Recognition & Honors
Albert Cheng (Computer Science), Ph.D. student Thomas Carroll, and summer research student Anh-Vu Nguyen (Cy-Fair High School) presented two papers at the 45th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium in York, United Kingdom. One paper, which involved Cheng, Nguyen, and Carroll, “Utilizing Probabilistic Analysis to Fine-Tune Optimal I Don’t Know Cascades” is an important contribution in the field of real-time machine learning. The second paper, involving Cheng and Carroll, “Using Interaction Between Vehicles to Reduce Deadline Tardiness from a Route Assignment Perspective,” addresses implementation and deployment of a Real-Time System for Selfless Traffic Routing (RTS-STR). It includes an app, ready for download in a year, to significantly reduce travel time and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as relieve traffic congestion, improve safety, and save energy. The system spreads a city’s traffic more evenly among the available roads and freeways by selfless routing as opposed to current selfish GPS-enabled routing schemes. Achieving shorter average vehicular travel time translates to less electricity usage for electric vehicles and lower gasoline consumption for gasoline-powered cars, resulting in lower greenhouse gas emissions. RTS-STR enables for the first time a city-wide, real-time collaborative Intelligent Transportation System for participating vehicle drivers to make a positive environmental and societal impact.
Paige Evans (teachHOUSTON/Mathematics) gave a presentation on the engagement of teachHOUSTON in mentoring through NSF grant programs at AAAS. In the talk, “NSF Noyce: Peer Mentoring and Best Practices for Track 3 (Master Teaching Fellowships),” Evans shared insights on her experience leading multiple Robert Noyce grants for Master Teaching Fellows. In the Q&A session, she shared best practices for applying for and managing multiple NSF Noyce awards.
Aibing Li (Earth & Atmospheric Sciences), recent Geophysics Ph.D. graduate Zhongmin Tao, former EAS faculty Jonny Wu, and Karen M. Fischer of Brown University published “Revealing the Cape Verde Hotspot Track Across the Great Lakes” in Geophysical Research Letters. Finding traces of ancient hotspots in stable continents is difficult because there aren’t always visible volcano chains, and heat signals fade over time. Between 300 and 100 million years ago, the northeastern part of North America moved over two hotspots: the Cape Verde and the Great Meteor. A new 3D model of seismic anisotropy in northeastern America shows unusual patterns beneath the eastern Great Lakes, central Pennsylvania, and northwestern Virginia. These patterns seem to trace the path of the Cape Verde hotspot, offering the first solid evidence of its presence in this region. The researchers found that the Cape Verde hotspot, which still exists under the island nation in the Central Atlantic Ocean, heated and stretched the lithosphere under the Great Lakes. This process happened over tens of millions of years and led to a low-lying area on the surface, which would eventually become the lakes during the Ice Age.
Liming Li (Physics), Xun Jiang (Earth & Atmospheric Sciences), Physics Ph.D. student Larry Guan (first author) and Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Ph.D. students Ellen Creecy and Xinyue Wang published “Distinct Energy Budgets of Mars and Earth” in AGU Advances in collaboration with several world-renowned planetary scientists. The researchers generated the first-ever meridional profile of Mars’ radiant energy budget, or REB, which represents the balance or imbalance between absorbed solar energy and emitted thermal energy across the latitudes. The profile, based on long-term observations from orbiting spacecraft, offers a detailed comparison of Mars’ REB to that of Earth, uncovering striking differences in the way each planet receives and radiates energy. While Earth exhibits an energy surplus in the tropics and a deficit in the polar regions, Mars displays the opposite configuration. These findings are changing our understanding of climate and weather on Mars and providing critical insights into Earth’s atmospheric processes.
Ashley Lucien (NSM Business Office) was recognized with Cougar Cudos in December. Cougar Cudos, a recognition program of UH Staff Council, celebrates exceptional UH staff through peer nominations. Congratulations, Ashley!
