June
Min Zou, professor of mechanical engineering and holder of the Twenty First Century Professorship in Mechanical Engineering, has co-founded a company, SurfTec LLC, along with Samuel Beckford, a graduate mechanical engineering student. Their company has received a $225,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to commercialize its patent-pending technology.
Edward A. Pohl, professor and head of the Department of Industrial Engineering received the John L. Imhoff Global Excellence Award from the American Society for Engineering Education.
Harry Pierson, assistant professor of industrial engineering, was among seven United States representatives recently invited to present research at the 11th Sino-American Technology & Engineering Conference on Smart Robotics in China.
Ashlea Bennett Milburn, assistant professor of industrial engineering, has received the Teaching Excellence Award in Transportation and Logistics from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers.
Frances Griffith, associate director of the Center for Training Transportation Professionals at the University of Arkansas, has been elected to the board of direction of the American Concrete Institute.
The University of Arkansas was ranked 19th among U.S. institutions for its contributions to operations research practice literature in the 11th Rothkopf Rankings, which were published May 25 in the journal Interfaces.
Heather Nachtmann, professor of industrial engineering and associate dean for research for the College of Engineering, was awarded the title of Fellow by the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers.
Christophe Bobda, computer science and computer engineering professor, was named an honorary professor by Brandenurg Technical University.
Richard Cassady, industrial engineering professor and director of the Freshman Engineering Program in the College of Engineering, received the Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers.
May
Jim Rankin, vice provost for research and economic development at the University of Arkansas, has been elected to the board of directors of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Rankin has a faculty appointment in the Department of Electrical Engineering.
VivImmune, a start-up biotechnology company that was created out of research in the biomedical engineering department, won a total of $83,700 this spring at graduate business plan competitions.
Wenchao Zhou, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and holder of the Twenty-First Century Professorship in Mechanical Engineering, has received the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from Oak Ridge Associated Universities.
Magda El-Shenawee, professor of electrical engineering, is featured in the most recent episode of The Best Medicine. This radio show features “intimate portraits of how ordinary people and their families navigate illness and the often bumpy path back to good health.”
John A. White Jr., chancellor emeritus and Distinguished Professor of industrial engineering, was honored with the Marvin H. Agee Distinguished Alumni Award from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Tish Pohl, clinical assistant professor of industrial engineering, has been awarded a Certificate of Merit for Faculty Academic Advising from the National Academic Advising Association.
Andrew Braham, assistant professor of civil engineering, has received an Award of Recognition from the Association of Asphalt Pavement Technologists.
April
Xintao Wu, professor of computer science and holder of the Charles D. Morgan/Acxiom Graduate Research Chair, has received $348,758 from the National Science Foundation to conduct research on detecting fraud and cyberattacks against online social networks.
Clinton Wood, assistant professor of civil engineering, traveled to Ecuador with the Geo-engineering Extreme Events Reconnaissance, or GEER, mission sponsored by the National Science Foundation. He studied the affects of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck the South American country April 16.
VivImmune, a start-up biotechnology company that specializes in immunotherapy for bladder cancer, finished in first place at the 2016 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition.
Faculty and students from multiple universities across the state recently gathered on the University of Arkansas campus for the 100th meeting of the Arkansas Academy of Science. The academy works to promote science and the dissemination of scientific information in Arkansas.
Jamie Hestekin, associate professor and holder of the Jim L. Turpin Endowed Professorship in Chemical and Biochemical Separations, has received two grants totaling $145,250 from a local technology development firm to help the company convert woody biomass into bio-oil and eventually liquid biofuel.
Min Zou, professor of mechanical engineering, received a $450,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to further her study of a novel approach that significantly improves wear resistance of polytetrafluoroethylene coatings. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is better known by its trademarked brand name: Teflon.
Jeff Wolchok, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arkansas, spoke at a March 29 press conference with Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on how seed funding from the Arkansas Biosciences Institute has helped scientists across the state to win over half a million dollars in external funding.
Richard Coffman, associate professor of civil engineering; Alan Mantooth, Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering; Paul Millett, assistant professor of mechanical engineering;Heather Nachtmann, associate dean for research and Jing Yang, assistant professor of electrical engineering were honored at the university’s “Top 15 in 2015” event.
