June 2008

STUDENTS

STUDENT BRINGS HOME THE PRIZE
Project management graduate student Lee James received first prize in the 5th Annual Student Technical Paper Competition sponsored by the American Society for Quality World (ASQ) Conference on Quality and Improvement. James’ paper, “Using Six Sigma and FMEA in Home Healthcare to Improve the Medicaid Billing Process,” was one of nine papers selected and scored by the Student Branch Organization Committee of the ASQ Section Affairs Council. Six Sigma is a business management strategy that focuses on reducing production costs and increase profits. In addition to the ASQ prize, James also was awarded second place for his presentation in the College of Technology’s Graduate Research Day.

May 2008

INSTITUTIONAL

UH GETS $240K FOR NEW ROBOTIC DRUG SCREENING SYSTEM
The College of Pharmacy drug design research initiatives soon will be on the fast track thanks to a $240,000 grant from the John S. Dunn Foundation and the Gulf Coast Consortium for Chemical Genomics. The award will be used to purchase a robotic high-throughput drug screening system (HTS), which is expected to increase the speed and effectiveness of UH’s drug design potential by up to 1,000 times compared to current approaches.

Although the system will be housed in college’s Center for Experimental Therapeutics & Pharmacoinformatics, it will be available to researchers across the campus and other institutions. The center is under the supervision of Director Ke-He Ruan, professor of pharmacology. The system could be applied to more than a dozen research projects under way at UH. The HTS system also will be linked with Ruan’s 3-D computational modeling/virtual screening system based on the rational drug design approach of Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship, which places a mathematical value on the interaction between a compound and specific drug target.

ALUMNI

Alumna Sharanya Murty (’07) and Sujit S. Sansgiry, associate professor of pharmacy administration, recently received a 2008 Presentation Merit Award for Contributed Research Paper from the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management (APhA-APPM). The award was in recognition of their project, “New Information Card Labels to Improve Consumer Comprehension for Behind-the-Counter Pseudoephedrine Products.” Sansgiry also was a co-author on the APhA-APPM award-winning paper in 2007.

FACULTY/STAFF

Alex Alexander is one of 50 people in the nation who have successfully completed the APPA (Association of Physical Plant Administrators) Educational Facilities Professional knowledge-based exam. The distinction makes him a facilities professional in the areas of general administration and management, operations and maintenance, facilities planning and construction, and energy and environment. APPA supports educational excellence with quality leadership and professional management through education, research and recognition.

John J. Antel, College of Liberal Arts and Social Studies dean, is the recipient of the 2008 Air Force Association Houston’s Educator of the Year Award. The award recognizes his dedication and support for the principles of Air Force aerospace leadership. Antel was instrumental in establishing the Air Force ROTC Detachment 003 at UH and allocating facilities to house the unit along with Army ROTC on campus. He also was involved in the teaching of Air Force and military leadership principles to non-military students at the and in UH ROTC outreach programs targeting universities and colleges in the Houston area.

Rives Taylor, adjunct professor of architecture, was honored as a 2008 Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

STUDENTS

Pharmacy student Laura Edmundson was one of only 28 students nationwide to receive a 2008 RXportfolio National Achievement Award. The award recognizes pharmacy students for creating exceptional RXportfolios, an online student portfolio service that allows students to post their resumes, employment history, goals and other personal, academic and professional activities.

Pharmacy student Ann Marie Prazak recently received the Glenda Lawson McRee Pharmacy Student Award and the Student Research Poster Award from the Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists (TSHP). In addition, pharmacy students Jacob Hall and Ngocanh “Jennifer” Phan won first place in TSHP’s Clinical Skills Competition.

April 2008

INSTITUTIONAL

The National Science Foundation awarded a $310,000 grant to the Department of Computer Science to support active research participation by undergraduate students during the summer for the next three years.

FACULTY/STAFF

Richard Alderman, Dwight Olds Chair of Law and Consumer Law Center director, was a panelist at a meeting of the Association of American Law Schools Creditor and Debtor Law Section. He also spoke on the Deceptive Trade Practices Act at the State Bar Consumer Law seminar and conducted a faculty seminar and guest lectured in several classes at the University of Tokyo Law School. He published the 2007-2008 edition of Consumer Protection and the Law and the 2007 supplement to The Lawyer’s Guide to the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Dorothy Z. Baker, associate professor of English, and Wyman H. Herendeen, professor and chair of the English department, had their books “America’s Gothic Fiction” and “William Camden: A Life in Context,” respectively, published. Associate English professors David Mikics and David Mazella had their books “A New Handbook of Literary Terms” and “The Making of Modern Cynicism” published.

Pharmacy faculty members Heidi Bragg, David Wallace and Shara Zatopek have been appointed to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy Class D Pharmacy Task Force.

Xiaoping Cong, associate professor of history, received the Academic Excellence Award from the Chinese Historians in the United States organization for her book “Teachers’ Schools and the Making of the Modern Chinese Nation-State.”

Sheng Chung, assistant professor of art education, has been appointed to the editorial board of the Journal of the National Art Education Association.