Congratulations to Mariam Manuel and Jacqueline Ekeoba (teachHOUSTON/Mathematics) and Michelle Carroll Turpin of UH’s Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine on receiving a 2024 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award from Insight Into Diversity magazine for their leadership of UH’s STEM Research Inquiry Summer Enrichment Program (STEM RISE). This national recognition highlights the program’s initiative to promote STEM opportunities for underrepresented students. The program collaborates with Third Ward community leaders and Jack Yates High School. In summer 2024, STEM RISE expanded significantly through additional NSF funding, enabling support for more undergraduate NSM students, graduate students, and high school participants.
Karen McIntush (teachHOUSTON/Mathematics) presented the paper titled “Supporting Novice Secondary STEM Teachers through Induction and Mentoring” at the International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching Conference held at the University of Thessaly in Volos, Greece. The paper was authored by McIntush, Paige Evans, Karla Adelina Garza, and Amanda Campos, all of teachHOUSTON.
Zhifeng Ren (Physics/TcSUH) was named as one of its first-ever Big 12 Conference Faculty of the Year Award winners. He was recognized along with outstanding faculty from the other Big 12 member institutions who have excelled in areas of innovation and research. According to the Big 12, the award was established as a way to highlight the honorees’ incredible work along with the research and educational opportunities afforded to students attending Big 12 institutions.
Natalie Sumrow and Ashley Cook (NSM Undergraduate Advising Center) presented a talk “Hybrid Cars are Driving Us into the Future… Why Not a Hybrid Undergraduate Advising Model to Guide the Way for STEM Students?” at the annual Transforming STEM Higher Education Conference held by the American Association of Colleges and Universities in Arlington, Va. They hosted an Ideation/Innovation Session that highlighted an effective model for advising for undergraduate STEM majors using professional and faculty advisors.
Alexandra Ulinski (Earth & Atmospheric Sciences) won second place, $1,000, and an intellectual property support package at UH’s Innov8 Hub Startup Pitch Day. Her start up, Macaw US, is a result of work with Jimmy Flynn (Earth & Atmospheric Sciences). Ulinski and Flynn are developing a new, easily deployable drone that is purpose-built for research and air pollution monitoring, with a high payload capacity and designed to integrate with a variety of high-quality sensors. She formed Macaw US to commercialize the drone and will be developing a prototype.
Yingcai Zheng (Earth & Atmospheric Sciences), recent Geophysics Ph.D. graduate and first author Chris Calvelage, and former EAS graduate student Yi-An Lin published “Linking deep-time subduction history to modern day dynamic topography,” as an invited submission for the special collection called Foundations of Operational Geodynamics in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A journal. Co-authors were former EAS faculty Jonny Wu and Lorenzo Colli. The shape of Earth’s surface has many effects on our planet that include climate, coastline change, and species diversity. It is now understood that Earth’s surface is more dynamic than previously recognized; upwellings and downwellings from a deep ‘mantle wind’ act to warp and shape the Earth’s surface from below in a process known as ‘dynamic topography.’ The authors created digital ‘twins’ of Earth that differ only in terms of the mantle wind over time. The mantle wind is generated and ‘stirred’ by the past motions of surface tectonic plates, which is uncertain. The authors used two different plate tectonic histories including one model ‘Tomopac,’ first developed at UH EAS. They show that plate tectonic history has profound effects on the distribution and magnitude of dynamic topography, with some local events producing effects in faraway regions that are thousands of kilometers away. The UH Tomopac plate reconstruction improves the ability to predict dynamic topography by over 1/3 better than previous plate models.
Jokūbas Žiburkus (Biology & Biochemistry) and recent biology graduate Gail Aflalo won first place and $2,500 at UH’s Innov8 Hub Startup Pitch Day. Their start up, Brain Haven, is transforming care for people with impaired memory and sensory functions, like those suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease or dementia. By combining scents and sounds into clinically validated, highly accessible protocols, Brain Haven provides personalized, multisensory therapies that aim to enhance and improve brain function and quality of life at a fraction of the cost of traditional therapeutics.