Marty Matlock, director of the U of A Office for Sustainability and professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, recently led talks with the French ministries of agriculture and environment, members of the French National Assembly and Senate, several university groups, conservation organizations, sustainability think tanks and journalists to share ideas and methods for agricultural sustainability.
March
Brian Haggard, professor of biological and agricultural engineering and director of the Arkansas Water Resources Center, attended the National Institutes for Water Resources Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
In the 2017 edition of U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools, the University of Arkansas College of Engineering ranked 112 out of 215 schools. Among engineering programs at public research universities, the college ranked 70. Among several key metrics involved in the calculation of the rankings, the college showed an improvement over the previous year.
The Department of Civil Engineering has been selected to receive the 2016 Walter LeFevre Award in the large program category by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Professor Marty Matlock received the Excellence in Freedom to Operate Award from the United Soybean Board during the Commodity Classic Agricultural Trade Show in New Orleans.
Richard Cassady, professor of industrial engineering and director of the Freshman Engineering Program received the Annual Alan O. Plait Tutorial Excellence Award at the Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium. Cassady was recognized for his tutorial; “An Introduction to Probability Models in Reliability and Maintainability,” which he co-authored.
Timothy Muldoon, an assistant professor in the biomedical engineering department, received an Academic Research Enhancement Award from the National Cancer Institute for $442,000. This award will be distributed over three years beginning March 1. With this, he will be able to further research his of early detection and prognosis methods of gastrointestinal cancers.
Tish Pohl, a college of engineering academic advisor, received the University of Academic Advising Council’s 2016-2017 Outstanding Advisor Award. She will be nominated for national recognition from the National Academic Advising Association.
Juan Balda, University professor of electrical engineering, has a received a grant for $300,000 – part of a $1.1 million grant to Binghamton University – from the National Science Foundation to help convert U.S. data centers from AC to DC power.
Sarah Hernandez, assistant professor of civil engineering, is part of a team that received a 2016 Teaching Team Travel Grant Award from the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center.
February
Ashlea Bennett Milburn, assistant professor of industrial engineering, received a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to research how social media can be used to improve emergency response.
Steve Tung, professor of mechanical engineering and a leader in the design and development of micro and nano-fluidic systems fro biological and biomedical applications, was elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Min Zou, professor of mechanical engineering and international expert in surface engineering, was elected as Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
The International Engineering Program, which allows students to earn undergraduate degrees in both German and engineering within five years, was created. The fourth year of the program, students will live, study, and intern in Germany.
January
In U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of the 2016 best online programs, the University of Arkansas College of Engineering’s master’s degrees programs in engineering and electrical engineering ranked No. 33.
Michelle Bernhardt, assistant professor of civil engineering, and graduate student Behdad Mofarraj, will participate in research of soil effected by recent flooding across the midwest as part of the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance Association team.
December
Brian Haggard, professor of agricultural and biological engineering and director of the Arkansas Water Resources Center, participated in research of the effects of retention ponds with Thad Scott, associate professor of environmental water science. They discovered that if 22 one-acre ponds with average flood-pool depth of 8.2 feet, peak-flow runoff can be decreased by 15 percent.
The Arkansas Research Alliance named Min Zou, as the 2016 fellow for her research and development of nanoscale surfaces such as friction-reducing coatings in electronics. Zou has the Twenty-First Century Professorship in mechanical engineering at the University of Arkansas.
Bryan Hill, assistant dean for students recruiting, honors and international programs in the College of Engineering, was named Outstanding Staff Member by the University of Arkansas Graduate School and International Education. Hill was honored for his facilitation of sponsored students programs.
Dale Thompson of computer science and computer engineering, met with representatives from Israel and Arkansas to discuss a collaborative effort to create grant opportunities. In 2013, the U.S.-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund and the National Institute of Food ann Agriculture signed a memorandum to promote the collaboration of scientists from both nationals.
Panneer Selvam, professor of civil engineering, gave the inaugural speech and a keynote speech about his research on the effect wind has on bridges at Peru’s National Congress of Civil Engineering in November. He also presented on his research of thermal energy storage which store solar energy as heat, making it a suitable alternative for fossil fuel.
