T H E U N I V ER S I T Y O F T E X A S AT A R L I N G T O N / CO L L EG E O F EN G I N EER I N G

UTA ENGINEER
VOLUME VII / 2018

1992
1999
 C ON T E N T S
Volume VIII / 2019

60 Years of
Engineers

10
Since its
founding in 1959,
UTA’s College
of Engineering has
graduated more than
34,000 students and
seen plenty of change

DE PA R T M E N T S

02 Dispatch Keeping the

03 Lab Notes Lights On

16
04 Faculty Focus Alumni from
06 Research News the College of
Engineering
08 Classroom are helping power
20 Beyond the Lab North Texas through
22 Class Notes their work at local
energy companies
From the archives:
Electrical engineering
24 Re-Engineered
students solve a
circuit problem

ii THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT A RLINGTON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 1

 DISPATcH
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
dean
LAB
NOTES
Peter E. Crouch
s e n i o r a s s o c i at e d e a n
f o r a c a d e m i c a f fa i r s
Lynn Peterson

A Lot Can Happen a s s o c i at e d e a n f o r

g r a d u at e a f fa i r s
Erick Jones

in 60 Years a s s o c i at e d e a n f o r r e s e a r c h
Gautam Das

O National Academy Members

a s s i s ta n t d e a n f o r
ur College of Engineering began its s t u d e n t a f fa i r s
J. Carter Tiernan
existence in fall 1959. It wasn’t very

senior direc tor
big, but through the vision and will o f c o m m u n i c at i o n s
and marketing
of Wendell Nedderman, who passed away Jeremy Agor
in May at age 97, UTA Engineering quickly
direc tor of
marketing services
made a name for itself.
Tracey Faulkinbury
For the last 60 years, the College of
Engineering has contributed greatly to the OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY
local workforce and economy. Our alumni ADVANCEMENT
executive Direc tor of
have led major corporations, flown to space, m e d i a r e l at i o n s a n d
c o m m u n i c at i o n s
started successful companies, and made Jeff Carlton
an impact in many areas of our lives. UTA editorial direc tor
engineers have a reputation for hitting the Jessica Bridges
ground running, rolling up their sleeves, and getting the job done. That’s a designerS
Brody Price and Melissa George
hard-earned reputation, and a credit to all who have studied here and to the
contributor
outstanding faculty who have ensured that students acquired the skills and Herb Booth
knowledge necessary to become successful in the real world.
We have many commemorative events planned this year, and you’ll see
60th anniversary logos on campus and in our communications throughout
the year. I hope that you will return to campus to see the transformation that UTA Engineer is published annu-
ally by the Division of University
has occurred here and will join us for a celebratory banquet in February. Advancement. Reproduction
in whole or part without writ-
This issue of UTA Engineer focuses largely on the past, but I assure you ten permission is prohibited.
there’s plenty to be excited about now and in the future. On the strength of The comments and opinions
expressed in this magazine do not
engineering researchers, the University met all of the benchmarks for ac- necessarily represent those of
The University of Texas at Arling-
cessing the state’s National Research University Fund for the first time last ton or the staff of UTA Engineer.
Copyright 2019, The University of
year, and once we reach them again this year, we will have access to millions
Texas at Arlington. UTA does not
of dollars in research funding, which we can use to hire additional top facul- discriminate on the basis of race,
color, national origin, religion,
ty, build new laboratory space, and continue to make breakthroughs in areas age, gender, sexual orientation,
such as health care, photonics, aerospace, and more. disabilities, genetic information,
and/or veteran status in the edu-
As we celebrate 60 years of Maverick engineers, we acknowledge the ef- cational programs or activities
it operates. For more info, visit
forts and contributions of those who came before and we look forward to the uta.edu/eos. For info regarding
possibilities ahead. Title IX, visit uta.edu/titleix.
College of Engineering
UTA Box 19019
Arlington, TX 76019
Peter E. Crouch 817-272-3682
agor@uta.edu
DE A N, C OL L E G E OF E N GI N E E R I N G uta.edu/engineering
T
his year, the College of Engi-
neering increased its stature
as a research powerhouse with
the addition of three mem-
bers of the National Academy
of Engineering (NAE). UTA now has
six national academy members, four of
whom are College of Engineering faculty,
and has reached a critical benchmark to
achieve Tier One status in Texas.
Membership in the NAE is among
the highest professional distinctions
awarded to engineers. It honors profes-
sionals who have made outstanding and
innovative contributions to the research,
practice, education, or advancement of
engineering.
Dereje Agonafer, Jenkins Garrett Pro-
fessor in the Department of Mechanical
and Aerospace Engineering, was elected
to the NAE earlier this year. He was one
of only two faculty from Texas univer-
sities selected to the 2019 class, which From left: Dereje Agonafer was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in February; NAE
members Surendra Shah and James Coleman joined the College of Engineering this year
totaled 86 national and 18 foreign mem-
bers. Dr. Agonafer’s research focuses on ty Research Initiative and $1 million from the University’s research strength in the
computer-aided electro/thermo/mechan- the UT System Science and Technology area. He has served as the Erik Jonsson
ical design and modeling of electronic Acquisition and Retention program. Distinguished Chair in Electrical Engi-
equipment. He joined UTA in 1999 after Dr. Shah is world-renowned for his neering at UT Dallas since 2013. Before
a stellar career at IBM, and his continued research on cement-based materials, that, he was the Intel Alumni Endowed
collaboration with industry leaders has with a focus on fiber-reinforced compos- Chair of Electrical and Computer En-
furthered the impact of his work. His ites, nondestructive evaluation, transport gineering at the University of Illinois
most recent research has been on data properties, processing, rheology, nan- at Urbana-Champaign for 31 years and
center cooling and 3D packaging/cooling, otechnology, and the use of solid waste course director of the Integrated Circuits
in partnership with some of the biggest materials. He is a leading authority in Fabrication Laboratory. He also worked at
names in industry. nanomaterial applications to concrete. Rockwell International and Bell Labs.
Surendra Shah joined the college in Finally, James Coleman arrived on The college’s fourth NAE member,
February as a Presidential Distinguished campus in September as a Presidential Kenneth Reifsnider, is a Presidential Dis-
Professor and director of the new Center Distinguished Professor of Photonics in tinguished Professor in the Mechanical
for Advanced Construction Materials. His the Electrical Engineering Department. and Aerospace Engineering Department
recruitment was supported by almost He is an internationally known expert in and heads the Institute for Predictive
$2 million from the Governor’s Universi- photonics technologies and will add to Performance Methodologies at UTARI.

