houck2040/tees huggingface dataset:
college station texas - dr mark holtzapple professor in the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering at texas a&m university and researcher with the texas engineering experiment station (tees) has been awarded one of 21 grants from the us department of agriculture (usda) and the us department of energy (doe) for biomass research and development and demonstration projects holtzapple was awarded $600 000 to help build and operate a small demonstration plant of the mixalco process which converts biomass into alcohol fuels holtzapple will use the grant to demonstrate the commercial feasibility of anaerobically fermenting biomass to carboxylate salts and their conversion to ketones such as acetone "the demonstration plant will hold about 400 tons of biomass and will digest about five tons per day " holtzapple said "the biomass is digested using a mixed culture of microorganisms derived from marine environments" "the microorganisms produce carboxylate salts which can be chemically converted to a wide range of products including ketones alcohols and gasoline" the technology is licensed to terrabon a bryan company formed to explore options for converting biomass waste and energy crops into animal feeds liquid fuels and chemicals terrabon focuses its technology on conservation waste utilization energy savings and cleaner fuels and chemicals
laredo texas &mdash; texas a&m international university in cooperation with the texas engineering experiment stations (tees) energy systems laboratory (esl) celebrated receiving nearly $500 000 in federal funding for its "energy-efficient green campus research initiative" march 24 at an on-campus ceremony in laredo the tees-tamiu team received the funding thanks to congressman henry cuellar who represents the 28th congressional district in texas which includes laredo this initiative will provide tamiu the financial and technical resources necessary to undertake a long-term path to a more cost-effective environmentally friendly future for the campus and surrounding community the initiative will focus on three elements: solar renewable energy demonstration and research which will incorporate clean renewable solar energy in tamius new student success center; the sustainable green campus initiative which will implement a "green campus initiative" for the entire campus including greater energy and resource efficiency; and the energy-efficient campus initiative in which existing campus buildings will be recommissioned to reduce energy use by 10 percent malcolm verdict project manager with the energy systems laboratory said this initiative would enable tamiu to become the "first 100-percent green campus in texas leading the way for other campuses in the texas a&m university system as we educate our students to deal with challenges of climate change" "the world has a fixed amount of natural resources &mdash; some of which are already depleted " cuellar said "so as population growth greatly strains our finite resources there are fewer resources available if we intend to leave our children and grandchildren with the same standard of living we have enjoyed we must preserve the foundation of that standard of living "im happy to report that texas a&m international university is taking the first step in doing just that" the texas engineering experiment station is the engineering research agency of texas and a member of the a&m system
college station texas dr eric petersen has joined the faculty of the turbomachinery laboratory the turbomachinery laboratory is jointly operated by texas a&m university and the texas engineering experiment station (tees) the engineering research agency of the state of texas and a member of the texas a&m university system petersen arrived in college station in january from the university of central florida presently he is an associate professor in the department of mechanical engineering at texas a&m petersens research areas include the ignition and combustion of fuel blends at gas turbine engine pressures and temperatures; investigation of laminar flame speeds of fuel reacting flows; high-temperature chemical kinetics and spectroscopy; advanced additives for composite solid propellants; and nanoparticle additives for enhancing the performance of liquid and solid fuels to accommodate petersens research activities an expansion of the laboratory is underway scheduled to be complete in june the new addition will enable the research of gas dynamics and reacting flows in one of the countrys few shock tube testing facilities the new test area will allow measurements at real gas turbine conditions and the exploration of the reactivity behavior of fuel combinations at gas turbine engine pressures petersens inquests include expanding our abilities to study gaseous fuels and heterogeneous fuels both liquid and solid in the shock tube also flame speed experiments to provide better models for fuel flexibility performance stability and efficiency in addition the research will be used to further develop fundamental understanding of the underlying chemical and physical phenomena of interest to energy and propulsion systems additionally a rocket laboratory is being prepared within the turbomachinery lab where novel solid rocket propellants will be developed and evaluated for use in rocket motors and energetics the rocket lab will also provide diagnostic capabilities for conditions and situations relevant to practical applications
