The University of Texas at Brownsville Spring 2013 Newslett er

The University of Texas at Brownsville
College of Science, Mathematics & Technology
Spring 2013 Newsletter
CSMT Student Honored at White House as ‘Champion of Change’
Ms. SanJuana Zavala, a member of CSMT Students’ Advisory Council and a senior
Biology major, has been named a ‘Champion of Change’ and was honored at a ceremony at the White House in Washington D.C. Zavala was honored for her efforts in
the Eliminate Project, whose mission is to end maternal and neonatal tetanus worldwide. She led a crayon-recycling effort, inspiring Brownsville’s elementary schools
to donate used or unwanted crayons so that they could be remolded for children in
need. “I do encourage college students to join groups and get involved in some kind
of service,” Zavala said. “One thing I talk about a lot is that we need less heroes and
more hero makers. You are never too young and never too inexperienced to change
someone’s life.” Sanjuana has been actively involved in the development of the
CSMT student peer-to-peer mentoring program and will pursue a masters degree in
educational leadership or education with an emphasis in science with the long term
aspiration of becoming a teacher in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
Physics Awarded $5M from NSF for ‘Multimessenger Astronomy’
The Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy has been awarded $5M from the
National Science Foundation. The project, entitled “The CGWA in the Era of
Multimessenger Astronomy,” is under the direction of Drs. Mario C. Diaz, Joseph
D. Romano, Fredrick A. Jenet, Volker M. Quetschke, and Matthew J. Benacquista. The proposal involves several other Physics and Astronomy faculty members in senior capacities – Soma Mukherjee, Karen Martirosyan, Teviet Creighton, Soumya D. Mohanty and Malik Rakhmanov. The grant will enable faculty
members and students to work with multi-messenger astronomy using optical
and radio astronomy to detect gravitational waves and to expand physics education at the undergraduate level. Moises Castillo (pictured), a graduate student
in physics, said that he was thankful for the opportunity the CGWA gave him to
build the instruments that he was using through his research.
CSMT Signs College-Wide Articulation Agreement with TSTC
A new agreement will provide a seamless transfer for Texas State
Technical College students planning to attend UTB’s College of Science, Mathematics and Technology beginning in the spring semester
of 2013. TSTC students majoring in biology, computer science, engineering science, mechatronics technology, wind energy and turbine
technology, architectural design and engineering graphics, machining
technology, mathematics and physics will be able to transfer to UTB
without losing semester credit hours. “This makes the collaboration
even stronger and we will be able to recruit more good students to
our programs,” said Dr. Mikhail Bouniaev, Dean of UTB’s College of
Science, Mathematics and Technology. The photo features Fernando
Figueroa (left), TSTC Engineering Division Director with Prof. Immanuel Edinbarough (right), UTB CSMT Associate Dean and Director of
Engineering Technology Programs.
Math & Science Academy and Computer Science Dept. Recognized in D.C. at Congressional Auditorium
Two departments in CSMT, the Math and Science Academy and the CIS department were
recognized by the program ‘Excelencia in Education’ at the Congressional Auditorium in
Washington, D.C. Dr. Mikhail Bouniaev, Dean of CSMT, Dr. Juan R. Iglesias, Chair of the
Computer and Information Sciences Department, and Dr. Stephen Rosales, Principal of the
Math and Science Academy, attended the ceremony. The Examples of Excelencia recognition is the only national initiative to systematically identify and honor institution-based
programs and departments that demonstrate with evidence that they effectively boost
Latino enrollment, performance and graduation. UTB was the only institution that had
two programs recognized among 19 finalists selected from 159 original applicants. “Our
methodologies and curriculum over the past five years are proving to be successful, and
we appreciate being recognized.” Rosales said. “We hope our best practices will assist
others in their efforts.”
