmoud the hybrid irregular warfare (iw) improvised explosive device (ied) network-defeat toolkit known as hi2nt federation is in the completion stages of spiral 2 development and is on track to begin its next development spiral later this year the hi2nt is designed to train army service members to develop specific counter ied network tactics techniques and procedures at the tactical level; to interact in diverse cultural settings including afghanistan and iraq; to understand the consequences of various force activities upon the population; and to hone negotiating skills required to earn the trust of the local population tcat as the system integrator led the development this past year and achieved federation level interactions last october which enabled the use of the system as a hybrid federation of models this version of hi2nt was demonstrated at the december 2010 interservice/industry training simulation and education conference (i/itsec) held in orlando fla and has been subsequently demonstrated to government and military decision makers as a first of its kind training system the hi2nt federation is composed of four key models that are linked together into a hybrid model framework: the one semi-automated force (onesaf) simulation developed by the us army provides a constructive entity-based kinetic ground model enabling unit movements activities and kinetic events the first person cultural trainer (fpct) developed by the university of texas at dallas provides a first person virtual environment in which culture specific interactions can take place the joint non-kinetic effects model (jnem) developed by the nasa jet propulsion laboratory (jpl) monitors and adjudicates all activities and the resulting changes to civilian group satisfaction mood and cooperation and can initiate situational environmental and other actions that affect the mood of the population the process-oriented data visualization (prodv) visual analytics toolkit developed by tcat monitors and visualizes jnem calculated satisfaction mood and cooperation effects
june 3 2011 - the tees energy systems laboratory hosted its 33rd annual industrial energy technology conference (ietc) may 17-19 in new orleans historic french quarter conference hosts were energy systems laboratory and the louisiana department of natural resources sponsors included the us department of energy electric power research institute txu energy american chemistry council and spirax sarco ietc is the second longest running technical conference at texas a&m this years conference saw a 52 percent increase in attendance from 2010 mainly from industry and energy engineering students with an unprecedented 18 sessions 90 technical paper presentations and a one-day energy managers workshop keynote speakers included james crites vice president of operations at dallas-fort worth international airport and clark gellings with the electric power research institute in california who both stressed the importance of sound engineering to solve tomorrows energy challenges the ietc is a one-of-a kind conference that focuses on a wide variety of topics of current importance to industrial energy managers utility experts government program managers and vendors the latest technologies and expertise on combined heat and power smart manufacturing energy opportunity analysis and case studies of successful real-world industrial efficiency projects are presented
july 22 2011 - texas engineering experiment station continues to be recognized as a world leader in creating a path to green sustainable buildings through enhanced operations and a licensed retro-commissioning process known as continuous commissioning® malcolm verdict associate director of the tees energy systems laboratory was an invited speaker at the sixth asia clean energy forum 2011 "new business models and policy drivers - building the low-carbon future " in june in manila philippines the international event was organized by the asian development bank (adb) the united states agency for international development (usaid) and the world resources institute (wri) to promote best practices in clean energy policy and programs innovative business models and affordable energy access in the asia pacific region more than 550 participants from more than 50 countries representing governments financial institutions civil society academia international organizations and the private sector gathered in daily plenaries breakout sessions and parallel side events to discuss innovative and creative methods to encourage large-scale clean energy development and deployment according to the conference organizers verdict was the only invited academia speaker from the us in his presentation "building low carbon generation through smart buildings & smart grid " verdict provided an overview of how smart [operated] commercial buildings connected to a smart electrical grid can lower electrical consumption significantly while lessening the demand for power generation and helping sustain the climate through lower air emissions
nuclear engineering professors and tees researchers marvin adams and paul nelson were awarded three research grants of more than $22 million from the us department of energy (doe) dr paul nelson professor emeritus of nuclear engineering and current associate director for international programs of nuclear security science and policy institute received two grants with dr marvin adams receiving the third the grants were part of the $39 million awarded to support up to 51 projects at colleges and universities across the country through the nuclear engineering university program (neup) the projects selected for award cover four nuclear energy research fields including fuel cycle research and development; reactor concepts research development and demonstration; nuclear energy advanced modeling and simulation; and transformative research nelsons projects were awarded under the transformative research mission his projects "improved safety margin characterization of risk from loss of offsite power" and "correlates of sensitive technologies" were granted $600 000 and more than $500 000 respectively adams project "phenomena-based uncertainty quantification in predictive coupled-physics reactor simulations" was granted more than $1 million and is part of the nuclear energy advanced modeling and simulation mission through the neup the doe is working to leverage the research and development capabilities of american universities and colleges to enhance us leadership in the global nuclear energy industry