college station texas - dr w john lee regents professor and holder of the lf peterson endowed chair in the harold vance department of petroleum engineering has been appointed to serve on the national research council committee on understanding the impact of selling the us helium reserve the committee operates under the direction of the board on physics and astronomy (bpa) and the national materials advisory board (nmab) of the national research councils (nrc) division on engineering and physical sciences the committee will assess the impact of selling the federal helium reserve as well as examine the availability and reliability of worldwide helium supply technical opportunities to increase the supply and the relationships among supply demand and market price additionally the committee will assess the current and projected helium marketplace; assess the role that organizational and financial factors play in meeting the goals of the federal helium program; and identify measure that would enable the program to respond more effectively to the dynamics of the helium industry lees term on the committee will end in june 2009 i am honored and excited to have this opportunity to serve again as a member of a national research council committee lee said "this committee will be studying an issue of great importance to a segment of the scientific and engineering community in the country and ultimately of importance to the public as a whole" lee who holds a joint appointment with the texas engineering experiment station (tees) came to texas a&m in 1977 and was the initial director of the petroleum engineering departments distance learning program in november of 2007 he was appointed academic engineering fellow by the securities and exchange commissions division of corporation finance where he works on various issues related to the disclosure of oil and gas reserves lees areas of specialization include oil and gas reserves estimation procedures and unconventional resources lee previously worked for exxon where he focused on integrated reservoir studies and headed exxons major fields study group he also worked with sa holditch & associates inc and retired in 1999 after serving as executive vice president he has been a member of the society of petroleum engineers for 46 years and has held numerous positions including membership on the board of directors lee holds bachelors masters and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from georgia tech
college station texas - dr edgar sanchez-sinencio has received the technical achievement award from the institute of electrical and electronics engineers (ieee) circuits and systems society sanchez-sinencio the ti j kilby chair professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at texas a&m university received the award "for continuous outstanding technical contributions for nearly three and half decades to analog and mixed signal integrated circuits computer-aided circuit design neural network implementations continuous-time filters and rf transceivers emphasizing theoretical and practical aspects ranging from analog circuit fundamentals to applied areas such as built-in testing circuits and ultra wide band receivers and for sustained leadership efforts in developing a research group promoting circuits and systems through text books research publications and numerous cas society technical and bog committees/editorial/conference activities" sanchez-sinencios research interests are in the areas of continuous-time integrated circuits analog built-in testing low-voltage/low-power mixed signal circuits and rf communication circuits he leads the analog and mixed-signal group and is director of the analog and mixed-signal center in the texas engineering experiment station the engineering research agency of the state of texas and a member of the texas a&m university system sanchez-sinencio is a fellow of the ieee among his numerous awards are the 1997 ieee circuits and systems darlington award; the 1996 ieee circuits and systems outstanding young author award (with graduate student alex reyes); and the 1995 ieee circuits and systems guillemin-cauer award for his work on cellular networks in 1996 sanchez-sinencio received the texas senate proclamation no 373 for outstanding accomplishments in recognition of his research inaoe awarded him its first honorary doctorate in 1995 the purposes of the ieee cass are scientific literary and educational in character directed toward the advancement of the theory and practice of electrical electronics and allied branches of engineering or the related arts and science in order to increase the professional standing of the members and affiliates
washington dc - the aerospace vehicle systems institute (avsi) celebrated its 10th anniversary with a reception in washington dc june 18 in the rayburn house building which is located across the street from the capitol avsi which is a research center administered by the texas engineering experiment station (tees) is a cooperative organization uniting government industry and academia to research and develop - and ultimately improve - aircraft and aerospace vehicles we are delighted to be the organization that provides the framework for this institution said dr kl peddicord director of tees who was one of the speakers at the event among avsis current projects is its work on wireless sensor networks a project that aims to remove wires from airplanes by doing this planes would be lighter which would help reduce fuel consumption as well as reduce the costs associated with manufacturing new aircraft additionally there would be increased reliability of operational systems and the risk of wire corrosion loosening or shorting due to vibration would be eliminated thus making air travel safer we can all be proud of this cooperatives accomplishments said amir anissipour of the boeing company who is chairman of the avsi board of directors "avsi has been the ideal venue to address industry-wide issues and to favorably impact the development of future aerospace systems"