Outreach
SanJuana Zavala proudly represented CSMT at the VISTA Summit
to focus on health issues on November 28 at UTPA. This April’s
summit also addressed education issues in addition to health. “I
think hosting a competition such as this that is focused around
issues of health really helps a city-wide effort in our community,”
said the 21-year-old, who participated in a health panel entitled
“What can I do to improve health in the Valley?” Zavala will be the
only student from any of the schools involved to be included on
one of the day’s panels.
Dr. David Hicks and nine Biological Sciences students help put
ocean science into the hands of the more than 700 children in
attendance at the 2012 ‘Oceanarium’ event at the Gladys Porter
Zoo on September 8. The UTB exhibit included a marine animal
touch tank, plankton observation, and a sea shell challenge activity.
The Department of Physics and Astronomy’s Society of Physics
Students held a successful fundraiser at Luby’s Cafeteria at the
Sunrise Mall on October 18 aided by the STEMS students and department chair, Dr. Soma Mukherjee.
The Department of Physics and Astronomy’s “Physics Circus” led
by Robert Stone, Director of Outreach and Education, was on the
road again presenting physics demonstrations at the Noche de
Ciencias at UTB at are the STEMS annual run/walk, and the CSMT
Exploration Day. If you haven’t had a chance to see the Physics
Circus in action, please stop by one of the upcoming events.
Robert Stone, Director of Outreach and Education, and Ms. Samanta Fuentes-Tapia, MS Graduate student of the Department
of Physics and Astronomy, traveled to Stell Middle School for a
6:15am telescope observing session with their students. It was a
beautiful clear morning with lots of stars!
The Department of Physics and Astronomy held its first “Monday
Nights Physics” presentation for the new year on September 24 in
the SETB 3rd floor conference room. Dr. Matthew Benacquista,
Professor of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, presented
“Giant throbbing stars!”
Faculty with New Publications and/or Patents
Dr. Ziad Adwan
Dr. Davood Askari
Dr. Jude A. Benavides
Dr. Matthew Benacquista
Dr. William M. Berg
Dr. Teviet Creighton
Dr. James M. Cuvillier
Dr. Mario C. Diaz
Dr. Immanuel Edinbarough
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Dr. John Garza
Dr. Alexey Glazyrin
Dr. Andreas Hanke
Dr. Elizabeth Heise
Dr. Ranis Ibragimov
Dr. Nazmul Islam
Dr. Richard J. Kline
Dr. Sanjay Kumar
Dr. Hansheng Lei
Dr. Wei Lin
Dr. Karen S. Martirosyan
Dr. Soumya Mohanty
Dr. Henry J. Moore
Dr. Soma Mukherjee
Dr. Oleg R. Musin
Dr. Tamara K. Pease
Dr. Richard H. Price
Dr. Volker Questchke
CSMT Activities
Dr. Mahmoud K. Quweider
Dr. Joseph Romano
Mr. Robert Stone
Dr. Cristina Torres
Dr. Tarek M. Trad
Dr. Vesselin Vatchev
Dr. Jeffrey G. Wilson
Dr. Taeil Yi
Dr. Liyu Zhang
New and Active Grants*
NSF-TSU CREST ”Expanding Intersciplinary research
at the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy” Diaz
$5,381,432
NSF Support for Ligo Data Analysis Activities at The
University of Texas at Brownsville Romano $450,000
NSF Collaborative Research: Positive Definite Functions in Distance Geometry and Combinatorics Musin
$119,836
NSF Support of LIGO data analysis Romano $450,000
NASA “Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy “Integrating Experimental and Applied Research into
the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy (CAN/
NASA Group 5 University Research Centers)” Diaz
$5,000,000
NSF CREST-The CGWA in the Era of Multimessenger
Astronomy Diaz $5,000,000
Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans “Future Teachers, Researchers, and Engineers:
Improving Retention & Success” Zhang $2,564,569
UTeach Institute/UT Austin/Greater Texas Foundation
UTeach Brownsville Bouniaev $1,500,000
NSF Pulsar Search Partnerships: Attracting Talented
Young Hispanic Students into Careers in Astrophysics
Jenet $1,077,165
THECB TQ-Math & Science 12-13 Villarreal $111,099
NSF MRI-Consortium: Acquisition of Cryogen-Free
Cryocooler-Based Physical Property Measurement
System to Support Transformative Device and Materials Research in the Rio Grande Valley Martirosyan
$437,970
Univ. of Houston/NSF Carbon Combustion Synthesis
in Patterned Precursor Media Martirosyan $104,470
Private The Welch Foundation Chemistry Departmental Research Flores-Feist $100,000