Elizabeth Kessler’s book “Chican@s in the Conversations” was published recently. Kessler is an administrator in the department of English.

Thomas Kubiszyn, professor of educational psychology, was elected to the American Psychological Association Board of Professional Affairs.

Ming Hu, professor of pharmaceutics, received a $186,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health through Washington University to examine chemoprevention of lung cancer with Anti-tumor B.

Tahir Hussain, associate professor of pharmacology, has been named to the Open Nitric Oxide Journal editorial advisory board.

Scott A. Imberman, assistant professor of economics, was selected to receive the American Education Finance Association New Scholars Award (AEFA), which provides funds to promising new scholars who wish to investigate significant issues in education finance. Imberman also won the AEFA Jean Flanigan Outstanding Dissertation Award. The award recognizes exemplary dissertation research by doctoral students in the area of education finance.

Dmitri Litvinov’s article “Fabrication of a High Anisotropy Nanoscale Patterned Magnetic Recording Medium for Data Storage Applications” has been one of the most highly downloaded articles for 2006 in the Nanotechnology journal. The paper has been downloaded 759 times to date. Litvinov is an associate professor of electrical engineering.

Kirill Larin, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, received the Outstanding Young Scientist Award from the Houston Society for Engineering Medicine and Biology.

James Kirby Martin, Distinguished University Professor of History, has spearheaded the development of a new book series called “Critical Historical Encounters” in conjunction with Oxford University Press.

Ron Nykiel, associate professor and Conrad N. Hilton Chair in the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, wrote the article “Brand New: ‘Houston, City of Diversity’” in the Houston Business Journal.

Michael A. Olivas, William B. Bates Distinguished Chair of Law and Institute of Higher Education Law & Governance director, made presentations about local immigration ordinances and litigation concerning immigrant children at the Association of American Law Schools’ annual meeting.

Cydney Rax, communications coordinator for Plant Operations, will serve as an author panelist at the Texas Library Association Convention.

Robert Shimko, assistant professor of theatre history and dramaturgy, received the Mid America Theatre Conference Robert Schanke Theatre Research Award for his paper “The Miseries of History: Shakespearian Extremity as Cautionary Tale on the Restoration Stage.” The prize is given for the best paper delivered by a nontenured faculty member at the conference. Shimko also was elected to a two-year term as the co-chair of the conference’s theatre history area.

Gangbing Song, associate professor of mechanical engineering, received the 2007 Outstanding Technical Contribution Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers, aerospace division.

Julianna Szilagyi, professor of pharmacology, and Jessica White, clinical assistant professor of pharmacy, have been named among the 2007 Teachers of the Year by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Julie Trenor, director of recruiting and instructional assistant professor in the Cullen College of Engineering, was named president-elect of Women in Engineering ProActive Network.

Greg Vetter, assistant professor of law, co-moderated the “Protecting Data, Protecting Privacy?” program at the Association of American Law Schools’ annual meeting.

Rosa F. Yeh, assistant professor of pharmacy, has received a $67,000 grant from Abbott Laboratories to conduct a retrospective evaluation of lopinavir/ritonavir single-agent therapy in a real clinic setting. Sujit Sansgiry, associate pharmacy professor, is a co-investigator on the project.

STUDENTS

Two doctoral history students published articles in the journal Viator. Holle Canatella’s article is “Friendship in Anselm of Canterbury’s Correspondence: Ideals and Experience.” Courtney Demayo is the author of “The Theory and Practice of Friendship in the Middle Ages: Ciceronian Amicitia in the Letters of Gerbert of Aurillac.”

Pharmacy students Andrew P. “Andy” Laegeler and Jason Lovero have been named the 2008 Distinguished Student Leader and Distinguished Student, respectively, by the College of Pharmacy.

Senior Steve Magness was named to the U.S. Track and Field and the Cross Country Coaches Association Men’s Cross Country All-Academic Team.

Melissa Scott-Pandorf, doctoral student in health and human performance, received a $30,000 grant from NASA to support her dissertation research on space suit locomotion.

March 2008

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.”

January 2008

INSTITUTIONAL

The University of Houston received The Park People of Houston Preservation Award in recognition of the relocation of several oaks trees near the Bauer College of Business to the median on Calhoun Road between University Drive and the UH Law Center. The project paved the way for construction of student lofts. Plant Operations grounds crew and employees Darrell K. Bunch, senior project manager in the Office of Facilities Planning and Construction; Sam Arrez, supervisor of grounds 2; and Alex Alexander, director of custodial and grounds services, were involved in the project.

UH received the Southern Association of College and University Business Officers 2007 Outstanding Drive-in Workshop Award for its Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning program. The workshop was coordinated by Cora Day, auxiliary services manager, and Maria Honey, auxiliary customer services coordinator, both in the Division of Administration and Finance Department of Business Services.

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education renewed the accreditation of the College of Education.