college station texas &mdash; alton d "ad" patton has been selected to a three-year term as an electric reliability council of texas (ercot) independent board member (unaffiliated with any market participants) he was selected unanimously by the boards nominating committee and approved in an email vote of ercots 220 corporate members patton is professor emeritus of electrical engineering at texas a&m university with 35 years experience as a faculty member including four years as head of the electrical engineering department he also is president of associated power analysts inc in college station an engineering consulting service providing electric power system analysis power system reliability and failure analysis i am very pleased to welcome dr patton to the board with all of his experience and industry respect he will certainly be an asset to our board ercot chairman mark armentrout said "ercot is fortunate to add him as a board member" patton was a former director and past board member of the texas engineering experiment stations center for space power honors include being named recipient of the 2000 institute of electrical and electronics engineers (ieee) richard harold kaufmann award for outstanding achievement in the field of industrial systems engineering patton also is a life fellow of ieee was named a tees fellow in 1985 and is on the editorial advisory board for the international journal of electrical power & energy systems he has a bachelors degree from the university of texas at austin a masters from the university of pittsburgh and doctorate from texas a&m university all in electrical engineering patton fills the board position vacated by carolyn gallagher who completed her elected term in march ercot manages the flow of electric power to approximately 20 million customers in texas acting as the independent system operator (iso) for the region ercot schedules power on an electric grid containing 38 000 miles of transmission lines and 500 generating units ercot also manages financial settlement for the competitive wholesale bulk-power market and administers customer switching for 6 million texans in competitive choice areas ercot is a membership-based nonprofit corporation governed by a board of directors and subject to the oversight of the public utility commission of texas and the texas legislature
the sei materials team completed a successful payload flight aboard nasas dc-9 aircraft as part of the space agencys microgravity university the experiment based on work by dr xiaofeng kang and dr allison ficht in the department of molecular and cellular medicine at texas a&m university aimed to evaluate the effects of gravity on a bilayer membrane that is an integral component of a bio-sensor able to detect single molecule analytes the team submitted a proposal in fall 2007 for the experiment "analyte detection via protein nanopores in a microgravity environment " and was selected to pursue a flight experiment in fall 2007 the interdisciplinary student team worked with the texas a&m researchers to understand the fundamentals of the sensor and design the flight payload the team acquired industry donations from molecular devices and warner instruments worth $16 000 for all electronics hardware and software used in the flight payload during the spring semester the team completed the design and all documentation to meet nasa's safety requirements during flight week the team presented to nasa engineers their flight hardware for inspection and final safety review and underwent training in preparation for flight the flight testing took place june 12-13 with the payload experiencing four sets of eight zero-g parabolas during the flight the sei students were able to form a bilayer and collect data on the voltage across the bilayer during each parabola ficht and her research group are analyzing the data to evaluate the effects of gravity on the bio-sensor the sei team included the following students: seniors daniel grimes computer science; vanna keller ocean engineering; katy westhoff aerospace engineering; jahziel chaviera mechanical engineering; and jennifer kirchner aerospace engineering; juniors nikhil bhatnagar aerospace engineering; brannon veal electrical engineering; and christine tipton biomedical engineering erin bishop a graduate student in the department of aerospace engineering was the team¿s graduate mentor and the project manager the team would like to thank dr edmund buck at warner instruments for donating all the electronics hardware for this flight experiment (bc-535 bilayer amplifier digidata 1440a and warners blm starter kit) a donation worth approximately $15 000 they also would like to thank carvano inc for their donation of $1 000 to support flight expenses the space engineering institute is part of the texas engineering experiment station the engineering research agency of the state of texas and a member of the texas a&m university system for more information on the space engineering institute e-mail the director magda lagoudas at m-lagoudas@tamuedu for more information please visit the nasas microgravity program page
college station texas &mdash; for cadet nathan wagner this summer is no vacation wagner is a senior engineering management major at the united states military academy at west point ny he began his summer in korea shadowing a platoon leader and an apache helicopter unit before joining the texas center for applied technology (tcat) for a summer internship at tcat which is part of the texas engineering experiment station (tees) wagner is working with dr jim wall in the computing and information technology division and joe gonzalez at fort hood to model the deployment of improvised explosive devices or ieds a native of midlothian va wagner is researching how terrorists determine targets organize and resource construct transport emplace and select triggering mechanisms for various types of ieds the research wagner is doing will help tcat extend current army simulations that are used to train soldiers at fort hood and throughout the army this internship gives nathan a chance to see the other side &mdash; people interacting with the army wall said "it will expose him to the engineering process and we¿ve given him a task that he can truly put his thumbprint on" tees is the engineering research agency of the state of texas and a member of the texas a&m university system
