March 2018

Texas A&M is headed to Austin, Texas, to the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference to bring our outstanding thought leadership, research and innovations during "Innovation Week."

In a recent article published in Acta Biomaterialia, Dr. Akhilesh K. Gaharwar, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University, uses kappa-carrageenan and nanosilicates to form injectable hydrogels to promote hemostasis (the process to stop bleeding) and facilitate wound healing via a controlled release of therapeutics.

Dr. James E. Hubbard Jr. has joined the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University as a Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) Research Distinguished Professor.

Yanuar (Ady) Setiawan, a master’s student with the Center for Nuclear Security Science and Policy Initiatives (NSSPI), and Dr. Sunil Chirayath, director of NSSPI, have developed a software code that can measure the effectiveness of the physical protection system using a multi-path analysis that includes all of the possible intrusion path options in a nuclear facility.

Four faculty members in the Texas A&M University College of Engineering were awarded a grant from the Instructional Technology Services’ (ITS) Innovative Pedagogy Grant program. This program offers Texas A&M faculty and staff the opportunity to learn how to skillfully interlace technology into an online or hybrid course. Out of 16 awards, three faculty members from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and one professor from the Department of Aerospace Engineering were presented an award to transform engineering education in their respective courses.

Dr. Justin Wilkerson and his team recently received a two-year award to continue his work with the Materials in Extreme Dynamic Environments (MEDE) Collaborative Research Alliance (CRA) for his proposal titled “Novel Void Nucleation Models Enabling Higher Fidelity Magnesium Spall Strength Predictions.” This research is sponsored by the United States Army Research Laboratory.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Texas A&M University has been awarded a Division of Computing and Communication Foundations grant by the National Science Foundation to develop a gut-microbial investigation model that can identify critical dietary risk factors that cause colorectal cancer. The three-year, $350,000 project is a direct outcome of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s Interdisciplinary Seed Grants for Strategic Initiatives, which provided initial funding to establish the collaborative research effort.

The energy was high Saturday night when a team of students learned they had taken the top prize at The OPEN Minds Showcase during the VentureWell OPEN 2018 conference in Austin, Texas, for their creation of a device that could bring light and electricity to millions of children around the world currently unable to study at night. For the 10 students, the aftermath of the 48-hour design challenge hosted by Texas A&M University’s Engineering Entrepreneurship Program last month culminated in their winning first place and being awarded $3,000 for the continuation of their product.

The Turbomachinery Laboratory at Texas A&M University held its second biennial Asia Turbomachinery & Pump Symposium (ATPS) on March 13-15 in Singapore. Engineers and technicians, from novice to experienced, chose from a combination of seven short courses, 23 lectures, 16 tutorials, 12 discussion groups, 38 case studies and 11 technical briefs.

Ask many aerospace engineering students what their lifelong dreams are, and one common answer is to fly. For nine undergraduate students in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, that dream will come true in the United States Air Force. These students are members of Air Force ROTC Detachment 805 at Texas A&M University, and were selected for rated positions for the Air Force. Brandon Wingfield was selected for a position for remotely piloted aircraft and Richard Hobson, Nathan Agner, Matthew Bierwagen, Chris Marcario, Shelton Stephens, Jake Wilcox, Brian Simpson and Michael Brockey were selected for manned aircraft and Undergraduate Pilot Training.

The National Science Foundation recently awarded a grant through the Engineering Education and Centers (EEC) unit for a new REU Site on Cybermanufacturing. The site will engage participants in the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program in high-quality research, enrichment and development experiences through a 10-week long summer research program.

Yong-Yu Jhan, a student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been awarded a fellowship to the Taiwan Ministry of Education. Jhan is currently in the second year of her doctoral program.

Texas A&M University graduate student Sarojeet Deb put his mechanical engineering knowledge to the test to seek new ways to illuminate education for children in poverty.

The average distribution firm carries between 10 and 30 percent more inventory than needed. The result? Millions of dollars are wasted that could be reinvested in competitive processes like new services or new product offerings. Distributors are facing forces of change that range from nontraditional competitors like Amazon who have superior technology, human capital and customer experience. Changing the way one goes to market requires new ways of thinking, innovative business models and creative leadership.

The rules of the road are changing. Algorithms that are used to help predict driver behavior in years past are facing a changing landscape as more and more automated vehicles are on roadways. The emergence of these automated vehicles is just one aspect of roadway safety that is covered by Dr. Dominique Lord’s new book “Safe Mobility: Challenges, Methodology and Solutions.”

Dr. Javier Jo, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University, is hoping to improve upon through the use of advanced endoscopes that he and his team are developing to diagnose oral cancer.

Young and driven. Both are words that could describe Dr. Cortlan Wickliff. At 26 years old, Wickliff is an engineer, licensed attorney, business owner, motivational speaker and author. Perhaps more important, however, is his desire to help others and inspire the next generation of thinkers and doers.

Texas A&M Engineering’s graduate program was ranked 12th overall nationally and remained seventh among public institutions in the latest U.S. News & World Report survey, “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2019.”

In addition to 38 active learning studios for class instruction, the Zachry Engineering Education Complex (ZACH) will offer students 30,000 square feet of multidisciplinary, hands-on learning laboratory space.

Most people might think of computer storage, like an external hard drive or flash drive, as something static that you can leave sitting somewhere indefinitely without issue. In reality, that’s not the case. For instance, data is stored in flash drives by capturing electrons in cells, and over time those electrons can escape for a variety of reasons, creating errors in the data or corrupting the data altogether.Dr. Anxiao (Andrew) Jiang, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, said even the ambient room temperature can affect data storage.

The U.S. has produced more than 70,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel over the past 60 years from nuclear power generation and there are no large-scale reprocessing methods. Andrew Wilcox and his advisor Dr. Jonathan Burns, an associate research scientist at the Center for Nuclear Security Science & Policy Initiatives are working to explore a simple reprocessing technique called co-crystallization to separate these elements, which could be reused as fuel, from the remaining used nuclear fuel.

Himank Yadav, a senior in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, has gone above and beyond to gain a well-rounded education in computing, which included engaging in extracurricular activities outside of the classroom.

The wind and water have subsided after Hurricane Harvey swept through Texas in August, but the road to recovery is long. To help the process move along, 32 engineering students from Texas A&M University spent their winter break assisting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as site inspectors.

On March 5, the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University hosted Kristina Swallow, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Aggie Ocean Discovery, a team of students from the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University, entered the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE competition a mere three years ago. They have now been named a finalist in the global competition challenging teams to push the boundaries of ocean technologies.

The leadership of the Texas A&M Energy Institute (TAMEI), a joint institute between Texas A&M University and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), along with the TEES Gas and Fuels Research Center (GFRC), have announced a new partnership that will align the research, education and training interests of both organizations for their mutual benefit.

Dr. Jay Porter was recently appointed associate dean for engineering at Texas A&M University at Galveston and will assume his new role on June 1, 2018.

More than 400 students participated in Invent for the Planet, the 48-hour global design challenge hosted by Texas A&M University, in February. But in the end it was a team right here in College Station who took home the grand prize - an opportunity to present at the VentureWell OPEN Minds Conference.

Dr. Reza Sadr is seeking to bring his research success from his time at the Texas A&M University at Qatar across the ocean to the Texas A&M University campus in College Station by collaborating with researchers within the Department of Mechanical Engineering and beyond.