El Paso-NSF LSAMP Phase IV Weber $364,025
Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept Artificial Reef Monitoring
and Research Program Hicks $297,172
AFRL/RWK - Air Force Research Lab DOD Self-Assembled High Energy Density Nanoenergetic Materials
Martirosyan $100,000
NIH Mechanisms for Cell Uptake of LDL/DNA Complexes Guevara $253,873
NSF 21st Century Astronomy Ambassadors Program The Continuing Vista Mukherjee $100,000
U.S. Dept. of Education (FIPSE) Integrating Synchronous & Asynchronous Components into Graduate
Curriculum to Improve Learning Effectiveness & Better Serve Hispanic Students with Time Constraints Lei
$240,376
Physics & Astronomy NSF Collaborative Research:
Sparse Spectral-Tau Methods for Binary Neutron Star
Initial Data Price $78,927
Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept. Biological Monitoring of
TPWD Artificial Reef Project 2 Hicks $76,000
NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program Phase
I, Track 1 Mogilski $900,000
UT System FY08 STARS Plus Touhami $224,000
NIH-General Medical Sciences Caffeine-Induced Modulation of GABAergic Transmission Isokawa $774,880
Florida A&M University/NOAA A Regional Ecosystem
Approach for the Conservation Hicks $206,820
Dept. of Education (DoE) Readiness, Recruitment, Retention, Graduation-Four Dimensions for Achieving
Hispanic Student STEM Success Bouniaev $748,832
NSF NUE: Development of the Nanoscale Engineering Concentration (NEC) at The University of Texas at
Brownsville Martirosyan $200,000
NSF MRI: Acquisition of Futuro: A Computing Cluster for Integrated Research and Education (ARRA) Lei
$704,293
Private Robert J. & Helen C. Kleberg Foundation The
Jason Project UTB/TSC Bahia Grande Restoration Project Shands $193,896
DOD-Dept. of Defense LoFASM: A Low Frequency All
Sky Monitor for Radio Transients and Student Training
Jenet $610,081
NIH Cannabinoid Mobilization in Neurons Isokawa
$192,488
Sea Grant Colleges TX/NOAA An Experimental Test of
the Effects of Beach Ranking on Macroinvertebrate
Communities of Texas Beaches $59,105
Cal Tech/NSF Support of Advanced LIGO Upgrade by
The University of Texas at Brownsville Diaz $185,927
Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept Biological Monitoring of
TPWD Artificial ReefProject 1 Kline $54,979
UT System Stars Plus Award Quetschke $150,000
NSF AF: Small: Disjoint NP-Pairs and Structural Properties of Complete Sets Zhang $52,795
West Virginia University/NSF PIRE: An International
Pulsar Timing Array for Gravitational Wave Detection
Jenet $494,538
Dept. of Education (FIPSE) FIPSE - CS and Math AP
“Collaborative Computer Science & Mathematics Ambassador Program for High School Students in Brownsville” Iglesias $487,012
NSF REU Site in Physics at The University of Texas at
Brownsville Diaz $474,099
THECB Contract 07857 - TSC Initiative Villarreal
$68,180
AFRL/RWK - Air Force Research Lab Tailoring of Pressure Discharge and Shock Wave Velocity in High Energy Density Nanoenergetic Gas Generators Martirosyan $65,000
Texas AgriLife Research Arroyo Colorado WPP Update-EFDC Benavides $62,815
NSF Infrastructure and Equipment Improvements for
the South Padre Island Field Stations Hicks $135,185
*grants listed if in excess of $50,000
UTPA/DOD Faculty Development Program Mogilski
$130,438
**full list available on CSMT website or upon request
from Dean’s Office
County of Cameron, Texas UTB/TSC Port Isabel Palapa
Project Shands $126,284
CSMT Activities
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Dr. Richard Price Inducted as first AAAS Fellow in Rio Grande Valley
On November 30, 2012, Dr. Richard Price (left), Professor of Physics
and Astronomy, was named one of the new Fellows of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science. “It’s extraordinary working with students,” said Price. “We know with these students we have
made a difference in their lives. They are working with scientists at the
level of a top tier university but getting the personal attention of UTB
and TSC. They are really doing research. They are not washing test
tubes.” Throughout the country, there were forty-nine Fellows named
in Physics. Price, and a Professor from Texas A&M were the only physicists in Texas to be named. Price is also the first member of the UTB
faculty and the first person in the Valley to be given this honor.