The College of Pharmacy 2005 annual report and its Ph.D. student recruitment brochure, both produced in 2006, have won four awards from local or regional public relations/marketing communications organizations. The annual report and brochure received a total of three 2007 Bronze Quill Awards from the International Association of Business Communicators-Houston chapter. The annual report also won a Council for Advancement and Support of Education-District IV Grand Award.

KUHT-TV, HoustonPBS received the Citizens Environmental Coalition 2007 Synergy Media Award and an Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals Ava Platinum Award for the show “Living Smart.” Patricia Gras is the show’s host.

ALUMNI

James Bray (’80) was elected the American Psychological Association president for 2009. Harris County Department of Education trustee

Ray Garcia (’64,’88) was selected to participate in the Leadership Texas Association of School Boards Leadership program.

Josh Willis (’96) was a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s fourth assessment report of the science of global warming. The panel shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore for its efforts to disseminate information about “man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.” Willis’ work focuses on the rise of sea level and ocean warming.

FACULTY/STAFF

Karen L. Bradshaw, University Career Services senior career counselor, has been elected Houston Area Consortium of Career Centers president.

Audrius Brazdeikis, research assistant professor of physics, received the Best Technology Award in the first Innova Awards sponsored by Magnetics Business & Technology magazine.

The Houston Alumni Association bestowed its 2007 Outstanding Faculty Award to Kathleen A. Brosnan, associate director of the UH Center for Public History and associate professor of history, and its 2007 Outstanding Staff Award to Jane Figueiredo, head diving coach.

Aaron Bruhl, assistant professor of law, presented the paper “The Unconscionability Game: Strategic Judging and the Federal Arbitration Act” at the Marquette University Law School conference.

Marcilynn A. Burke, assistant professor of law, has been invited to be a founding member of the Environmental Law Institute’s Environmental Law Reporter press advisory board.

David R. Dow, University Distinguished Professor of Law, gave the lecture “The Fatal Consequences of Being Incompletely Incompetent” at a death penalty symposium held at The University of Texas at Austin.

Xiaolian Gao, professor of biology and chemistry, won the 2007 American Chemistry Society Southwest Region Award for her research in parallel chemistry synthesis. The award includes a $2,000 check.

Kirill Larin, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering, received a $250,000 grant from the Wallace Coulter Foundation to develop an imaging device that could increase the success of in vitro fertilization.

Joy Lloyd, director of the Center for Logistics and Transportation Policy in the College of Technology, was named one of Gulf Shipper’s Outstanding Women in Transportation for 2007. Lloyd is one of eight women singled out for distinction in her field.

Rick McElvaney, clinical associate professor of law, recently co-authored the O’Connor’s Texas Property Code Plus.

Brent Newton, visiting professor of law, recently wrote “Lopez vs. Gonzales: A Window on the Shortcomings of the Federal Appellate Process,” published in the Journal of Appellate Practice & Process.

Richard Saver, associate professor of law and co-director of the UH Health Law and Policy Institute, presented “Understanding the Health Care Crisis: Benchmarks of Success and Failure,” at a Houston health care forum.

Stowe Shoemaker, associate dean of research and Donald Hubbs Professor at the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, recently published “Creating Loyal Customers — It’s All About the Circle” in Tourism Matters. He also spoke at executive education seminars on “Understanding the Hospitality Guest” for the Orbis Hotel Corp.

Diana Velardo, coordinator of student legal services at the UH Law Center, spoke on “Best Clinical Practices of Student Recognition” at the Mountain West Regional Clinical Conference. She also was a guest speaker at the Harris County Hospital District VIVA Domestic Violence Conference. She discussed human trafficking, domestic violence, special immigrant juvenile and crime victim’s relief for undocumented immigrants.

Eric H. Walther, professor of history, received the Southern Historical Association’s first James A. Rawley Award for his book “William Lowndes Yancey and the Coming of the Civil War.” This award is for distinguished books dealing with secession and/or the sectional crisis published over a two year period.

Jacqueline Weaver, professor of law, spoke on “The Future of the Traditional Hydrocarbon-based Economy” to the Princeton Committee of Foreign Relations.

Christopher Wolters, associate professor of educational psychology, has been named to the editorial board of Educational Psychologist.

Lois Zamora, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of English, received honorable mention from The Modern Language Association of America for her book “The Inordinate Eye: New World Baroque and Latin American Fiction.”

STUDENTS

Houston Cougars wide receiver Donnie Avery and running back Anthony Alridge were named All-Americans by College Football Preview magazine.

Simi Bassett, pharmacy student, has been elected regional delegate of the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists.

Austin Head, biomedical engineering student, participated in Rice University’s NanoJapan program, a research intensive program funded by the National Science Foundation.

Law students Nathan Hennigan, Andrew McBurney and Sabrina Neff captured the regional championship cup and “Best Brief” honors in the National Moot Court Competition. Hennigan was cited for authoring the best brief of the competition.

Rashim Singh, pharmacy student, received a $30,000 Pharmacoinformatics Fellowship from the Gulf Coast Consortia in support of her research on flavonoids, a class of compounds long suspected of possessing anti-aging and anti-cancer health benefits.

2007 Of Note Archives

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