2 THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT A RLINGTON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 3

 FACU LT Y FOCU S
LAB NOTES

4
 received a four-year, $498,000 Dr. Makedon says. “It provides

Design-Build
Leader
Sharareh “Sherri” Kermansha-
chi, an assistant professor in the
Department of Civil Engineering,
won the 2018 Design-Build In-
stitute of America (DBIA) Distin-
guished Leadership Award in the
faculty category.
Design-build is a fast-growing
movement and popular method
used to deliver construction proj-
ects in the United States. It saves
time and money by encouraging
innovation and collaboration
and allowing the designing and
building of construction projects
to occur on the same timeline.
“It is a great honor to receive
such a prestigious award from
DBIA,” Dr. Kermanshachi says.
“The implementation of the de-
grant to redesign abstractions in
virtualized systems to improve
efficiency. Abstractions are used
to hide capacity in computer
systems by removing less im-
portant details to attend to other,
more pertinent ones. One type of
abstraction—virtualization—is a
key component of cloud comput-
ing and has changed how com-
puter systems use resources by
allowing multiple virtual com-
puter architectures and systems
to run off of a single physical
machine.
Kyungsuk Yum of the Ma-
terials Science and Engineering
Department received a five-year,
$500,000 grant to design and
develop bioinspired 3D mate-
rials with programmed shapes
and motions. The research could
transform the way soft engi-
neering systems or devices are
a great showcase of the serious
work and science being done at
NUMBER WISE
UTA and in the region and helps
motivate others to recognize the
work of more women.”
Makedon joined the college
in 2006 as chair of the Computer
Science and Engineering Depart-
ment, a position she held until
2014. She has secured more than
$9.3 million in research fund-
ing as principal investigator or
co-investigator during her tenure
at UTA, and nearly $15 million in
National her career.
Academy of “We are proud to have Dr.
Makedon on our faculty,” Dean
Engineering Peter Crouch says. “She has an
members outstanding record of discov-
ery and her research is aimed Fillia Makedon is
at making a real difference in a winner of the
Dallas Business
the lives of people who can Journal’s Women
benefit greatly from assistive in Technology
technologies.” Award

sign-build delivery method will designed and fabricated, with po-

continue to grow in the construc-
tion industry. This system not
only minimizes project risks, re-
duces overall costs, and improves
execution timeline, but it also
enhances workforce productivity
and optimizes performance effi-
ciency. The design-build delivery
method is a logical movement
that will shape the future of the
SPOTLIGHT
construction industry.”
tential applications in bioinspired
soft robotics, biomedical devices,
tissue engineering, and artificial
muscles, which are soft materials
that change their shapes or move
in response to external signals as
our muscles do.

Woman in

Raihan Honored Kermanshachi is a certified

Design-Build Professional. She
Technology

R
was awarded the DBIA fellowship
assel raihan, mechanical engineering assistant professor and in 2017. Fillia Makedon, a Jenkins Garrett
Professor in the Computer Science
researcher at the Institute for Predictive Performance Method- and Engineering Department and
ologies at the UTA Research Institute, is a recipient of the Young  a leader in machine learning and

CAREER Award
Professionals Emerging Leadership Award from the Society for the Ad-
vancement of Material and Process Engineering. His work focuses on Winners
non-destructive evaluation of the material state of composites and ad- Two engineering faculty were
hesively bonded structures. He is also working to develop multifunctional recently honored with National
Science Foundation Faculty Early
composite materials that can be placed inside composite structures and Career Development Program, or
harvest energy from vibrations, as well as provide information about the CAREER, Awards.
Jia Rao of the Computer Sci-
internal condition of the structure. ence and Engineering Department
assistive technologies, was among
25 women named by the Dallas
Business Journal as winners in the
sixth annual Women in Technol-
ogy Awards.
“The Women in Technolo-
gy Award is a great honor that
demonstrates the vision and ap-
preciation of the Dallas business
community for women working
in information technology,”

4 THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT A RLINGTON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 5

 R ESE A RCH N E WS
Weidong Zhou’s 
implantable
Better Brain
optical probe
could increase
Monitoring
patient comfort
and lessen the risk
of complications
When physicians treat patients
with traumatic brain injuries or
brain disorders, they often must
insert a device to monitor inter-
cranial pressure, temperature,
and other functions. But current
technology is rigid and bulky,
made with electronics that can
interfere with other devices, and
must eventually be surgically
removed.
Weidong Zhou, a Distinguished
University Professor in electrical
engineering, is developing an
alternative option: an implantable
optical probe that can be inserted
6 THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT A RLINGTON
in the brain, then absorbed by
the body. If successful, the device
would increase patient comfort
during recovery and lessen the
risk of complications.
Dr. Zhou is working on the
project with John Rogers, a world
leader in the field of bioresorb-
able/biodegradable electronics at
51
NUMBER WISE
tenured/tenure-
track faculty
hired in the last
four years
Northwestern University. They
have designed a device that will
rely solely on waveguides and
optical cavities, so there are no
metal or electronic parts to rust or
interfere with signals. The optical
elements will be absorbed into
the body after a period of time,
eliminating the need for further
surgeries.
“With our National Science
Foundation grant, we can explore
making the device commercial-
ly available, as well as identify
other areas in which it could be
used, such as understanding brain
activity and functions through
monitoring,” Zhou says.