college station texas - cindy wall who spent the past 13 years working for the texas engineering extension service (teex) has been appointed executive director of the texas center for applied technology (tcat) i am very excited about the opportunity to build on the solid foundation that has been established in tcat over the past 15 years wall said "i look forward to the opportunity to provide leadership to such a talented and highly respected group" tcat is a division of the texas engineering experiment station (tees) and its focus is on the use of applied technologies to help organizations solve problems both tees and teex are members of the texas a&m university system wall led the creation of teexs product development center (pdc) which was created in 2007 to bring technical expertise from emergency responders and other components of teex tees and the a&m system to private industry for product development she will continue to be heavily involved with the pdc and will work to find ways to leverage the mutual resources of teex and tees to bring new products into texas we are extremely pleased to have cindy join tees to lead the texas center for applied technology said dr kl peddicord director of tees "her vast experience will prove invaluable to the mission of both tees and tcat and her past experience with teex will strengthen the collaboration between these two agencies of the texas a&m engineering program" wall who holds a bachelor of science degree from texas a&m in industrial engineering joined teex in 1995 from 1995 to 2006 she worked in the technology and economic development division of teex as regional director of the texas manufacturing assistance center (1995-1999) business manager (1999-2002) program manager (2002-2006) and program director (2006) in 2006 she joined the urban search and rescue division of teex as an associate division director and last year was named to head the pdc prior to joining teex wall worked for kent moore cabinets westinghouse electric corporation and oi corporation for more information on tcat visit: http://tcattamuedu for more information on tees visit: http://teestamuedu for more information on teex visit: wwwteexcom
college station texas - david redman has been appointed director of the aerospace vehicle systems institute (avsi) dr k lee peddicord director of the texas engineering experiment station (tees) announced recently avsi which is a research center administered by tees and a member of the texas a&m university system is a unique forum for researchers from industry government and academia to work cooperatively on technology issues impacting aerospace systems development we are excited to bring dave on board to lead avsi peddicord said "his extensive background in the field of aviation and aerospace will prove invaluable in continuing avsis mission of working to improve aircraft and aerospace vehicles the potential here is extraordinary" redman joins avsi after spending the last seven years working for smiths aerospace/ge aviation in grand rapids mich where he held several positions including directorate staff engineer of special projects and intellectual property development and acting engineering director/department manager additionally redman has worked for kysor medallion/borg warner in spring lake mich and was an adjunct professor of physics at idaho state university the complexity of aerospace systems is growing exponentially redman said "there are some problems facing aerospace companies that are beyond the capability of any one company to solve alone avsi is able to facilitate the type of cooperative research that will be required to address these problems and is well positioned to grow with the growing need" avsi which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary with a celebration in washington dc is comprised of members who have the shared goal of solving problems faced by the aerospace industry while working to find cost-effective ways to build better airplanes among avsis current projects are the systems architecture virtual integration (savi) project a semiconductor reliability prediction project and a wireless sensor feasibility study the savi project is doing the groundwork to establish the feasibility of a new way of specifying and integrating increasingly complex aerospace systems this would reduce the cost and schedule of new airplane development while improving quality safety and performance the wireless sensors project aims to identify issues that would arise if traditional sensors were replaced by sensors that transmit data wirelessly removing wires from airplanes would reduce their weight which in turn could improve fuel economy furthermore wires present costly reliability and maintenance issues for all types of vehicles from bulldozers to aircraft a wireless aircraft could potentially be more economical to assemble and maintain members of avsi include: bae systems boeing the federal aviation administration ge aviation goodrich hamilton sundstrand honeywell lockheed martin nasa-jet propulsion laboratory rockwell collins and the us department of defense
college station texas - dr kenneth r hall associate director of the texas engineering experiment station (tees) and the jack e & frances brown chair and professor in the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering has been awarded the 2007south texas section best fundamental paper award from the aiche hall co-authored the paper "improved equations for the standing-katz tables" with gustavo a iglesias-silva a visiting professor in the department of chemical engineering hall and iglesias-silva will be presented the award this fall during one of the aiche southwest texas section monthly meetings the article was published in the april 2007 edition of the journal hydrocarbon processing which provides information to technical and management personnel in petroleum refining gas processing petrochemical/chemical and engineer/constructor companies throughout the world aiche is the worlds leading organization for chemical engineering professionals with more than 40 000 members from 93 countries
