Recognition & Honors
Albert Cheng (Computer Science) will present an invited keynote, “Challenges in the Implementation of the Technological and Industrial Revolution 4.0 and Beyond,” at the virtual UMECIT Congreso Internacional de Investigación, Innovación y Postgrado (International Congress on Research, Innovation, and Graduate Studies) being organized in Panama. He will also chair a workshop at the conference, “Implementation of the Technological and Industrial Revolution 4.0: A Demonstration with an Example of an Intelligent Transportation System.” The presentations will occur in mid-October and are part of his activities as a Fulbright Specialist.
Paige Evans (teachHOUSTON, Mathematics) has been named Co-Director of the teachHOUSTON program. Through this role, she teaches and oversees the program and coursework in preservice STEM teacher education.
Qin Feng (Biology & Biochemistry, CNRCS) and Frank McKeon (Biology & Biochemistry) are part of the presenting teams for the UH-BCM Virtual Symposium. The symposium will feature short presentations by the nine research groups that received UH/BCM Collaborative Pilot Grants last year. Feng will present “Discovery of Pharmacological Modulators for NEAT1 lncRNA and Reactivation/Suppression of Latent HIV-1” with Andrew Rice of BCM. McKeon will present “Haploid Genome Duplication: Mechanistic Insights into a Shortcut in Cancer Evolution” with Chenghang Zong of BCM.
Jimmy Flynn (Earth & Atmospheric Sciences) is part of a 14-month research collaboration studying the effects of aerosols on storms in the Houston area. The research program, called the TRACER field campaign, is in collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory. TRACER is short for TRacking Aerosol Convection interactions ExpeRiment, a study carried out by the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement user facility. The knowledge gained may make weather forecasts more accurate and provide crucial data for improving predictions about how aerosols may affect Earth’s future climate.
Rebeca Forrest (Physics) presented on physics careers at the virtual outreach activity “STEM Zone Saturday” organized by the UH STEM Center on September 25.
Mauricio Perez and Shahab Tayyab (both Chemistry) received Cougar Cudos awards from UH Staff Council. These awards recognize staff for exceptional service to the University of Houston.
Claudia Ratti (Physics) has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Each year, no more than one-half of one percent of the Society’s membership is recognized by their peers for election as Fellows. Her citation states: For outstanding contributions to understanding the thermodynamic properties of quantum chromodynamics matter and subsequent connecting lattice results with experimental data.
Ratti is also co-principal investigator on a National Science Foundation $4.4 million, five-year grant – the MUSES collaboration (Modular Unified Solver of the Equation of State). The collaboration will develop an open-source cyberinfrastructure tool for investigators in nuclear physics, gravitational wave astrophysics, and heavy-ion physics. This project pairs the UH team with researchers from Kent State University and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, as well as scientists around the world.