Women’s
Health
Vaginal prolapse is a condition
that affects almost 3% of Amer-
ican women in which the pelvic
floor muscles weaken and tear,
allowing the vagina to stretch or
expand and protrude on sur-
rounding organs and structures.
Bioengineering Associate
Professor Yi Hong is using a $1.6
million grant from the National
Institutes of Health to develop
a new method of treating the
condition. UTA’s Kytai Nguyen,
Liping Tang, and Jun Liao, and UT
Southwestern urologist Phillippe
Zimmern are co-investigators on
the project.
The team is developing a
strong, bioactive bioadhesive to
LAB NOTES
reattach the pelvic floor muscles SPOTLIGHT
Damage Detection
before they detach completely,
thus preventing further tearing
while the body repairs the affect-
H
ed muscles.
“If a prolapse is detected early, aiying Huang, a professor of mechanical and aerospace en-
we can glue the edges togeth-
gineering, is using two grants worth nearly $900,000 from the
er while they are still partially
attached and prevent further Department of Defense to monitor the structural health of Navy
damage,” Dr. Hong says. “The
ships and detect when and where damage happens. She is attempting to
adhesive will allow the body to
rejuvenate naturally, so there will design ultrasound transducers that can be glued to ships’ hulls to detect
be fewer complications and far
and monitor material degradation. Additionally, she will investigate the
less discomfort for the patient.”
use of optical fibers as ultrasound waveguides to create sensor networks
that can detect damage within a ship’s hull. “Structural health monitoring

is a growing technology because of its potential to provide substantial
Supporting
benefits in safety, operational costs, and design,” Dr. Huang says.
Small Farmers
Small- and mid-scale farmers
and ranchers in Texas often face
challenges in getting their prod-
ucts to the market due to inef-
ficient and costly shipping and
storage options.
Caroline Krejci, an assis-
tant professor in the Industrial,
Manufacturing, and Systems
Engineering Department, is ex-
ploring how to solve this problem
through collaborative transporta-
tion and aggregation, which she
believes can open avenues for cost
savings and easier delivery.
Possible solutions include
farmers banding together to fill
a truck and bring down shipping
costs, or sharing warehousing
space.
“We want to help family farms
and ranches figure out how to
transport their products to cus-
tomers throughout their respec-
tive regions, but the long-term
goal is to connect them and build
a network of producers across the
state, to leverage regional vari-
ations in growing seasons and
products,” Dr. Krejci explains.
“It’s a balance between efficiency
and the social aspect of making
sure that farmers can earn a liv-
ing and thrive.”
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 7
 CL A SSROO M

World
Leaders in
Cybersecurity
A team featuring computer sci-
ence and engineering students
Aaditya Purani and Jonathon
Kirkpatrick finished sixth in the
world at the cybersecurity Cap-
ture the Flag finals during Cyber
Security Awareness Weekend
(CSAW). They were members of a
team called DefCon-UA (DCUA)
that also included students from
UT Dallas and UT Austin.
CSAW is the largest stu-
dent-run cybersecurity event in
the world and features interna-
tional competitions, workshops,
and industry events. It is hosted
by New York University.
DCUA finished ahead of MIT’s
TechSec, Arizona State Univer-
sity’s pwndevil, and Carnegie
Mellon University’s Plaid Par-
liament of Pwning, all of which
are world-famous cybersecurity
teams. Purani finished second on
the individual scoreboard.
“I’ve been doing cybersecurity
for a long time, and I like that
SPOTLIGHT capture the flag competitions
Building a Bio Drone
allow you to break into real ma-
chines and practice your hacking
A
skills ethically without breaking
any laws,” Purani says.
team of students from the departments of Bioengineering,
Kirkpatrick agrees: “It’s about
Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and knowing how to attack so you can
defend. This was my first com-
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering competed in the U.S.
petition, and it taught me that
Army’s inaugural HBCU/MI Design Competition last April. For the event, security is a necessity because
anything can be vulnerable.”
they had to engineer biologically based parts from biocellulose, which
they then used to build an unmanned aerial vehicle that could take off,

navigate around a course, and return for a landing. “We jumped at the
Student
opportunity to compete, because it offered a chance for our students to
collaborate to solve a problem that Army engineers are working on right Fellowships
now,” says Professor David Wetz, one of the team’s faculty advisers. “The College of Engineering doctoral
students Allison Osmanson and
students learned a lot about the engineering process, innovation, and
Aneetta Kuriakose recently earned
working together across disciplines to create a solution.” prestigious fellowships in their
8 THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT A RLINGTON
disciplines. Both were the first
UTA students to ever receive their
respective awards.
Osmanson’s fellowship comes
from the Semiconductor Research
Corporation, in partnership with
Texas Instruments. With its
funding, she will pursue research
involving microelectronics pack-
aging, with a specific focus on
electromigration.
“This is a very competitive
fellowship,” says Osmanson, who
is studying materials science and
engineering. “It’s humbling that
they selected me. I’m hoping to
work in the microelectronics in-
dustry after I earn my degree, and
I know that what I learn through
this fellowship will be put to good
use in my career.”
LAB NOTES
Kuriakose, a bioengineering
student, was awarded a pre-doc-
NUMBER WISE toral fellowship from the Nation-
5
It took only al Institutes of Health that will
support her research into a new,
minimally invasive treatment for
peripheral artery disease.
“This award gives me my first
taste of independent success as a
researcher,” she says. “Being able
to work with my own funding
years for gives me confidence and a sense
of what it will be like to act as a
engineering principal investigator throughout
my career.”
enrollment
to grow from Brandon Griffin
led a team of

4,000 to 7,000
Senior Design
seniors that
built a treadmill
With Real-Life
for wheelchair
athletes
Applications
The eight-time national cham-
pion UTA Movin’ Mavs wheel-
chair basketball team might be
getting even better soon, thanks
to some ingenuity among me-
chanical engineering students.
For their senior design project, a
team comprising Brandon Griffin,
Antonio Araujo, Matthew McCor-
mick, Matthew Niestroy, Jason
Gulledge, and Chad Goodlow built
a treadmill that can be used by
athletes in wheelchairs. A group
of electrical engineering students
is also building an interface for
digital readouts of work per-
formed by the machine’s users.
The idea for the project started
with Movin’ Mavs Coach Doug
Garner, who wanted something
that would give his players a good
workout and measure how much
effort they were expending.
“It shows how important even
senior design projects are,” says
Griffin, the team leader. “When
we can help someone in a practi-
cal, real-life way, that’s what it’s
all about.”
Garner said the device also
could potentially be used in the
therapy sector.
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 9
 60 Years of Engineers
From humble beginnings, UTA’s College of
Engineering has grown into the respected
institution it is today. Along the way, its students
and faculty have contributed greatly to technology,
exploration, and the pursuit of knowledge.

