ALUMNI
Bruce Biundo (’61) has been named chair-elect of the Texas
Pharmacy Association’s Academy of Compounding Pharmacists.
Julian Schnabel (’73), artist and screenwriter,
was nominated for the Achievement in Directing Award by the Academy
for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for “The Diving Bell
and the Butterfly.”
FACULTY/STAFF
Mohammed Asghar, research assistant professor of pharmacy, has
received a $149,000 National Institutes of Health grant to study
exercise and kidney dopamine receptor function in aging.
Steven Baldelli, associate professor of chemistry, and his graduate
student, Katherine Cimatu, were among the co-authors of the article
titled “Nanoscale Friction Varied by Isotopic Shifting
of Surface Vibrational Frequencies” published in the November
issue of Science, one of the world’s most prestigious academic
journals.
Stephen Barth, professor of hotel and restaurant management,
served as a panel moderator at the Sixth Annual Hospitality Law
Conference. He also presented “Protecting Your Investment:
A Legal Compliance Guide for Restaurants” at the 2008 National
Restaurant Association Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show.
Allison E. Bell, director of capital projects administration
for Facilities Planning and Construction, will receive the 2008
Women Empowerment Training Institute Women of Distinction Award
for her dedication and commitment to UH’s historically
underutilized businesses program.
Malavosklish Bikram, assistant professor of pharmacy, received
an $111,750 U.S. Department of Defense research grant to develop
new, tumor-specific contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging
equipment in the early detection of ovarian cancer.
The Houston American Advertising Federation presented its Silver
Medal award to Robert Culpepper, communication lecturer, for
his lifetime achievement in the Houston advertising industry.
Culpepper also was awarded with a Hall of Fame trophy for his “Luv
Ya Blue” campaign for the Houston Oilers. The federation
also awarded to the School of Communication’s student campaigns
class with a Silver Addy and two Citations of Excellence for
their recent work on the Central Intelligence Agency campaign.
Nathan Hoang (’07) was the campaign’s creative director.
Ruth Cutting, microsystems 2 analyst, was elected secretary
of the Advance Database Special Interest Group, an organization
of users of the Advance fund-raising database software from SunGard
Higher Education.
Chitra Divakaruni, professor of English, has received the South
Asian Literary Association 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award
for her contribution to South Asian literature.
Riad Efendi, research assistant professor of pharmacy, has been
appointed to the Medical Science Monitor journal’s editorial
board.
Kwon Eun-Sook, associate professor of architecture, was named
the general director of the World Design Olympiad Seoul 2008.
Jack Fletcher, University Distinguished Professor in Psychology,
was elected president of the International Neuropsychological
Society.
Victor Flatt’s article “Taking the Legislative Temperature:
Examining Federal Climate Change Legislative Proposals” was
published in the Northwestern Law Review Colloquy 123 (2007).
It was also on Social Science Research Network’s (SSRN)
top 10 downloads for legislative and statutory interpretation,
environmental economics, public policy deliberation, public policy
democratic theory, political behavior and political philosophy.
His articles “Act Locally, Affect Globally” and “Let
Us Drink Our Full” have also made several of the SSRN top
10 download lists for December. Flatt is the A.L. O’Quinn
Chair in Environmental Law and professor of law.
Faye
Hall Jackson,
associate professor of hotel and restaurant management, was a
panelist at the Meeting Professionals International Professional
Education Conference.
Mat Johnson, professor of English, received the $50,000 James
Baldwin Fellow in Literature from the United States Artists,
a national organization that provides direct support for artists.
Maria Gonzalez, assistant professor of English, has won this
year’s Michael Lynch Service Award from the Gay, Lesbian/Queer
Caucus of the Modern Language Association.
Paul R. Gregory, Cullen Distinguished Chair of Economics and
professor of economics, has written a new book titled “Lenin’s
Brain and Other Tales from the Secret Soviet Archives.”
Franz Anton Krager, professor of music, conducted the Orchestra
da Camera in Birmingham, England in January.
Maher
Lahmar, assistant
professor of industrial engineering, won an Outstanding Material
Handling & Logistics Research Paper Award from the Material
Handling Institute. The Industrial Engineer magazine featured
the paper, “Design of Distributed Layouts.”
Gino Lim, assistant professor of industrial engineering, received
the Moving Spirit Award from the Institute for Operations Research
and Management Science for outstanding service to his chapter.
Carl Lindahl, professor of English, has been elected to the
American Folklore Society’s executive board.
Kishore Mohanty, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering,
will receive a 2008 Society of Petroleum Engineers Improved Oil
Recovery Pioneer Award. The award is given every two years to
researchers worldwide who have dedicated a lifetime of work to
enhancing the process of oil and/or gas recovery.
Douglas Moll, professor of law, was named to the Association
of American Law School’s Section on Agency and Unincorporated
Business Associations Executive Committee for 2008-2009.
Nancy Weems, professor of music, presented a lecture-recital
for the Alliance Music Teachers Association of San Antonio.
Jessica L. White, clinical assistant professor of pharmacy,
has been named one of the American Association of Colleges of
Pharmacy 2007 Teachers of the Year.
Robert Wimpelberg, College of Education dean, has been named
to the Children and Youth Fund Leadership Committee by the Joint
City/County Commission on Children.
STUDENTS
Several music students are scheduled to present papers at various
conferences and universities. Ben Crandall will present “Connections
Between Keyboard Fingerings and Woodwind Tonguings (1500-1650)” at
schools throughout the United States, including Brigham Young
University, the University of North Texas and the Eastman School
of Music. John Henry Jr. will submit “The Band Contests
of the Prairie View Interscholastic League from 1938-1970 with
an Emphasis on the Black High School Bands and Band Directors
in Texas” at the Southern Conference on African American
Studies and at the National Association of African American Studies.
Anne Lundy will present “Discovered Treasures — Music
by Black Composers” and “Community Music Center of
Houston — Howdy Y’all” at the ninth International
Conference of Cultural Diversity in Music Education.
Michael S. Bryson, music student, won honorable mention in the
Dallas Symphony Orchestra/Voices of Change Young Composers Project
for his song “Sleepers on the Hill.”
Kimberly Youngblood, history student, received an $11,000 grant
from the Environmental Institute of Houston to support her dissertation
research. Her dissertation is tentatively titled “Managing
the Bay: How People, Politics and Shrimping Influenced Galveston
Bay’s Ecosystem.”