dr g kemble bennett vice chancellor and dean of engineering recently announced administrative appointments for dr nk anand dr kenneth r hall and dr robin autenrieth within the dwight look college of engineering and the texas engineering experiment station (tees) anand has been appointed associate dean for research and associate agency director for tees autenrieth has been appointed associate dean for graduate programs and hall has been named associate dean of engineering and deputy director of tees the tees appointments are pending board of regents approval anand joined the faculty in 1985 in the department of mechanical engineering and was promoted to associate dean for graduate programs in 2007 and served as assistant dean for graduate programs since 2004 he has also served as associate department head for mechanical engineering and interim department head for the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering as associate dean for research and tees associate agency director anand will focus on faculty engagement for interdisciplinary research projects and the strategic development of research activities for the college of engineering hall joined the college of engineering in 1974 and has held many leadership positions within the program including associate vice chancellor and associate dean of engineering interim department head for both petroleum and chemical engineering and chemical engineering department head as associate dean for engineering and tees deputy director he will provide support for research intelligent properties and licensing to the college of engineering as well as responsibility for tees research centers and institutes autenrieth holds a joint appointment in the department of environmental and occupational health school of rural public health in the texas a&m university system health science center she has previously served as interim associate head for graduate studies and research for the civil engineering department as associate dean for graduate programs she will be responsible for the administration of the graduate functions of the college of engineering
dr sergiy butenko assistant professor in the department of industrial and systems engineering at texas a&m university has been awarded a grant from the air force office of scientific research butenko who is also a researcher in the industrial and systems engineering division of the texas engineering experiment station (tees) received this grant for the winning research proposal he submitted as part of the air forces young investigator research program his proposal focuses on the concept of a cohesive subgroup that was first introduced in social network analysis it can also used in several other important application areas including wireless networks telecommunications and graph-based data mining one of the earliest models for the study of cohesive subgroups was the clique model butenko proposes new more practical models that relax various aspects of the ideal definition of a cohesive subgroup he will design algorithms for solving the resulting optimization problems and will use the developed techniques to analyze the structure of biological and social networks butenko came to texas a&m in 2003 he received his masters degree and phd from the university of florida he is a member of the american mathematical society the institute for operations research and the management sciences and the society for industrial and applied mathematics he is a member of the editorial board of four publications he has authored numerous publications and has contributed chapters to several books butenkos grant will be administered by tees the engineering research agency of the state of texas and a member of the texas a&m university system
dr anastasia muliana assistant professor in the department of mechanical engineering at texas a&m university has been awarded a grant from the air force office of scientific research muliana who is also a researcher in the mechanical engineering division of the texas engineering experiment station (tees) received this grant for the winning research proposal that she submitted as part of the air forces young investigator research program her proposal for research was to develop a framework that integrates coupled thermal electrical and mechanical responses of the constituents of composites to the overall responses of smart composites with application to morphing structures she also plans to investigate long-term responses of these smart composites the proposed framework will enhance understanding of the multifunctional performance of smart structures under extreme environments and can support design optimization of intelligent aerospace vehicles which can significantly reduce development cost and time muliana came to texas a&m in 2004 she received her master¿s degree and phd from the georgia institute of technology she is a member of the american society of composites and the american society of mechanical engineers she has authored numerous publications and in 2005 received the career award from the national science foundation mulianas grant will be administered by tees the engineering research agency of the state of texas and a member of the texas a&m university system
three professors from the dwight look college of engineering and the texas engineering experiment station (tees) recently were named regents professor for 2007-08 m sam mannan from the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering kr rajagopal from the department of mechanical engineering and jennifer l welch from the department of computer science and engineering were recognized by the texas a&m system board of regents mannan who is the holder of the t michael oconnor i chair as well as the director of the mary kay oconnor process safety center joined the texas a&m staff in 1997 as an associate professor of chemical engineering and has served as the director of the process safety center since that time other awards he has received include tees research fellow (2002) george armistead jr 23 fellow (2004-05) the distinguished achievement award for teaching (2003) and the quality recognition award from ppg industries inc rajagopal is the forsyth chair professor in mechanical engineering and has a joint appointment in the department of biomedical engineering he joined the engineering faculty in 1996 in 2003 he was named a university distinguished professor and in 2004 he was awarded the bush excellence award for faculty in international research he has