10 THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT A RLINGTON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 11

S
60 Years of Engineers
Eight deans have led the College of Engineering Institute and, in 2012, the UTA Research Institute.
since Nedderman: Andrew Salis (1969-81), John There was another ribbon-cutting in 2001 with
Rouse (1981-87), John McElroy (1987-96), J. Ronald the opening of the Nanotechnology Research and
ince its founding in 1959, The Univer- Bailey (1996-2000), Bill Carroll (2000-2011), Jean Teaching Facility, which became the Shimadzu
sity of Texas at Arlington’s College of Pierre Bardet (2012-13), Khosrow Behbehani (2013- Institute Nanotechnology Research Center in 2013.
16), and Peter Crouch, who joined the college in 2016. In 2008, the Civil Engineering Laboratory Building
Engineering has been home to thou- The first engineering bachelor’s degrees were opened on the west side of campus, while the Engi-
conferred to 23 electrical and mechanical engineer- neering Research Building debuted in 2011, providing
sands of engineering students wanting to he held until his retirement in 1992. ing graduates in 1961. The first woman to earn an much-needed office and laboratory space for the
Dr. Nedderman worked tirelessly engineering bachelor’s degree was Thurba Higgins in Computer Science and Engineering and Bioengineer-
make their mark on the world, which they to build the School of Engineering. He 1964 (electrical engineering); the first woman to earn ing departments. At the same time, significant ren-
successfully gained approval from the
have done repeatedly. More than 34,000 Texas Higher Education Coordinating
a master’s degree was Juliet Hancock-Russey in 1969 ovations were completed and a third floor was added
(mechanical and aerospace engineering); and the first to the Engineering Laboratory Building. In 2018, the
have earned engineering degrees at UTA, Board to add graduate programs in 1966 woman to earn a doctorate was Judith Corley in 1979 Science & Engineering Innovation & Research (SEIR)
and saw all five undergraduate programs (civil engineering). building opened on the south end of campus.
and with enrollment rapidly growing, new receive accreditation by 1968. In the early Enrollment in the early years was around 1,500
years of the graduate program, students were students. By 1980, it had doubled to 3,000, but took Who We Are From the archives:
programs being added, and record-breaking mostly practicing engineers who were looking another 21 years to reach 4,000 students. Just five The UTA of 2019 places a great emphasis on diversity. Engineering
to advance in their careers by taking master’s students
research funding rolling in, the college is courses at night. Once the doctoral program was
years later, however, enrollment soared past 7,000 It is a Hispanic-Serving Institution, which is reflected congregate
and continues to grow today. The college strives to in the College of Engineering’s student body. Last fall, between classes
poised to become an education and research added in 1969, the college began building a solid reach 10,000 students by 2020.
reputation for research as well.
powerhouse as it enters its next decade. “The advent of the graduate program, and the Building Boom
deliberate fashion in which Dr. Nedderman and Jack In the early years, the College of Engineering was
Woolf [former Arlington State College president] located in Woolf Hall, which it shared with the
Early Years approached it, were some of the biggest factors in the departments of Foreign Languages and Business
When Arlington State College (later UTA) was ele- college’s success,” said Kent Lawrence, a professor Administration. There were about 10 classrooms on
vated to senior-college status in 1959, the transition of aerospace engineering who joined the faculty in the second floor, each with seven rows of seven desks
included the creation of a new School of Engineering 1961 and has worked at UTA for all but three years and chairs bolted to the floor.
offering five baccalaureate degrees: aeronautical (lat- since then. “Many of our graduate students were That began to change in 1985, when UTA start-
er changed to aerospace), civil, electrical, industrial, inclined to research and were good at it. The money ed building infrastructure to support the growth of
and mechanical engineering. Wendell Nedderman, research grants brought in allowed us to do things the college. That year, UT System approved nearly
a professor of civil engineering at Texas A&M, was we couldn’t before. A lot of our early faculty came $40 million for the construction of two new build-
hired as the founding dean and held that position from high-profile research institutions around the ings—Nedderman Hall and the Aerospace Research
until 1969. He would go on to serve as vice president country, and Drs. Woolf and Nedderman pursued and Building—as well as a total renovation of Woolf Hall.
for research and graduate affairs (1967-68), graduate hired faculty from top schools such as MIT and Cal One year later, a $10 million gift from the Fort Worth
school administrator (1967-69), and vice president Tech. It was extremely forward-thinking of them to Chamber Foundation and Newell & Newell Develop-
for academic affairs (1968-72). In 1972 he became hire that way, because it gave our college as broad a ers created the Advanced Robotics Research Institute,
acting president, and in 1974, president, a position view of research as possible.” later renamed the Automation & Robotics Research

1959 1961 1966 1967 1968 1969 1971 1981 1986 1987 1996 1997
School of Engineer- First 23 bacca- UTA’s first master’s Penny Lee Carlisle All five extant ■ Andrew Salis First Ph.D. degrees ■ John Rouse Advanced Robotics ■ John McElroy ■ J. Ronald Bailey ■ Kalpana Chawla
ing created laureate degrees degree programs becomes the first baccalaureate de- named dean of conferred named dean of 1984 Research Institute named dean of named dean of (’84 M.S., Aero-
conferred approved, in elec- woman to earn an gree programs are engineering engineering ■ Alumnus Robert (later Automa- engineering engineering space Engineering)
■ Wendell Ned- L. Stewart (’72
derman named ■ First computer, an trical engineering engineering bache- accredited by the Coordinating Board 1979 ■ Formula SAE tion & Robotics Formula SAE team becomes first
and engineering lor’s degree at UTA Engineering Council Judith Corley be- M.S., Aerospace Research Institute) 1991 Indian-born wom-
founding dean IBM 1620, purchased approves Ph.D. pro- team debuts in Engineering) wins eighth nation-
for the computer mechanics of Professional gram in engineering comes first woman Mini Baja com- created Number of UTA al championship an to fly in space
Development to earn an engi- participates in the engineering alumni (she later perishes
1960 science engineering Juliet Hancock- petition and first untethered ■ Groundbreaking
■ Woolf Hall program First master’s de- neering doctoral wins national for Nedderman Hall surpasses 10,000 aboard STS-107
Russey becomes degree at UTA space walks during (Columbia) on Feb.
constructed grees in engineer- first woman to earn championship mission STS-41B and the Aerospace
ing conferred Research Building 1, 2003)
engineering mas- (Challenger)
ter’s degree at UTA

12 THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT A RLINGTON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 13