dr mladen kezunovic the eugene e webb professor in the electrical and computer engineering department at texas a&m university and his team received the $49 million dollar grant from arpa-e for their research on robust adaptive topology control (ratc) kezunovic also a researcher with the texas engineering experiment station (tees) was among 14 principal investigators whose research teams received a total of $156 million from the department of energys advanced research projects agency-energy (arpa-e) for their "cutting-edge research projects" increasing the use of renewable generation and avoiding cost associated with mitigating the intermittency blackouts and brownouts as well as mitigating malicious attacks is a goal across the nation kezunovics research will provide new methods for controlling the power grid and associated electricity markets during sudden interruptions caused by the intermittent availability of non-dispatchable renewable generation (wind and solar) cascading faults caused by extreme operating conditions and malicious attacks their project provides robust adaptive topology control that allows real-time transmission asset switching to reconfigure or restore the topology of the grid in response to random events with detrimental impacts the new concept uses an adaptive control strategy which will reduce the time to correctly detect classify and characterize the contingencies and respond to mitigate problems in the power grid "these innovative projects are at the forefront of a new technological frontier that plays a critical role in our future energy security and economic growth "said arun majumdar director of arpa-e in a press release "it is now more important than ever to invest in game-changing ideas that will build the technological infrastructure for a new clean energy economy" kezunovic said "the current arpa-e award and two more awards one from the department of energy on smart outage management for distribution systems and the other from the national science foundation for studying impact of electrical vehicles on transportation and electricity convergence will enhance the smart grid research portfolio that i would like to manage under a smart grid center to further enhance visibility of tees research capabilities"
msnbcs future of technology featured tees rescue robotics work as well as a unique training facility that is part of texas a&m engineering dr robin murphy a pioneer in the field of rescue robotics has been working on developing technology -- including underwater robots -- to help emergency responders during a disaster murphy is the raytheon professor in computer science in the department of computer science and engineering at texas a&m university in the video murphy director of the center for robot-assisted search and rescue (crasar) discusses underwater robots she has developed murphy led a team of research and industry experts and robots to the minami sanriku and rikuzen takata areas of japan after that countrys disastrous earthquake earlier this year she also assisted in the use of aerial vehicles used for inspecting the fukushima reactors nsf co-funded the joint japan-united states team that worked for five days in april using three different types of suitcase-size underwater robots called remotely operated vehicles (rovs) two of the robots have advanced imaging sonars that can penetrate the murky water along with video cameras the robots were deployed at six locations along the coast north of sendai working in areas that were unsafe for japanese coast guard divers in another video murphy discusses her so-called "mommy" robots -- larger robots that can carry and deploy smaller robots that can go places people cant go murphy was named one of the 2011 most influential women in technology by fast company magazine she joined the faculty at texas a&m in 2008 and is best known for her work with search and rescue robots which have been used in the rubble of the world trade center following the attacks on sept 11 2001 as well as in mud slides caved-in-mines and collapsed buildings around the world also featured is the texas engineering extension services (teex) disaster city a unique training facility for emergency responders the 52-acre facility delivers the full array of skills and techniques needed by todays urban search and rescue teams teex is a member of the texas a&m university system and part of its engineering program
the texas a&m university system hosted a one-day workshop of key industry experts to discuss how to reduce the environmental impact of operations in the eagle ford shale recently at the caesar kleberg wildlife institute on the campus of texas a&m university-kingsville the meeting was aimed at landowners operators public officials and the general public and its purpose was to discuss new technology designed to protect ground water resources keep track of emissions and reduce impact of oil field lease roads attendees of the workshop learned how environmental engineering plays a role in gas shale drilling such as how to drought-proof south texas communities the workshop was a collaboration between several a&m system entities including: the texas engineering experiment station (tees) the texas center for applied technology (tcat) the global petroleum research institute (gpri) the energy engineering institute (eei) the texas engineering extension service (teex) and the institute for sustainable energy and the environment at tamu-kingsville "the environmentally friendly drilling program at texas a&m is an example of a successful interdisciplinary project extending through multiple colleges " said david burnett director of technology of the gpri "all have a common aim to bring science-based solutions to oil and gas field operations" members of the environmentally friendly drilling system program at the houston advanced research center displayed a mobile water treatment and desalination laboratory and a mobile "micro-grid" providing electrical power from alternative energy sources to support field operations