published more than 290 papers in archival journals written three books edited three others and given more than 200 lectures and seminars at university and national labs welch holds the chevron professorship ii in computer science and is a professor in the departments parasol lab she joined the computer science faculty in 1992 as an assistant professor and served as interim department head in 2001-02 she received the charles w crawford service award in 2007 was named a tees fellow in 2003 and received the faculty distinguished achievement award in 2000 additionally she received the ieee education society hewlett-packard harriet b rigas award for outstanding women engineering educator in 2004 the board established the regents professor award program in 1996 to recognize employees who have made exemplary contributions to their university or agency and to the people of texas to date 105 faculty members have been named regents professors each recipient of the award receives a $9 000 stipend a commemorative medallion and a certificate
dr kenneth l peddicord director of the texas engineering experiment station (tees) was recently appointed to the texas low level radioactive waste disposal compact commission by gov rick perry the commission which was created pursuant to senate bill 1206 in the 73rd legislator will provide for the management and disposal of low level radioactive waste while maintaining the priority of health safety and welfare of citizens peddicord will serve on the commission through november 2014 the use of radioactive materials has a huge economic impact on our state and ranges from health care to energy production to research peddicord said safe and environmentally sound management of these materials is imperative i look forward to being part of the commission and carrying out this mission for texas" in addition to serving as director of tees peddicord is the senior associate dean for research and is a professor in the dwight look college of engineerings department of nuclear engineering at texas a&m university he also serves as the director of the nuclear power institute (npi) which is headquartered at texas a&m npi is a statewide partnership of four-year universities two-year technical and community colleges the nuclear power industry state agencies and local organizations working together to respond to the challenge of providing a trained workforce to operate new reactors being planned for texas peddicord is also a consultant for pacific northwest national laboratories lawrence livermore national laboratory and los alamos national laboratory he is a member of the american nuclear society for engineering education american society of mechanical engineers and american society for engineering education peddicord received a bachelors degree from the university of notre dame and a masters and doctorate degree in nuclear engineering from the university of illinois perry also appointed michael ford of amarillo as chair of the board and john white of plano as the vice chair ford received a bachelors degree in health physics from texas a&ms department of nuclear engineering
the houston advanced research center (harc) and the harold vance department of petroleum engineering at texas a&m university announce the creation of a collaborative research program to promote advanced technology for low-impact oil and gas drilling the university/national laboratories alliance established as part of the environmentally friendly drilling (efd) program will fund and transfer critical new technologies that can accelerate development of domestic reserves in a safe and environmentally-friendly manner the research is aimed specifically at technologies that can be used in environmentally sensitive areas that are currently off limits to drilling and production in addition to harc and texas a&m founding members of the alliance include: - university of wyoming - university of colorado - utah state university - sam houston state university - university of arkansas - west virginia university - argonne national laboratory and - los alamos national laboratory according to rich haut manager of the alliance and senior research scientist at harc the goal is to fund the development of and share the latest research findings with leaders of energy academia environmental organizations and government "we will consider all aspects of energy resource recovery not only traditional oil and natural gas production methods but also unconventional production such as natural gas from shale or coal-bed methane " dr haut said "new technology and monitoring programs can show us how we can better manage precious natural resources while reducing our impact on the environment" haut encourages other national laboratories and universities to contact him about participation in the alliance david burnett efd project manager and director of technology at the global petroleum research institute (gpri) within texas a&m engineering said the new alliance is a great example of how federal funding of research and development can make important contributions to both energy security and environmental preservation the gpri is a center within the texas engineering experiment station (tees) burnett explained that efd represents new low-impact technologies that can reduce the footprint of drilling activities "for example we are currently examining the use of light-weight drilling rigs with reduced emission engine packages and efficient on-site waste management systems" created in 2005 efd is supported by the us department of energy national energy technology laboratory and the energy industry the growing efd partnership consists of universities national laboratories energy producers and service companies environmental organizations and government agencies created in 1982 harc is a not-for-profit organization based in the woodlands texas dedicated to improving human and ecosystem well-being through the application of sustainability science and principles of sustainable development