From the archive: 23% of engineering students were Hispanic, 21% were
Civil engineering
students record white, and 17% were Asian. International students
results during
testing
accounted for 29% of enrollment, with these students
hailing from 70 countries, including 17 in Africa, 14 in
Asia, 14 in Europe, and 12 in the Middle East.
Women accounted for 20% of engineering stu-
dents and 14% of the faculty, with 16 female tenured/
tenure-track faculty hired since 2016. One of those
students was Letia Blanco (’11 B.S., Mechanical En-
gineering). Upon graduation, she helped create the
Design Your World Conference for girls in partner-
ship with UTA and the Society of Women Engineers
(SWE), providing 6,000 girls from 5th grade to high
school—most of them at-risk or from underserved
communities—with hands-on programming and
career conferences to help them pursue careers in
engineering. The conference was recognized with
a SWE Dallas Chapter Gold Chapter Award, and in
October 2018 Blanco received the Distinguished New
Engineer Award, an international honor.
“UTA has something for everyone. No matter your
interest, there is a place to belong on campus,” Blan-
co says. “My involvement in SWE has led to a ca-
reer-long commitment to mentoring and community
involvement.”
Cultivating Entrepreneurialism
The College of Engineering has a renewed focus on
entrepreneurship, helped in large part by a generous
donation from an alumnus that created the Maverick
Entrepreneurship Program and Award Fund, which
provides $500,000 in funding each year through 2021
for UTA students who are trying to start companies
or bring inventions to market.
“When I came out of school, engineers either loved
engineering and pursued a career in that, or they
enjoyed the business side and went into manage-
ment,” says Dick Moeller (’67 B.S., Industrial Engi-
neering), a member of the college’s Board of Advisors
and a Hall of Achievement honoree. “When you take
that step, you have to learn a lot of other skills, like
marketing, sales, and how to read a balance sheet.
Entrepreneurship has all of that.” Moeller endowed a
scholarship to assist engineering students who wish
to pursue graduate degrees in business after grad-
uation. “Business and engineering are joined at the
hip. It’s not sufficient to have an engineering solu-
tion unless you have the business savvy to make it
successful.”
In addition to entrepreneurship, students benefit
from the required senior design capstone courses
in each department. Many of these projects receive
funding from outside sources, and some have led to
greater opportunities. For example, Blanco and her
senior design teammates—Christopher Alberts, Kyle
Godfrey, Andrew Patin, and Chris Grace—along with
faculty advisers Panos Shiakolas and Pranesh Aswath,
received a patent for a smart bandage, developed
fully at UTA, that allows more efficient healing of
wounds and the delivery of multiple drugs on their
own time schedules to the wound. The invention
won the American Society for Materials International
Undergraduate Design Competition in 2011.
“We got to create something real and useful—
something that mattered in the world,” Blanco says.
“We did the whole thing in UTA labs, using UTA ma-
terials, with support from professors, lab managers,
and graduate students. After graduation my employer
at the time, Raytheon, helped us secure a patent. So
within a couple years of graduating, we already had
our first patent. I credit the support we received from
the College of Engineering with that accomplishment.”
Looking to the Future
UTA is classified as Research-1 “Very High Research
Activity” by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions
of Higher Education, thanks in part to the strength of
60 Years of Engineers
the College of Engineering. Annual research expen-
ditures for the college exceed $35 million, and overall
engineering-related research expenditures for the
University are more than $50 million.
The University reached the milestones necessary
to qualify for Texas Tier One status in 2018-19 and
will begin receiving money from the fund in 2020-
21 if it reaches those milestones again this year. In
addition to research expenditures, one of the mile-
stones is faculty excellence, measured in part by
National Academy of Engineering members, of which
the college now has four.
The college’s rapid growth has produced its share
of headaches, with space at a pre-
mium and faculty hiring lagging
behind enrollment, but a broader
view shows that it is contributing
“UTA has
to a more robust, valuable edu- something
cational experience, says Lynn
Peterson, senior associate dean for for everyone.
academic affairs. “With increased
No matter
enrollment comes an increased
ability to relate to the community
and provide more opportunities to
your interest,
meet the needs of local, state, and there is a
national industry. It also allows us
place to belong
to hire high-quality faculty who
will support research and innova-
tion and help prepare our students on campus.”
for their future careers.”
Much has changed since 1959, but the college’s
commitment to providing a top-quality engineering
education and innovative, meaningful research has
not.
“To have been here at the beginning and contrib-
uted to building the program was really something,”
Dr. Lawrence says. “From those experiences, we’ve
evolved into a responsive, smooth educational and
research institution.” ₪

2001 2006 2008 2009 2012 2013 2015 2016 2018 2019
Nanotechnology Materials science Civil Engineering ■ College of Engi- ■ Jean Pierre Bar- ■ Dr. Behbehani ■ Wendy Okolo ■ Peter Crouch ■ Science & Engi- The country’s only
Research and and engineering Laboratory Build- neering celebrates det named dean of named dean of becomes first Black named dean of neering Innovation university-based,
1998 2000 Teaching Facility program elevated ing opens 50th anniversary engineering engineering woman at UTA to engineering & Research build- arc-heated hyper-
■ Formula SAE ■ Bill Carroll opens to a department with ribbon-cutting earn a doctoral de- ing opens sonic wind tunnel
team wins first named dean of ■ Optical Medical Khosrow Behbe-
Number of alumni Imaging Lab facil- for expanded Engi- hani, Nai Yuen 2014 gree in aerospace 2017 brought online
international engineering 2005 neering Laboratory Enrollment sur- engineering Number of alumni
championship at ■ Department of surpasses 20,000 ity, consisting of Chen, George Kon- Dereje Agonafer
four lab bays oper- Building 2011 draske, and Robert passes 5,000 surpasses 30,000 elected to NAE; NAE
Formula Student Bioengineering ■ Engineering
competition in brought into Col- ated by UTA, opens Magnusson elected members Surendra
at UT Southwestern Research Building to National Acade- Shah and James
England lege of Engineering opens my of Inventors Coleman join
faculty

14 THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT A RLINGTON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 15

 I
t’s an accepted fact of life for most
North Texans that all one has to do
to power their homes, gadgets, and
other devices is flip a light switch or
press the “on” button. But what’s not
so well known is the role College of
Engineering alumni and researchers
play in creating that peace of mind.
For decades, UTA alumni have helped ensure
that electricity is available to the region’s homes
and businesses through their roles at companies
and organizations such as Oncor Electric Delivery
Corporation, TXU Energy, the North American
Energy Reliability Council (NAERC), Luminant
Energy, and others. The College of
Engineering counts chief operating
“UTA graduates