a start-up company led by a tees biomedical engineering researcher has received a prize for innovation from the houston technology center texas largest technology incubator and accelerator shape memory therapeutics inc -- led by dr duncan maitland associate professor in the department of biomedical engineering and a researcher in the biomedical engineering division -- was awarded second place for the goradia innovation prize which recognizes the best innovations from leading texas gulf coast universities and research institutions and encourages bringing those innovations to the marketplace the second-place prize comes with a $25 000 award "shape memory therapeutics is commercializing a game-changing device for treating cerebrovascular aneurysms " maitland said "our technology has the potential to treat more patients than can be treated with current devices further we believe that smp scaffolds are safer and more effective than existing devices" housed in the texas a&m bioscience business accelerator shape memory therapeutics was founded in 2009 to commercialize innovative medical devices based on shape memory polymer materials developed at lawrence livermore national laboratory and through tees the houston technology centers selection of awardees for the goradia prize was based upon the commercial potential of a companys innovation the soundness of its business plan the potential for job growth within the region and the likelihood of significant long-term success
the energy systems laboratory (esl) a division of the texas engineering experiment station and a member of the texas a&m university system announced awards to be presented at its annual clean air through energy efficiency (catee) conference to be held in dallas november 7-9 2011 catee is a premier educational conference 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 the conference awards recognize leadership efforts and exemplary achievements in helping to reduce harmful air emissions through policies programs or projects that increase energy efficiency or the use of renewable energy sources award categories and 2011 honorees are: - outstanding government organization - city of san antonio - outstanding government official - state senator john carona - outstanding commercial enterprise - clearesult - outstanding non-profit organization - dallas area habitat for humanity - gregg cooke award for excellence in environmental leadership - state representative rafael anchia all conference events will be held at the sheraton dallas north hotel 4801 lyndon b johnson freeway events include several free pre-conference workshops on monday november 7 and two full days of conference and exhibits on november 8 and 9 the awards will be given at a luncheon beginning at noon on wednesday november 9 catee 2011 is presented in cooperation with the epa/dot/hud partnership for sustainable communities and with the north central texas council of governments (nctcog) about esl and catee: esl began hosting an annual conference in 2004 as a forum for sharing information on how to implement building energy performance standards 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 leading venue for gathering local government air quality and energy efficiency stakeholders to discover and advocate sustainable community strategies and energy efficiency improvement opportunities
dr m katherine banks has begun her tenure as vice chancellor for engineering for the texas a&m university system and dean of the dwight look college of engineering at texas a&m university - the first woman to ever hold the position banks also holds the harold j "bill" haynes deans chair in engineering and is director of the texas engineering experiment station an engineering research agency of the state of texas and a member of the a&m system she is looking forward to the opportunity to serve "i am honored to be selected as the vice chancellor of engineering for the texas a&m system dean of the dwight look college of engineering and director of the texas engineering experiment station position " she said "the dedication of the texas a&m community to excellence in research teaching and engagement is quite remarkable i look forward to collaborating with a&m system institutions and state agencies to develop new educational and research initiatives as dean of the college of engineering i am excited to work closely with the internationally recognized faculty and staff to produce a strong workforce of engineering graduates enhance innovative research opportunities and develop new partnerships through unique engagement programs" she also expressed enthusiasm for working closely with two nationally and internationally renowned state agencies also members of the a&m system and based in college station the texas transportation institute (tti) and the texas engineering extension service (teex) banks was previously the bowen engineering head for the school of civil engineering at purdue university and the jack and kay hockema professor at purdue she received her bse from the university of florida mse from the university of north carolina and phd in civil and environmental engineering from duke university banks has received research funding from the national science foundation the us environmental protection agency the us department of defense the us department of energy and nasa as well as industry and state government she served as director of the epa hazardous substance research center associate director of the nasa center for advanced life support and co-director of the 21st century center for phytoremediation research all headquartered at purdue banks is a fellow of the american society of civil engineers and is a licensed professional civil engineer in indiana and kansas she received a number of awards including the american society of civil engineers (asce) petersen outstanding woman of the year award asce rudolph hering medal and the sloan foundation mentoring fellowship she is the author or co-author of more than 150 journal articles proceedings papers book chapters and has given more than 200 scholarly or technical presentations before professional groups banks served as editor-in-chief for the asce journal of environmental engineering and associate editor of the international journal of phytoremediation