Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
2015
MIND
MATTERS
Neuronstimulating
lights may
be the key
to helping
veterans with
PTSD and
traumatic
brain injuries.
UTA ENGINEER|i
At the
Forefront of
Discovery
t UT Arlington were asking big questions and seeking innovative solutions. Our students and faculty
tackle the pressing problems in todays society, everything from clean energy to health care to national
security. With more than 7,000 students and 33 degree programs, the College of Engineering is one of
the largest and most comprehensive engineering programs in the state, providing students with the resources,
support, and knowledge that they need to succeed.
To learn more about the College of Engineering, including information on our graduate programs, many
corporate outreach opportunities, and more, visit uta.edu/engineering.
COLLEGE OF
ENGINEERING
CONTENTS
UTA ENGINEER
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Dean
2015
VOLUME IV
FEATURES
Khosrow Behbehani
Energy Efforts By developing sustainable, cost-effective energy systems, UT Arlington engineers hope to
ensure a brighter future for the next
generation.
Lynn Peterson
Pranesh Aswath
Associate Dean
for Research
Anand Puppala
12
J. Carter Tiernan
Director of Communications
Jeremy Agor
Tracey Faulkinbury
UNIVERSITY
COMMUNICATIONS
Vice President
for Communications
Lynne T. Waters
Editor
Jessica Bridges
Designer
Brody Price
Contributor
Herb Booth
16
Serving Those Who Served Research into PTSD,
prosthetics, and arthritis caused by war wounds
are just a few of the ways UTA is helping veterans.
DEPARTMENTS
2 DISPATCH
3 LAB NOTES
4 FACULTY
10
Safe and Sound The high-tech
SmartCare apartment is giving
elderly residents a new lease on life.
24
6 RESEARCH
8 CLASSROOM
2 3 CLASS NOTES
24 RE-ENGINEERED
Bird-Brained Taking
their cue from shorebirds, Professor Cheng
Luo and Xin Heng created a novel solution
for fighting drought.
DISPATCH
Thinking Strategically
for the Future
Khosrow Behbehani,
Dean of the College
of Engineering
Khosrow Behbehani
Dean, UT Arlington College of Engineering
LAB NOTES
Maceiko
PAIRING INNOVATION
WITH INDUSTRY
UTA ENGINEER|3
UT Arlington is hosting
a new chapter of the
National Academy
of Inventors.
MOOC SHOWS
HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS
IMPORTANCE
OF MATH,
ENGINEERING
4|UTA ENGINEER
Cho
Jiang
BIOENGINEERING AND
COMPUTER SCIENCE
CHAIRS APPOINTED
Thousands of students
from around the world
were introduced to
engineering thanks to
a new Massive Open
Online Course, or MOOC,
created and coordinated
by Pranesh Aswath, associate dean for graduate
studies and a professor
of materials science and
engineering.
The course, which was
targeted to high school
concept of engineering as
a career, says Dr. Aswath.
The goal of this course is
to demystify engineering
in the context of opportunities, and to demystify
math in the context of
engineering.
More than 18,000 students from 182 countries
enrolled in the course,
with contributions from
more than 30 UT Arlington faculty.
REIFSNIDER
LEADING
NEW
INSTITUTE
SPOTLIGHT
Reifsnider
UTA ENGINEER|5
SPOTLIGHT
BIOACTIVE
PATCH HEALS
DAMAGED
HEARTS
assistant bioengineering
professor, is developing a
bioactive patch that will
help restore function to
the heart and extend a
patients life.
After a heart attack,
heart muscle dies and the
walls of the heart become
thin and weak. This
weakness may cause the
heart to expand too much
and lessen its ability to
effectively move blood
through the body. Dr.
Hongs bioactive scaffold,
DEVICE DETECTS
HARMFUL VAPORS IN
ROOM OR BREATH
An electrical engineer at UTA is
building a handheld, nanoscale gas
chromatography tool that could
detect and analyze dangerous gases
in a persons breath or the air in a
room.
Our sensors can separate hundreds of vapors in complex samples
and identify the ones that could be
used as chemical markers, says
Assistant Professor Yuze Alice Sun.
Many devices like this are large
and dont always have separation
capabilities to provide detection
specificity.