Keeping
officers, presidents, vice presidents,
and dozens of directors and manag-
ers of local energy companies among
really stand out for
its alumni, including Jim Greer (’84 their work ethic,
B.S., Electrical Engineering), the
current executive vice president and their ability to
chief operating officer of Oncor, and
Mike Greene (’69 B.S., Mechanical work in teams, and

the Lights
Engineering), retired vice chairman
of Energy Future Holdings Corpora-
their willingness to
tion, Oncor’s parent company. apply for leadership
“I earned a degree in mechanical
engineering, but spent my life in positions.”
the electrical engineering business,”

On
says Greene. “My degree helped me think and be
diligent in the pursuit of my end goal, along with
honing my engineering skills and problem-solv-
ing capability.”
While serving as the chair of the Electric Reli-
ability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Greene played
a major role in working with the Public Utilities
College of Engineering Commission to write transmission rules that
alumni have a long are still in place today. He served on the ERCOT
board from 1996-98 and 2002-05 and was also a
history of working in the member of the board of trustees and the first chair

energy sector, helping of the NAERC’s chairman’s committee, which

Texans stay powered

and productive.
Illustration by Robert Hanson/Science Source
16 THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT A RLINGTON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 17

College of works to ensure that the power grid is reliable
Engineering and secure.
alumni Jim
Greer and Charles Jenkins, who preceded Greer at On-
Mike Greene cor, earned a mechanical engineering degree
from UTA in the 1960s and worked for TXU and
Oncor for more than 40 years before retiring as
chief operating officer. He passed away in 2018.
While at TXU, he was a proponent of using wind
as a renewable energy source and supported the
construction of wind farms in West Texas and the
eventual purchase of energy from those farms.
Under his leadership Oncor began the largest
infrastructure project in the company’s history:
the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones project,
which built transmission lines to deliver ener-
gy from the wind farms to various metropolitan
areas in the state. Jenkins was also active with
NAERC and served on its operating and planning
committees.
“Looking back, some leaders in this market—
like Mike Greene and Charles Jenkins—had a ma-
jor impact on the market structure by creating an
open platform for new entrants with good ideas
and encouraging innovation,” Greer says. “That’s
why UTA alumni—Mike, Charles, and more
recent graduates—are out there leading and will
continue to do so into the future.”
John U. Martin, who died in 2018, began
working for the Texas Electric Service Company
in Fort Worth in 1955 as an electrician helper and
student. After graduating from what was then
Arlington State College, he began a career span-
ning 42 years and ending with his retirement at
age 60 as executive vice president of TXU in the
company’s Dallas corporate offices.
Similar to Greer, Greene, Jenkins, and Martin,
Brenda Pulis (’81 B.S., Electrical Engineering)
also rose through the ranks of an energy compa-
ny—Oncor—to become a senior vice president.
For his part, Shannon Caraway (’95 B.S., ’98
M.E., Electrical Engineering) worked in various
18 THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT A RLINGTON
leadership roles within ERCOT and TXU before
taking over as vice president for commercial
asset management at Luminant Energy. He is
now vice president for business development at
Solar Prime, working with retail electric provid-
ers, municipal utilities, co-ops, and commercial
customers to develop utility-scale solar power
solutions and bring them to market.
Recipe for Success
There are many more UTA alumni working their
way into leadership roles in Texas’ power in-
dustry, ready to continue the good work of their
predecessors.
So what’s the secret? Why have UTA alumni
been so successful in the power delivery market,
and why do they continue to move quickly into
the ranks of leadership? Greer and Greene both
point to a common theme: work ethic.
“UTA alumni seem to be ready to come out and
get to work,” Greer says. “They have a desire to
use their knowledge and skills. They’re inquis-
itive and innovative, and it shows in recruiting
and how they move up in leadership. UTA grad-
uates really stand out for that work ethic, their
ability to work in teams, and their willingness to
apply for leadership positions. You look out in the
workforce and you can see many people like that,
not just at Oncor, but in other companies as well.”
For Greene, the value of an engineering degree
factors in, too. “UTA has had a reputation forever
for producing hard-working people who have
practical business skills,” he says. “They are
willing to work and be diligent at doing their jobs.
That’s been a major factor in UTA’s success in the
power-delivery industry.”
Powering Energy Research
Helping these alumni bring clean, efficient, and
reliable energy to Texas is a focus of several
researchers in the College of Engineering. The
technologies they and their students are devel-
oping today will prove crucial for meeting the
energy challenges of tomorrow.
“Texas is the leader in the United States by
a large factor in renewable energy, and power
companies must be able to integrate renewable
energy sources,” says Greer. “This requires new
skill sets and discovery.”
In traditional power-delivery systems, getting
power from one place to another is the main ob-
jective. But as society evolves, so does technology,
and while traditional needs such as power deliv-
ery and system protection are still important, the
focus is now shifting to sustainability and the use
of data for greater efficiency.
Ramtin Madani, an assistant professor in the
Electrical Engineering Department, is attempting
to increase the efficiency and sustainability of
power delivery by designing new algorithms to
address the challenges presented during pow-
er grid optimization. Since
upgrading the existing in- “UTA has had a
frastructure can be expen-
sive, academics and industry reputation forever
experts have shifted efforts
for producing hard-
toward software moderniza-
tion. The importance of this working people
topic has been highlighted
recently by the National Acad- who have practical
emies of Sciences, Engineering,
and Medicine, along with the business skills.
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission.
They are willing
Using a $325,000 grant to work and be
from the National Science
Foundation, Dr. Madani and diligent at doing
Associate Professor Ali Davoudi
are developing massively scal- their jobs. That’s
able computational methods
for power system scheduling.
been a major factor
Power grid problems can be in UTA’s success
formulated in the language of
mathematical optimization. in the power-
From there, researchers use al-
gorithmic tools and techniques delivery industry.”
from the area of optimization
theory to address those issues.
The much more enhanced optimization al-
gorithms Madani and Dr. Davoudi are creating
should improve the efficiency and reliability of
power grid operations, as they can be used to
address practical, everyday problems related to
power, such as enabling operators to incorpo-
rate further renewable energy sources, which are
highly unpredictable.
Madani is also leading a team in the Advanced
Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E,
Grid Optimization Competition, with a share
of $4 million in prize money at stake for the
top 10 teams. The effort is in collaboration with
Alper Atamturk from the University of Califor-
nia–Berkeley and Ross Baldick
from UT Austin. Their team
is one of only 18, and the only
one from Texas, to receive
$250,000 in funding for the
competition, which is open to
any qualified competitor, not
just those who are funded.
The competition involves
a series of challenges aimed
at hastening the development
and evaluation of software
solutions for the future of the
electric grid, including the
optimal use of current and
emerging technologies, the
management of dynamic grid
operations, and the manage-
ment of emerging distributed
energy resources such as wind
turbines, biomass generators,
and rooftop solar units.
Other energy research un-
derway in the College of Engi-
neering includes investigations
into energy storage and pulsed
power system design by David Wetz, an electrical
engineering professor and the college’s director
of strategic initiatives. He has been involved in
extensive collaborative research projects with the
U.S. Navy in these research areas since 2006.
Mechanical and aerospace engineering Assis-
tant Professor Ankur Jain is looking for ways to
harness the heat energy lost from automobiles,
buildings, and other devices and convert it into
energy. Using a highly competitive, $225,000
Early-Concept Grant for Exploratory
Research from the National Science
Foundation, Dr. Jain and his team are
examining the pyroelectric effect—the
property of certain materials to pro-
duce electricity when subjected to a
temperature that changes with time at
the nano scale—and working to devel-
op tools that can convert that tempera-
ture change to electrical energy. ₪
Ramtin Madani (center)
is working to optimize
the power grid
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 19
 BEYOND THE LAB