the aerospace vehicle systems institute (avsi) is expanding its presence in europe with the addition of airbus as a full member airbus is one of the worlds leading aircraft manufacturers the aerospace industry is inherently global in nature said david redman director of avsi "our us-based members are expanding their international operations while non-us companies are increasing their presence here the addition of airbus to the cooperative signals the intent of the current membership to bring a more diverse set of members to the table to solve issues common to all aerospace companies we fully expect to engage additional european aerospace companies regulatory agencies government agencies and universities to increase the value avsi delivers to its members avsi is a cooperative of aerospace companies the department of defense and federal aviation administration working together address issues that impact the aerospace community airbus approached avsi through its interest in our system architecture virtual integration or savi program redman said "savi is a multi-year multi-million dollar program that is developing the capability to virtually integrate systems before designs are committed to hardware as a means of managing the exponentially increasing complexity of modern aerospace systems airbus participation in savi has really enhanced the collaborative effort on the current proof-of-concept project we hope to see their participation grow in additional projects to enhance the benefit to all participants current membership in avsi includes: airbus; bae systems; boeing; the department of defense; federal aviation administration; general electric; goodrich aerospace; hamilton sundstrand; honeywell international; lockheed martin; nasa; and rockwell collins avis is a research center of the texas engineering experiment station (tees) which is a member of the texas a&m university system
james eggebrecht assistant research engineer and assistant director of the industrial assessment center for the texas engineering experiment station (tees) has been awarded a certificate of appreciation from the us department of energy (doe) for his participation in their save energy now program eggebrecht is certified and recognized by the doe as a "steam expert" as part of his work with the program eggebrecht performs energy assessments of manufacturing plants throughout the united states this is the second time he has been recognized for his work with the program save energy now is a national initiative of the does industrial technologies program (itp) whose mission is to drive a 25 percent reduction in industrial energy intensity in 10 years industries nationwide can apply to participate in these no-cost assessments experts such as eggebrecht perform assessments to help plants improve the performance of their steam systems as well as other industrial systems including process heating fan pump or compressed air systems during an assessment eggebrecht spends three days visiting a plant to perform an evaluation of their steam system and boilers and to train staff to utilize itp resources designed to reduce energy use while increasing profits training on three doe energy saving software programs is offered: steam system assessment tool a modeling program that allows plants to perform "what if " analysis; steam system scoping tool a benchmarking tool for comparing energy usage to peers and identifying shortfalls; and 3e plus an insulation and heat savings software started in 2006 save energy now energy assessments have helped us manufacturing facilities save an average of $2 million or 8 percent of their total energy costs
providing enough fresh water for residents is an issue for laredo texas a city of 200 000 on the texas-mexico border laredo is almost at the limit of water it can draw from the rio grande river and groundwater in the area is brackish or salty as a result the laredo city council has agreed to spend $16 million to build a pilot plant that will field test a new method of desalinating brackish water developed by a texas a&m university researcher and commercialized by terrabon llc "this is one step in securing and providing water in the future for not only laredo but the entire state with the development of this pilot project " said laredo city council member gene belmares the desalination plant which will produce 50 000 gallons of water a day will test water desalination technology developed by mark holtzapple a professor in texas a&ms artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering "we desalinate using vapor compression a method first employed on ships in world war ii " holtzapple said "we have updated this old approach using advanced technology such as high-capacity non-fouling heat exchanger and a low-cost high-efficiency starrotor compressor "in addition we operated at higher pressures than is traditionally employed compared to traditional technology these innovations lower both the capital cost and operating cost" the texas engineering experiment station (tees) and the center for applied technology (tcat) a center within tees will act as the technology integrator and analyst for the project additionally terrabon llc of houston an energy and water treatment technology company will design and construct the advanced vapor demonstration plant the american waters applied water management inc acting as a subcontractor for terrabon will operate and monitor the demonstration plant the project will demonstrate the commercial viability of advetm a new technology that could reduce the capital and operating costs of water purification and provide a low-cost solution to texas water problems advetm (advanced vapor-compression evaporation) uses low-cost high-efficiency starrotor compressors developed by holtzapples team and non-fouling heat exchangers to desalinate brackish and salty water at a cost that is significantly less expensive than desalination by reverse osmosis
