Recognition & Honors
Accolades & Acknowledgements
Dawnelle Prince (NSM Career Center) - Prince, founding director of the College’s Career Center, was named one of the Houston Business Journal’s 2025 “Women Who Mean Business” honorees. Her leadership in higher education, especially through programs that connect students with industry opportunities and advance equity in STEM, was cited as instrumental in supporting student success and workforce readiness across Houston and beyond.
Molly Albecker (Biology & Biochemistry) - Albecker received a $2.16 million federal grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study how coastal frogs survive in elevated-salt environments. Her five-year investigation will explore physiological and evolutionary mechanisms of salt tolerance and may offer insights that translate to human health.
Erin Kelleher (Biology & Biochemistry) - She has been awarded a $348,000 National Science Foundation Mid-Career Advancement Award to pursue pioneering research into transposable elements–“hidden parasites” of DNA that move within genomes and are linked to mutations and cancer progression. Her work sheds light on how host-genes can unexpectedly enable these genomic elements.
University of Houston College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics - The college has been reaffirmed as a national Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Research (CAE-R) through 2028-29 and in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) through 2027-28, underscoring the University’s sustained leadership in cybersecurity research, innovation and workforce development.
Zhifeng Ren (Physics) - Ren and his research team overturned conventional understanding of thermal conductivity by showing that boron arsenide (BAs) can surpass diamond in heat conduction under certain conditions–opening new pathways for advanced materials in electronics and thermal management.
Liming Li (Earth & Atmospheric Sciences) - Awarded nearly $700,000 from NASA’s New Frontiers Data Analysis Program to lead a three-year project exploring how Jupiter absorbs sunlight and releases heat. His study, “Jupiter’s Radiant Energy Budget: Full-Disk Temporal Variations and Polar Region Analysis,” combines data from five NASA missions–including Juno, Cassini, New Horizons, Hubble, and the James Webb Space Telescope–to examine how the planet’s energy balance drives its extreme weather. The research will help refine models of planetary climate systems and deepen understanding of how energy flow shapes atmospheres across the solar system.
In the News
University of Houston STEM Center - Featured by Univision in its Contigo en la Comunidad series, the UH STEM Center fosters interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics among students across the Houston area. Through outreach programs, hands-on learning, and mentorship opportunities, the Center inspires future STEM leaders. Valeria Servín (Program Coordinator) highlighted the Center’s efforts to engage and empower students throughout the community.
Publications
Gabriel López (B.A. ’22, M.S. ’24) and Ny Riavo Voarintsoa (Earth & Atmospheric Sciences) - Co-authored the study “Pre-calibration of δ18O for paleoclimatic interpretations using stalagmites in Cueva Ensueño, Puerto Rico,” published in the International Journal of Speleology. Their research refines how stalagmites record oxygen isotope variations, improving the accuracy of paleoclimate reconstructions and revealing how tropical cave systems preserve evidence of rainfall and temperature changes over time.
Mariam Manuel and Jacqueline Ekeoba (teachHOUSTON) - Co-authored “Bridging Gaps in STEMM Education: The Role of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Mentorship in Preparing Future Teachers,” published in Futures in Educational Research. Their study examines how teaching practices and mentorship prepare future STEMM educators to connect with students and foster engaging learning environments–underscoring teachHOUSTON’s leadership in teacher preparation and STEMM education.
Lisa Whitehead Koerner, Daniel Cherdack, Travis Olson, and UH Physics Graduate Students - Researchers from the Department of Physics co-authored the Nature publication “Joint Neutrino Oscillation Analysis from the T2K and NOvA Experiments.” The landmark study combines data from two of the world’s most advanced neutrino experiments–T2K in Japan and NOvA in the United States–offering unprecedented precision in understanding how neutrinos change flavor and mass. The results mark a major step toward explaining one of physics’ greatest mysteries: why the universe contains more matter than antimatter.
Quentin Vicens (Biology & Biochemistry) - Co-authored a Protein Science study revealing that cromolyn, an FDA-approved drug, binds to the Zα domain of ADAR1p150–a key enzyme involved in RNA editing. By mapping this interaction, the research team identified a new pharmacophore that could inform the design of molecules to modulate immune responses.