New
Development
Director
Michael James Greene “J.G.” Mc-
Laughlin, a development profes-
sional with more than a decade
of experience, has been named
the College of Engineering’s new
director of development.
McLaughlin joined UTA in 2018
as director of development for
university initiatives. Prior to that,
he served as the associate director
of advancement for the University
of Central Florida Foundation. He
also worked for the Heart of Flor-
ida United Way and spent time in
the financial services and radio
broadcasting industries.
McLaughlin obtained his Bach-
elor of Science degree in liberal
studies from UCF in 2003. He is
a member of the Association of
Fundraising Professionals and
the Council for Advancement and
Support of Education.

Alumnus
SPOTLIGHT
Named to
Board
Award Winner Computer Science and Engi-
W
neering Department alumnus
Ademola “Peter” Adejokun (’87
endy Okolo (’10 B.S., ’15 Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering), an B.S., Physics; ’90 B.S., Computer
aerospace research engineer at NASA and the first Black wom- Science and Engineering) was
recently appointed to the Texas
an to earn a doctoral degree in aerospace engineering at UTA, Board of Professional Engineers
was named the Most Promising Engineer in Government by U.S. Black by Gov. Greg Abbott. The board
licenses qualified engineers and
Engineer Magazine. She is a special emphasis programs manager in the
intelligent systems directorate at Ames Research Center in California.
regulates the practice of profes-
sional engineering.
In her speech upon accepting the award, Dr. Okolo said, “I am Nigerian,
Adejokun is a software en-
gineer with Lockheed Martin
so I know it takes a village, and because of that village of my family, my Aeronautics Company, a licensed
professional engineer, and a
friends, my partner, I am here, blessed and thankful.” certified Project Management
Professional. He has served on
20 THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT A RLINGTON
A LU M N I
the National Council of Examin- Richard Margolin’s
Robokind company
ers of Engineering and Surveyors was recognized
Software Engineering PE Licen- by Mechanical
sure Exam Committee and is cur- Engineering
magazine
rently on UTA’s Computer Science
and Engineering Department
Industry Advisory Board and the
city of Arlington’s Zoning Board of
Adjustments.

Award-
Winning
Entrepreneur
Richard Margolin (’10 B.S., Me-
chanical Engineering) and his
Dallas-based company, Robokind,
won an Emerging Technology Engineering) and the nonprofit for more than half a million people.
Award in the robotics category organization he founded, Water to “It was apparent to me that
from Mechanical Engineering mag- Thrive, have worked for more than the Third World water crisis is an
azine. The company was recog- a decade to help communities in engineering issue, but really more
nized for its robot, Milo, which Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda about finding a way to get capital
helps children with autism learn gain and maintain access to this resources in place for communi-
about social skills and emotional essential resource. ties to access aquifers and then
understanding through the Robots In that time, Water to Thrive take ownership of and maintain
4Autism program. Robokind also has helped with more than 1,000 the system once it’s built,” Mo-
offers Robots4STEM, which teach- projects that provide clean water eller says.
es visual programming through
Jett, a highly advanced, facially
expressive robot.
“It’s a great honor, and we’re
still wrapping our heads around
it,” Margolin says. “We’re a small
company with 22 employees and
34,000
NUMBER WISE
the other winners are Fortune
100-type corporations, so it’s a
validation with our customers,
groups we’re talking to about new
programs, and potential investors.
I hope people think what we’re
doing is important because of the
positive impact it’s having.”
 engineering alumni
Water to in 60 years
Thrive
Lack of access to clean water is
a continuing problem in Africa.
Dick Moeller (’67 B.S., Industrial
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 21
 A LU M N I
CLASS NOTES
1978 1987 Gregory Ropp (B.S., as a senior project 40. He is an associate 1940s
Kelcy Warren (B.S., Ademola “Peter” Ade- Industrial Engineer- manager in the Trans- professor in the Civil Ray Lowry
Civil Engineering) was jokun (B.S., Physics; ’90 ing) was selected as mission and Utilities Engineering Department (’48 B.S., Electri-
appointed to the UT Sys- B.S., Computer Science an associate technical Group. He is based in at Boise State University. cal Engineering) 90,
tem Board of Regents by and Engineering) was fellow by Boeing. The the firm’s Dallas office. March 30, New Smry-
Gov. Greg Abbott. Warren appointed by Gov. Greg Boeing Technical Fellow- 2010 na Beach, Florida.
is chairman and CEO of Abbott to the Texas ship program is a highly 2005 Wendy Okolo (B.S.,
Energy Transfer Partners. Board of Professional selective technical Hari Vasudevan (M.S., ’15 Ph.D., Aerospace 1960s
He serves on the UTA Engineers. Adejokun is a leadership career path. Civil Engineering) was Engineering) gave the Earl Milton Johnson
president’s advisory software engineer with honored as Oncor keynote speech at the (’61 B.S., Engineering) 90,
board and is a member Lockheed Martin Aero- 1995 Electric Delivery’s Rising MavsMeet Convocation March 7, Arlington, Texas.
of the Texas Parks and nautics Company. He Marc Miller, PE (B.S., ’05 Star at the company’s at the beginning of the He worked with NASA
Wildlife Commission. serves on the industry M.S., Civil Engineering) 2018 Supplier Diversi- fall 2019 semester at on the Gemini, Apollo,
advisory board for the is the senior technical ty Awards event. The UTA. A NASA aerospace and Skylab programs.
1985 Computer Science and professional leading ge- company he co-founded, research engineer, Dr.
Tarek Alzien (B.S., Engineering Department. otechnical engineering Think Power Solutions, Okolo earned a doctoral Heinz Joseph Chris-
Industrial Engineering) at Freese and Nichols. was also honored as degree in aerospace tian Wichterich
has been hired as vice 1992 He moved from the the 2018 Edison Elec- engineering from UTA. (’62 B.S., Electrical
president of operations Vidya Ramnath (M.S., firm’s Fort Worth office tric Institute Diverse Engineering) 84, July
Have an item for
for Boomerang Tube Industrial Engineering) to its Atlanta location Business of the Year. 17, Burleson, Texas.
Class Notes? Email
LLC, an oil tubular goods was named Emerson’s in February 2019. agor@uta.edu for
producer in Houston. president for automa- 2008 possible inclusion 1970s
Previously, he was vice tion solutions business 1999 Bhaskar Chittoori (Ph.D., in the next issue. Frederick William Garza
president of supply in the Middle East and Theo Chan, PE (B.S., ’07 Civil Engineering) was (’71 B.S., Electrical
chain and operations Africa. Emerson is a M.S., Civil Engineering) honored as one of Idaho Engineering) 70, July
for SouthWest Oil- global engineering and rejoined Freese and Business Journal’s 2019 20, Waco, Texas.
field Product Inc. technology company. Nichols in October 2018 Accomplished Under
Sam Herrin
(’77 B.S., Mechanical
Engineering) 64, Feb.
In Memoriam 26, Arlington, Texas.
Wendell Nedderman, who first doctoral degree program, in
Demmie Lee Mosley
founded the College of Engi- engineering.
(’72 B.S., Electrical
neering and later served as UTA He was dean of engineering Engineering) 71, April
president for 20 years, passed (1959-69), vice president for 21, Fort Worth, Texas.
SPOTLIGHT
away on May 8. He was 97. research and graduate affairs