The device could be especially
useful in environmental and
security settings. For example,
homeowners could detect whether
certain allergens or toxic chemicals
are present in their house, firefighters could determine if there were
accelerants present at a fire, or
Homeland Security agents could
check whether someones luggage
has evidence of explosives.
UTA ENGINEER|7
8|UTA ENGINEER
Fernandez
SPOTLIGHT
COLLEGE
ADDS ARCHITECTURAL
ENGINEERING
DEGREE
THIS FALL
UTA ENGINEER|9
Safe and
Sound
SmartCare project helps the elderly
remain independent at home through
monitoring and sensor technology.
on i t or i ng a n elderly relatives health while allowing her to remain independent could become easier if
an experiment by computer science and engineering
researchers Manfred Huber and Gergely Zaruba goes well.
SmartCare, a joint project between the College of Nursing
and Health Innovation and the College of Engineering, focuses
on designing intelligent care technology that can be installed
in the homes of older adults. It could eventually mean the difference between a loved one living alone or being forced to live
in a nursing home.
The goal and promise of SmartCare, Dr. Huber says, is
that sensor technology embedded in the hometogether with
intelligent software and the integration of care and support
systems using new communication technologieswill help
older adults live longer in their homes, manage their health
more efficiently, and remain connected with their families and
health care providers.
An apartment in the retirement living residences at
Lakewood Village in Fort Worth is hosting the research. It
is equipped throughout with sensor-laden flooring that can
monitor the resident for signs of injury. Other systems are able
to detect if medication is being properly managed or if the
resident is bed-ridden or inactive. Because of this technology,
he or she will be able to live independently while still remaining under unobtrusive supervision and evaluation.
SmartCare is a great opportunity for us to research,
develop, and field test health technologies especially tailored
to the elderly, Dr. Zaruba says.
10|UTA ENGINEER
FLOOR: Sensors
underneath tiles
on the floor allow
researchers to measure and evaluate
changes in a residents
walking gait or weight
that might suggest
illness or injury.
KITCHEN: Smart
appliances like a
microwave, a range,
and a refrigerator
track food use and
help prepare diet
plans. They may also
prevent injuries and
fires resulting from
forgetfulness.
BEDROOM: Sensors
in the mattress allow
researchers to monitor sleep patterns,
such as fitful sleep
or staying in bed too
long. They can also
indicate areas of the
body that are under
too much pressure
and thus at risk for
bedsores.
UTILITIES: Lighting
and window transparencies are automated
and electricity and
water monitored to
help make residents
more comfortable.
UTA ENGINEER|11
12|UTA ENGINEER
Energy
Efforts
PHOTOGRAPH BY CJ BURTON/CORBIS
UTA ENGINEER|13
14|UTA ENGINEER
This kind of
innovation shows
what our students are
capable of. This new
energy technology
can be a gamechanger globally.
UTA ENGINEER|15
Serving
Those Who
Served
Important breakthroughs in PTSD, brain injuries, osteoarthritis, and
prosthetics research are helping veterans live full and pain-free lives.
h i l e s e r v i ng with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, David Tyson was injured in a firefight. Like
many soldiers, he began suffering from symptoms
of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when he
returned home from the battlefield.
I was feeling funny, and during my end-processing I asked
if I could see someone about it, Tyson recalls. I wanted to be
checked for PTSD and traumatic brain injury because I had a
friend who had been diagnosed with them and he told me it
was better to know than not know. I went to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the doctor there referred me to a
psychiatrist, who diagnosed me.
Though he began to receive treatment, many of Tysons
difficulties remained, especially when it came to things like
memory. Thats where UT Arlington stepped in. A number
16|UTA ENGINEER
UTA ENGINEER|17
The injectable
scaffolds developed
can be used not only
by soldiers, but also
millions of people
worldwide who suffer
from arthritis.
18|UTA ENGINEER
researchers monitored their brain activity through near-infrared spectroscopy, a noninvasive neuroimaging technology.
While the research proved effective in measuring cognitive dysfunction associated with PTSD, it also yielded an
unexpected but exciting discovery: Shining low-level light on
the brain (by placing the light source on the skull) can stimulate and energize neurons to function more effectively. When
cells are stimulated with light, they remain stimulated for a
lengthy period of time even after the light is removed. That
is different than other therapies that use magnets or electric
shocks and has potential to yield effective, longer-lasting
treatments.
