Recognition & Honors
Amin Alipour (Computer Science) received a $350,000 NSF grant to explore the effects of artificial intelligence (AI) on learning processes for computer science students. With the grant, he hopes to achieve a better understanding of student behavior and intentions when interacting with AI.
Shuo Chen and Zhifeng Ren (Physics, TcSUH) were included in the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers 2022 List. The annual list of Highly Cited Researchers includes global research and social scientists whose published academic papers rank in the top 1% of citations for field and publication year. Those making the list are recognized among the world’s elite researchers for the significant and broad influence of their scientific work.
Albert Cheng (Computer Science) was the Local Organization Chair of the 43rd IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium that was held in Houston, December 5–8.
Jangmi Han (Earth & Atmospheric Sciences) was involved in large team collaboration studying samples from the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu. These samples offered an unprecedented opportunity to explore the diversity of primordial solar system materials and to advance scientists’ understanding of the birth of our solar system, and importantly, the origin of water and organic matter. Han collaborated on microanalysis of Ryugu particles with Mike Zolensky at NASA Johnson Space Center. The results of sample analysis and computer modeling were published in Science.
Zhifeng Ren’s (Physics, TcSUH) research was cited by Physics World as among the Top 10 Breakthroughs of 2022. Physics World recognized the research that demonstrated cubic boron arsenide as “one of best semiconductors known to science.” Two independent teams, one led by Zhifeng Ren at UH and Gang Chen at MIT, and the other led by UH’s Ren and Jiming Bao along with Xinfeng Liu of the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology in China, experimentally validated the cubic boron arsenide crystal’s high carrier mobility for both electrons and holes – the two ways in which a charge is carried in a semiconducting material.
Jinny Sisson (Earth & Atmospheric Sciences) will receive the 2023 Grover E. Murray Memorial Distinguished Educator Award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. The award is given in recognition of distinguished and outstanding contributions to geological education.
Arthur Weglein (Physics) served as a keynote speaker at the 2022 Society of Exploration Geophysicists Qingdao International Conference on Seismic Imaging: Progress and the Way Ahead. The conference was held December 3–4 in Qingdao, China. Weglein’s keynote was delivered virtually as part of the conference’s China 111 Workshop. He provided a comprehensive analysis and perspective through his talk entitled “The Role of Primaries and Multiples in Seismic Imaging and Inversion.”