Nedderman arrived on the
Arlington State College campus
Entrepreneur Award
(1967-68), graduate school ad-
2000s
Walter H. Delashmit Jr.
ministrator (1967-69), and vice

in 1959, right as it was elevated
to senior-college status. He was
charged with building a school—
later, college—of engineering,
beginning with baccalaureate
programs in aeronautical, civ-
il, electrical, industrial, and
mechanical engineering. He
successfully added UTA’s first
master’s degree programs—in
electrical engineering and
engineering mechanics—and its
president for academic affairs
(1968-72). In 1972 he became
acting president, and in 1974,
president.
“President Nedderman was an
inspirational leader, far ahead
of his times in his vision for UTA,
and his passion and dedication
to excellence and student suc-
cess set the standard and high
bar for all those who follow him,”
says President Vistasp Karbhari.
T
(’03 Ph.D., Electrical
Engineering) 74, Feb.
14, Justin, Texas.
hrough a gift from a generous alumnus, the Maverick En-
trepreneur Program and Award Fund provides significant
Faculty financial support for the entrepreneurial efforts of UTA stu-
and Staff dents. The program, which began last year and will run through 2021,
Robert “Bob”
Marland Johnson
stimulates entrepreneurship by encouraging students to explore and
80, April 4, Oklahoma express their business ideas in a friendly environment. The corner-
City. He taught in the
stone of the program is a business pitch competition where students
Material Science and
Engineering Department vie for tens of thousands of dollars in development funds and cash
for 35 years and served
as associate dean of
awards. Winners in the first round of competition can continue to a
the graduate school. second round where they can win even more funding.

22 THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT A RLINGTON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 23

 REENGINEERED

MAVERICKS

Achieve
B E A M AV E R I C K .

Striking Gold Sustainably Students in the College of Engineering

are gaining the skills and knowledge they

A
rtisanal and small-scale gold mining Dr. Smits’ team is meeting with need to change the world. Your gift can
residents and local universities to
(ASGM) is a way of life for many small towns get to know the people and find help support them along the way.
out what they want to fix and
in Colombia and Peru, but the decades-old what ideas they believe will and
will not work.
techniques employed by workers may have negative
“This is the first opportunity for
effects on residents’ health and the environment. U.S. researchers and engineering
students to collaborate directly
Kate Smits, an associate pro- scale industrial mining, but about with miners and their com-
fessor of civil engineering, is part 30% of all gold used worldwide munities—in conjunction with
of a team of engineers and social comes from its sources, which Colombian and Peruvian faculty
scientists that is working with leads to deforestation and envi- and students—to understand the
researchers and educators in those ronmental contamination because context of ASGM and develop so-
countries to find ways to increase mercury is used to process the ore. cially and economically appropri-
sustainability and lessen the Instead of going into com- ate socio-technical innovations,”
negative effects of mining without munities and telling them what Smits says. “These are not simply
disrupting the communities’ way to change and how to do things improved technologies and tech-
of life. better—an approach that often niques, but new social organiza-
ASGM is generally character- leads to resistance from the min- tions and networks of people that
ized by simple technologies and ers, whose families have used the make ASGM cleaner, safer, and giving.uta.edu
lower yields compared to large- same methods for generations— more sustainable.”

24 THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT A RLINGTON

 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Box 19019
Arlington, TX 76019-0019
C A M P U S U P DAT E
T
he country’s only university-based,
arc-heated hypersonic testing facility for
thermal protection systems came online
for the first time in June. The wind tunnel is locat-
ed in UTA's Aerodynamics Research Center and is
one of only five of its kind in the U.S. It will soon
be equipped with a state-of-the-art femtosecond
laser system that will allow aerospace engineering
Non-profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Burlington, VT 05401
Permit No. 19
Professor Luca Maddalena and his team to non-in-
trusively measure the temperature and compo-
sition of the plasma flow occurring within the
wind tunnel, as the tunnel will be heated beyond
temperatures that any uncooled physical mea-
surement device placed inside would survive. The
system is so advanced that it has never been used
in an arc-jet facility.