Biology Grad Students Map Depths of the Unknown
Dr. David Hicks, Chair of the Biology Department, and two of his graduate students (Jonathan Le and Liana Lerma) participated in the
Schmidt (named after Eric Schmidt of Google) Ocean Institute, South Texas Banks Shakedown cruise aboard the R/V Falkor. The goal
of this cruise was to conduct high resolution multi-beam mapping of a series of mid-shelf banks in the Gulf of Mexico (as many as 22
drowned Pleistocene coralgal reefs. Only a few of these banks have ever been mapped in detail before. The team also used the shipboard ROV to conduct three video transects across three of the banks with the capacity for shooting high resolution video, and for
collecting rock/coral samples and selected voucher specimens. Several publications over the next few years are expected to come out
of the data and video gathered as during the mission.
‘Floating Conference’ on Artificial Reefs
Documentary on Artificial Reefs
Dr. Hicks and graduate student Andres Garcia (UTB Biology) participated in the Gulf of Mexico Foundation’s annual Industry/
Government Cruise to the Flower Garden Banks National Marine
Sanctuary. The cruise was focused on converting ‘idle iron’ (petroleum platforms) into artificial reefs.
Dr. David Hicks (Biological Sciences) and former UTB graduate student, Edward Walk participated in a week long offshore expedition with the Gulf of Mexico Foundation filming a documentary
aimed at gauging ecological contributions of natural and artificial
reefs in the northern Gulf of Mexico aboard the M/V Fling.
ARCC Scholars Head West
Engineering Profs to Participate in Nano Conference at MIT
A team of six physics students led by the Director of the Arecibo
Remote Command Center Program, Dr. Rick Jenet, traveled to Socorro, New Mexico to construct a new arm the Low Frequency All
Sky Monitor (LoFASM) radio antenna array. The goal of the project
is to study short bursts of radio radiation and their origins. “It’s a
unique opportunity for students to get involved with hardware
and software in the astrophysics field,” Jenet said.
Dr. Davood Askari and Dr. Nazmul Islam from the Engineering Department received NSF Fellowships to attend a workshop at MIT
on “Materiomics—Merging Biology and Engineering in Multiscale
Structures and Materials,” sponsored by NSF Summer Institute on
Nanomechanics, Nanomaterials, and Micro/Nano manufacturing.
French Student Researching Green Energy in Engineering Technology Lab
Anne-Sophie Baudry, an engineering student at L’Ecole d’Ingenieurs en Genie des Systemes Industriels in La Rochelle, France,
spent the fall semester working with Dr. Immanuel Edinbarough,
Professor and Director of the Office of Engineering Technology,
on a project looking at the methods used in the quantification
and analysis of carbon footprints at universities. This is the second year students from the French university have conducted research projects here at UT-Brownsville.
College of Science, Mathematics & Technology
utb.edu/csmt
956-882-6701 • [email protected]