In Tysons case, light treatments have already made a difference in his ability to comprehend and take tests.
In my final exams, I had a multiple-choice test in my
speech communications class and I realized I was able to
process better. I was able to read, comprehend, and identify
key words in the questions that I wasnt before, he says. I
was struck by the improvement. Ive found a resource that has
built my confidence level, and now I can see myself crossing
the stage, getting my degree, and contributing to society.
U n l i k e P T S D a n d T BI , osteoarthritis is not something
we often think of as a post-combat condition. But while the
disease is usually associated with aging, many young soldiers
return home with cartilage damage that may contribute to its
early onset.
Called post-traumatic osteoarthritis, it develops as a result
of the improper healing of joints, which turn arthritic. It often
occurs in soldiers with broken bones from blasts, shrapnel,
and gunshot wounds.
Liping Tang, a professor in the Bioengineering Department, is attempting to treat the disease by injecting patients
with nanoscaffolds that target injured cartilage and attract
stem cells to the affected area to repair it naturally.
Joints and cartilage are surrounded by stem cells that
need instruction in where to go and what to do, he explains.
Weve found that if we inject microscaffolding that weve
developed into the injured area, it recruits the stem cells that
are needed in the healing process. Biomolecules are then
released from the scaffolds to transform stem cells into cartilage cells to form new cartilage tissue, while also reducing the
symptoms associated with arthritis.
If successful, the consequences of traumatic injuries could
be substantially reduced and made more manageable without
the need for invasive surgery. This is in stark contrast to current treatments for osteoarthritis, such as anti-inflammatory
drugs and painkillers, which reduce symptoms but are
ineffective in curing the disease. As a result, patients often
undergo joint replacements that may fail due to poor healing
and union with surrounding tissue. In addition, multiple
surgical interventions are usually needed to fix the joints over
the patients lifetimes.
The injectable scaffolds developed can be used not only
by soldiers, but also millions of people worldwide who suffer
UTA ENGINEER|19
Greer
HONORING
A DISTINGUISHED
ALUMNUS
As a part of UT Arlingtons 2014 Homecoming festivities, College
of Engineering alumnus Jim Greer (84) was
honored for his professional achievements,
community engagement, and loyalty to his
alma mater at the 49th
annual Distinguished
Alumni Awards.
Greer is senior
vice president and
chief operating officer
at Oncor Electric
Delivery. A registered
professional engineer
in Texas, he has held
numerous leadership
positions at Oncor
and its predecessor
companies in the areas
of engineering, operations, and governmental relations.
Greer is a member of the College of
Engineering Board
of Advisors and the
Electrical Engineering
Department Advisory
Council.
20|UTA ENGINEER
ENDOWMENT
HONORS
LECTURER
Bill Svihel
SPOTLIGHT
UTA ENGINEER|21
Nguyen
PAYING IT
FORWARD
SPOTLIGHT
Greenes Give Back Mike Greene (69 BS) and his wife,
Janet, have given his hometown a resource that will help people in need for
years to come. With aid from Ralph Hawkins (73 BA), they helped build
a new home for Community Link, a food pantry and resource center in
Saginaw, Texas. It is a mutually beneficial relationship, Greene says. Community Link can offer more support to its clients thanks to the help UTA
students provide, while the students themselves can benefit from using the
skills theyre learning in the classroom in a real-world situation.
22|UTA ENGINEER
CLASS NOTES
1964
1970
1989
1999
1996
1991
2003
2004
2008
Lawrence Whitman
(PhD, Industrial Engineering) was named dean of
the College of Engineering at the University of
Arkansas-Little Rock.
2010
2013
2001
In Memoriam
1950s
1960s
UTA ENGINEER|23
RE-ENGINEERED
Bird-Brained
New water-collecting device modeled after the beaks of shorebirds.
24|UTA ENGINEER
Make a gift online today at uta.edu/giving or call the Office of Development at 817-272-2584.
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Box 19019
Arlington, TX 76019-0019
Non-profit Org.
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PAID
Burlington, VT 05401
Permit No. 19
CAMPUS UPDATE
Road Warrior