coleman texas - the central texas rural transit district (ctrtd) in coleman has received a $1 296 766 job access and reverse commute (jarc) program grant funded by the federal transit administration through the texas department of transportation (txdot) central texas rural transit districts jarc grant project was developed and submitted through a collaborative effort between ctrtd and the texas engineering experiment station (tees) center for community support this federal grant will provide funds to increase transit services designed to meet the employment needs of rural residents in brown callahan coleman comanche eastland nolan and stephens counties into the cities of abilene brownwood eastland and sweetwater jarc project transit services are planned to primarily center around job search workshops and trainings held at local workforce centers; and workshops and training held offsite but funded by the workforce solutions center of west central texas the plan also promises to extend service hours in order to enhance employment opportunities for rural residents in the city of brownwood rural texas residents are facing many barriers and challenges as they work to keep their family farm and ranch lands many are required to travel into metro areas to work and gain new skills to earn needed wages said martha opersteny of the center for community support "with the increasing cost of transportation this project will provide a helping hand" ms opersteny added while the primary service needs will be access to jobs education and training on a "space available" basis this service will be accessible to the general public it is anticipated that medical and shopping needs may also be fulfilled using this coordinator service jr salazar ctrtds general manager anticipates that over 2 000 clients will benefit from this project during the three year funding period the tees center for community support provides a broad range of information data and proposal writing services at no cost for texas community-based nonprofit organizations support is available to pursue competitive funding for programs designed to improve the quality of life for texans in all approximately $38 million in federal and private grants have been garnered for texas nonprofit sector with the direct assistance of the center
dr charles d johnson adjunct professor at texas a&m university at qatar was named a fellow by the doha international institute for family studies and development (diifsd) johnson is the director of the center for community support a center within the texas engineering experiment station (tees) and also serves as director of the public policy research institute at texas a&m university as part of qatar foundation for education science and community development the diifsd is among the premier international research centers examining the legal sociological and scientific basis of the family as the natural and fundamental group unit of society the title and award were conferred by he abdullah al-khalifa secretary general of the supreme council for family affairs and chairman of the diifsd board of governors secretary general al-khalifa said he was pleased to recognize dr johnsons scholarship and commitment to the traditional family "we look forward to a long and productive relationship with charles johnson and texas a&m at qatar " he al-khalifa said the appointment as doha fellow is the highest honor offered by the diifsd and carries a $25 000 annual stipend said dr hassan hammoud the institutes director of research hammoud also lauded johnsons work on the global family matters information system (famis) and the global state of the family index "working in close collaboration with the diifsd research group charles johnson has made a great contribution to global research on the family " hammoud said the center for community support (ccs) provides a broad range of no-cost grant-writing services for texas communities support is available to pursue funding for programs designed to improve the quality of life and promote safe and healthy lifestyles among the citizens of the state the public policy research institute (ppri) is a social policy research organization that has provided legislators and agency decision makers with scientific research and evaluative services for more than 20 years johnson has served on national review panels for us health and human services testified before the us congress served as an expert member on the us family preservation act planning committee and has presented his research at the united nations further johnson was a recent recipient of the esteemed career achievement bush excellence award for faculty in public service presented by president george hw bush and was texas a&m universitys inaugural regents professor the highest distinction conferred by the universitys board of regents dr mark weichold dean and ceo of texas a&m at qatar said he is pleased to have johnson among the universitys faculty in qatar and that he appreciated the comments offered by al-khalifa and hammoud "this is but one example of the strong working relationships between qatar foundation texas a&m at qatar and the nation as a whole " he said
nicole pottberg assistant director human resources with the texas engineering experiment station (tees) recently earned certification as a professional in human resources (phr) the certification awarded by the hr certification institute signifies that pottberg possesses the theoretical knowledge and practical experience in human resource management necessary to pass a rigorous examination demonstrating a mastery of the body of knowledge in the field certification as a human resource professional clearly demonstrates a commitment to personal excellence and to the human resource profession said mary power cae executive director of the hr certification institute to become certified an applicant must pass a comprehensive examination and demonstrate a strong background of professional human resource experience the hr certification institute is the credentialing body for human resource professionals and is affiliated with the society for human resource management (shrm) the worlds largest organization dedicated exclusively to the human resource profession the institutes purpose is to promote the establishment of professional standards and to recognize professionals who meet those standards