November
Richard Welcher, a civil engineering adjunct faculty member, was recognized as one of Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s “40 under 40”. Welcher graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1999 with a degree in civil engineering and is now a licensed engineer in 38 states.
Richard Coffman, Pearl Dowe, Moon-Sook Park, and Michael Pierce were awarded four travel grants by the University of Arkansas. This grant focuses on enhancing faculty collaborations that stimulates scholarly initiatives among the SEC.
The University of Arkansas Science and Engineering Partnership, created by the College of Engineering, received a three-year grant of $1.7 million from the Arkansas Department of Education, to work with 130-150 teachers from schools in areas of Arkansas with high levels of poverty. The program will aim to help teachers teachers understand and implement the news standards for science, technology, engineering, and math in K-4 classrooms.
BlueInGreen LLC, a water-quality management firm affiliated with the University of Arkansas, won the grand prize at the 2015 Green Summit in Taipei, Taiwan, out of a field of 10,000 competitors. BlueInGreen was founded in 2004 by Scott Osborne and Marty Matlock, University of Arkansas professors.
October
Six faculty members were honored by the University of Arkansas Honors College at the Honors College Faculty Reception. The winners include Vikas Anand, Mack Ivey, Timothy Muldoon, Laura Terry, Claretha Hughes, Curt Rom. Each winner received a bronze medal and $1,000 to support undergraduate research.
Kyle Quinn, associate professor of biomedical engineering, was awarded a $744,992 grant by the National Institute of Health. This grant will improve the imaging and early detection of chronic wounds and guide treatments.
A research team, led by Alan Mantooth, professor of electrical engineering, received a $360,000 grant to research and develop new mathematical models and several new features for the tool to analyze mechanical and thermal reliability.
A new national center devoted to cyber-security for electric power utilities, made possible by a grant of $12.2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy and $3.3 million from research partners. The center, called the Cybersecurity Center for Secure Electric Energy Delivery Systems or SEEDS, will be led by University of Arkansas engineering researchers.
September
Xintao Wu, professor of computer science and holder of the Charles D. Morgan/Acxiom Graduate Research Chair, will research ways to protect the identities of participants of genomic studies. For this genetic privacy protection word, he has been granted $436,713. He will be collaborating with Xinghua Shi, an assistant professor of bioinformatics and genomics at the University of North Carolina.
Shui-Qing “Fisher” Yu, associate professor of electrical engineering, will lead research and design of new solar cells to power space missions. With a NASA/EPSCoR grant of $750,000 to the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium Office, Yu will collaborate with Hameed Naseem, professor of electrical engineering, Mansour Mortazavi, physics professor at UARK Pine Bluff, and Allan Thomas, physics professor at UARK Little Rock.
Enrollment into the College of Engineering undergraduate and graduate programs is at an all-time high with 3,265 students. This shows an 8.4 percent increase over the previous year. Freshman enrollment exceed 800 students for the first time ever.
August
Morten Olgaard Jenson, associate professor of biomedical engineering, joined the University of Arkansas faculty as an Arkansas Research Alliance Scholar.
The Arkansas Biosciences Institute awarded the University of Arkansas research grants amounting to $1.58 million for 39 science and technology research projects.
The University of Arkansas’ GRid-connected Advanced Power Electronic Systems Center (GRAPES) received grant of $200,000 to study modeling of gallium nitride devices. Alan Mantooth, Distinguished professor of electrical engineering, holder of the Twenty-First Century Research Leadership Chairand executive director of the center will lead the effort.
The second edition of Simulation Modeling and Arena, a book by Manuel Rossetti, professor of industrial engineering, was published by Wiley Publishing. The books detail the importance of the hands-on approach to learning statistical analysis and model building.
Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas will help lead a new $18.5 million engineering research center, the Power Optimization for Electro-Thermal Systems Center. POETS will focus on designing and developing vehicle electrical systems that are more powerful, efficient and heat-resistant.
A new federally funded research center led by the University of Arkansas will partner with Arkansas industries and create new products for use in manufacturing, aerospace and defense, agriculture, forestry, oil and gas, food packaging and health care. The Center for Advanced Surface Engineering, or CASE, will be funded with a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation