Texas A&M Engineering News

Kumar, Martell, Schneider receive Regents Awards for contributions to Texas A&M System

Thu, 08 Feb 2018 00:00:00 CST

Three from Texas A&M Engineering were recognized for their outstanding contributions to The Texas A&M University System and their respective fields of expertise by the Board of Regents. Dr. P.R. Kumar was named a Regents Professor, and Marilyn Martell and Dr. Dean Schneider were recipients of the Regents Fellow Service Award.

Kumar is the College of Engineering Chair in Computer Engineering and a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M. He has been awarded numerous academic titles and awards. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from ETH, Zurich, and has received the Outstanding Contribution Award from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) SIGMOBILE, the Infocom Achievement Award, the SIGMOBILE Test-of-Time Paper Award, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Field Award for Control Systems, the Donald P. Eckman Award of the American Automatic Control Council and the Fred W. Ellersick Prize of the IEEE Communications Society. Kumar is a member of the U.S. and Indian National Academies of Engineering and a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences. He also is an ACM Fellow and a Fellow of IEEE.

"Dr. Kumar is a true scholar, a leader in many research fields, a passionate teacher and mentor," said Dr. Miroslav Begovic, head of the electrical and computer engineering department, in his nomination letter. "He embodies academic excellence, with achievements that have an impact on Texas A&M University, the state of Texas, our nation and internationally."

Martell has served as the senior assistant vice chancellor for marketing and communications for Texas A&M Engineering more than 16 years. She is directly responsible for marketing, communications and public relations for the College of Engineering and TEES, as well as providing strategic brand development and guidance to maximize the strengths of the Texas A&M System Engineering Program. During her tenure, Martell has elevated and maximized the Texas A&M Engineering and Texas A&M System brands. Some of her greatest accomplishments include the crisis communications she led during the deployment of Texas Task Force 1 to the World Trade Center and coordinating the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition Design Weekend held at Texas A&M in 2016, which had such an impact on the community that Martell received the Hometown Hero Award from the Convention Sales Department at the Bryan/College Station Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"Ms. Martell is a person of integrity who embraces our core values and encourages others to do the same," said Dr. Diane Hurtado, associate vice president for federal relations, in the nomination letter. "She has demonstrated a long history of professional service to the A&M System, which I have had the privilege of witnessing. As I chart her future trajectory based on her historical performance, I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that we can only expect extraordinary and spectacular things from her in the future."

Schneider is the co-director of the Gulf Coast Regional Manufacturing Center of the Texas A&M Energy Institute, and a Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) Center Fellow. He is a retired U.S. Air Force research and development engineer with over 30 years of experience in technology program management and development. After joining TEES, Schneider helped provide organization and vision to TEES researchers in responding to federal manufacturing initiatives, leading to significant involvement in five national Manufacturing USA institutes, including regional leadership in three of them. He has received many awards during his career, including an Air Force Commendation Medal, an Air Force Logistic Command Outstanding Company Grade Military Engineer of the Year Award and numerous Air Force Meritorious Service Medals.

"Dr. Schneider is a model of servant leadership and consistently demonstrates his commitment to serving others," said Dr. Dimitris Lagoudas, TEES deputy director and associate vice chancellor for engineering research, in his nomination letter. "His sustained contributions to the mission of TEES makes him an exemplary asset to our agency providing extension in research to the citizens, both private and corporate, of the state of Texas."

The Board of Regents established the Regents Professor Awards program in 1996 and the Regents Fellow Service Awards program in 1998 to recognize employees who have made exemplary contributions to their university or agency and to the people of Texas.

The Regents Professor Award honors individuals at the rank of professor or equivalent whose distinguished performance in teaching, research and service have been exemplary. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the A&M System on faculty members.

The Regents Fellow Service Award honors and recognizes extension, research and service professionals within the agricultural and engineering agencies, health science center and veterinary medical diagnostic laboratory. These professionals must have demonstrated a significant commitment and contributions to their respective agency by providing exceptional leadership in educational or program delivery/scholarship, research or service that have resulted in significant impact and lasting benefits to the state of Texas and beyond.

"These professors and professionals make The Texas A&M University System extraordinary," said Board of Regents Chairman Charles Schwartz in a statement. "Because of them, the universities and agencies within The Texas A&M University System will continue to thrive."

Singh elected as National Academy of Engineering member

Thu, 08 Feb 2018 00:00:00 CST

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) elected Dr. Chanan Singh, Regents Professor and Irma Runyon Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, honoring his contributions to the advancement of theory, practice and education in electric power system reliability.

Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.

“As an administrator and former department head, Dr. Singh has demonstrated great leadership in securing resources for major expansion of the faculty in our department,” Dr. Miroslav Begovic, department head and Carolyn S. & Tommie E. Lohman ‘59 Professor said yesterday. “I can hardly imagine a more deserving recipient of the high recognition that was bestowed upon him, the prestigious membership in the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.”

Singh is former department head and an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow, internationally recognized as an expert on the reliability and security of power systems. He joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1978.

Other honors Singh has received include the Merit Award by the Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems (PMAPS) International Society, the IEEE Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award and the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students' University-level Distinguished Achievement Award for Research. He has previously held the J.W. Runyon, Jr. Professorship II, the Halliburton Professorship and the Dresser Professorship, and the University of Saskatchewan awarded him a D.Sc. in 1998 for his research contributions. In 2010, he was the inaugural recipient of the IEEE-PES Roy Billinton Power System Reliability Award.

Singh will be formally inducted during a ceremony at the NAE's annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30, 2018.

Students work around the clock to design a more inclusive campus during the 2018 Diversity Hackathon

Wed, 07 Feb 2018 00:00:00 CST

With only 24 hours on the clock, students came together to design and develop ideas to help make the Texas A&M University campus more inclusive.

The 2018 Diversity Hackathon brought students from many disciplines at Texas A&M to the Langford Architecture Center on Feb. 2-3, where they worked overnight to help turn spaces on campus into more welcoming environments for all people.

Cecilia Giusti, associate dean for outreach and diversity in the College of Architecture and head of the Diversity Council, launched the Diversity Hackathon four years ago. The inaugural hackathon featured a partnership with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the College of Engineering continues to play an important role in the event with a majority of the participants being engineering students.

“For 24 hours they talk about what it means to be diverse, what is an inclusive approach, and how to talk better about inclusion and diversity,” Giusti said. “[And] they actually create or produce something. Even if they don’t win anything, the whole exercise is fantastic—it’s magic.”

One team of general engineering freshmen worked to develop a tool to help the visually impaired better navigate campus. Team members prototyped a device that could slip onto the back of a pair of glasses and connect to a phone, which could then use the campus Wi-Fi to pinpoint the wearer’s location. The device would then communicate information through vibrations against the bone in the back of the ear.

“It would notify you of different obstacles around campus and different buildings or streets so that a person who was visually impaired would be aware of their surroundings and know which way to go without needing to look at a map,” said Jaxon Tucker.

There were six challenges teams could choose from provided by different programs across campus. The College of Engineering asked students to focus on the Zachry Engineering Education Complex and how to make it more accessible for students with hearing, visual or physical impairments.

“It’s going to be a world-class, state-of-the-art building, and I was hoping that students might come up with some concepts to ensure that all of our students are welcome and can participate at the same level,” said Debra Dandridge, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station and engineering accessibility coordinator.

To help with the creation process, students had access to several resources, including 3-D printers and other tools provided by the College of Architecture. One team took up the challenge to create an open space for communication by developing an interactive screen to help people share concerns and ideas in a more accessible way.

“We’re going to have an interface for people to share their ideas through texts,” said junior computer science engineering student Muin Momin. “We have a phone number set up and people can text complaints or something they like about the space that they’re in, and that will display as a word cloud on the screen so everyone can see what’s going on and the owners of that space can get ideas on how to improve it.”

Being a part of the hackathon may also help students after graduation. Dr. J. Michael Moore, an instructional assistant professor in the computer science and engineering department, said industry is showing more interest in accessibility and expects graduates to be prepared to create these universally designed, accessible products.

“This hackathon is a fantastic opportunity for our students in engineering to not only try and do inventive ideas in a short period of time but also to be creative and innovative, and be ready and thinking that way, before they go out in industry,” Moore said.

Texas A&M Engineering and Alamo Colleges District co-enrollment program to begin offering classes fall 2018

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 00:00:00 CST

Texas A&M University, Chevron and Alamo Colleges District will enroll the first cohort of students for the Texas A&M-Chevron Engineering Academy at Alamo Colleges District in fall 2018. This innovative co-enrollment partnership was developed to address the state’s growing need for engineers. Qualified students will be admitted to the Texas A&M College of Engineering, complete the first two years of coursework at an Alamo Colleges District college and finish their engineering degrees in College Station, Texas. The program will begin accepting student applications March 1.

The Texas A&M-Chevron Engineering Academy at Alamo Colleges District allows students to remain close to home for their first two years while pursuing one of 19 majors within the College of Engineering at Texas A&M. This program is generously supported by Chevron.

“We are pleased to offer students in the Alamo Colleges District a unique pathway toward a first-rate degree from an engineering college ranked among the top 10 in the world,” said Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp. “Our goal is to attract the very best students to Texas A&M Engineering, even if circumstances require them to stay close to home for the first two years of college. These students will be Aggies in San Antonio from day one.”

“We are always eager to offer our students new opportunities for continuing their education once they graduate from one of the colleges of the Alamo Colleges District,” said Alamo Colleges District Chancellor Dr. Bruce Leslie. “Our latest partnership with Texas A&M University and Chevron will offer our students a pathway to a bachelor’s degree in a field with excellent job growth and high salaries, benefiting not only the students, but the state’s economy as well,” he added.

In Texas, the projected need for engineers in the workforce is 53,000 by 2024. To meet this need, universities and two-year colleges will need to work together to bridge the gap and attract and retain students who are interested in STEM fields. Engineering students in the Engineering Academy program enroll in math, science and core curriculum courses through Alamo Colleges District and have the unique opportunity to enroll in Texas A&M engineering courses taught by Texas A&M faculty at Northeast Lakeview College, part of Alamo Colleges District.

“Northeast Lakeview College is proud to be home for this program,” said Dr. Veronica Garcia, Northeast Lakeview College president. “This new program will help address the need for more programming in high-demand STEM fields and provide an opportunity for more students, in San Antonio and surrounding areas, to pursue engineering coursework.”

Chevron has donated $5 million to support Texas A&M-Chevron Engineering Academies across the state at Austin Community College; Houston Community College, Spring Branch in Houston; Texas Southmost College in Brownsville; El Centro and Richland Colleges in Dallas; and Alamo Colleges District in San Antonio.

“Chevron is committed to increasing access to, and the quality of, education around the world. We are proud to partner with Texas A&M on this important initiative to help ensure an educated and skilled workforce,” said Shariq Yosufzai, Chevron vice president of ombuds, diversity and inclusion and university and association relations.

“Our longstanding relationship with Texas A&M, through support of the Engineering Academy initiative, will help provide opportunities in the field of engineering for many underrepresented and first-generation college students,” Yosufzai said. “Partnering with Texas A&M, a top source of engineering hires for Chevron, to help provide opportunities in the field of engineering will support our efforts to help build the diverse workforce of tomorrow that will be required to meet the energy needs of the future."

Texas A&M Engineering Vice Chancellor and Dean Dr. M. Katherine Banks said the academies have the potential to reach beyond the typical pathways for access to a top-ranked engineering program.

“The academies, through our partnership with Chevron and the two-year colleges, provide new pathways to a first-rate engineering education,” Banks said. “Through this co-enrollment program, students can live at home for the first two years of college without postponing their participation in an engineering program that is highly regarded by employers across the country.”

For more information about how to apply and other details, visit /academies or email engineeringacademies@tamu.edu.

Kumar elected Indian National Academy of Engineering Fellow

Fri, 19 Jan 2018 00:00:00 CST

Dr. P.R. Kumar was elected Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE). He is among five foreign fellows elected this year.

INAE is an autonomous institution with a membership comprising of the most distinguished engineers, engineer-scientists and technologists from all branches of engineering, technology and related sciences. Up to 50 fellows from academia, industry and government are elected every year. Election to INAE is by nomination only.

Kumar is a College of Engineering Chair in Computer Engineering and a distinguished professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University. He obtained his Bachelor of Technology degree in electrical engineering (electronics) from Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1973, and the Master of Science and Doctor of Science degrees in systems science and mathematics from Washington University, St. Louis, in 1975 and 1977, respectively

Kumar studies problems in game theory, adaptive control, stochastic systems, simulated annealing, neural networks, machine learning, queueing networks, manufacturing systems, scheduling, wafer fabrication plants and information theory. His research focus currently includes cybersecurity, privacy, cyberphysical systems, wireless networks, smart grid, autonomous vehicles and unmanned air vehicle systems.

Kumar is a member of the National Academy of Engineering in the U.S., and a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences.

Balog selected as IEEE PELS Distinguished Speaker

Thu, 11 Jan 2018 00:00:00 CST

Dr. Robert S. Balog, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, was selected as a 2018 Distinguished Lecturer of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Power Electronics Society (PELS) for his contributions to the field of power engineering.

Each year, the IEEE PELS selects prominent members in power engineering as distinguished lecturers in appreciation of their high achievements and support of PELS chapter activities by providing them opportunities to be invited as high-profile speakers for local chapter events.

Balog is affiliated with the Electric Power and Power Electronics Group in the electrical and computer engineering department. He is the director of the Renewable Energy and Advanced Power Electronics Research Laboratory (REAPER lab) and co-director of the National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center on Next Generation Photovoltaics.

Balog received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Rutgers University in 1996 and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2006. He has more than seven years of industry experience, including launching a technology startup company and commercializing his work in residential scale solar inverters. Balog holds 17 issued U.S. patents with additional pending, and is a licensed professional engineer. In 2016 he published a book through Cambridge University Press titled “Local Area Power and Energy System and other Microgrids.”

Since fall 2015, he has been teaching and conducting research at the Texas A&M University at Qatar campus. Balog credits his students and research staff at both the College Station and Qatar campuses with his achievements.

National Science Foundation big data project awarded

Thu, 21 Dec 2017 00:00:00 CST

Drs. Yu Ding, Mike and Sugar Barnes professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University; Peng Li, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University; and Bani Mallick, distinguished professor in the Department of Statistics at Texas A&M University were recently awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) big data project that aims to develop data science solutions to address the reliability and operational performance issues in wind energy applications.

The NSF big data project is a three-year project. It is called the, "BIGDATA: From Bytes to Watts – A Data Science Solution to Improve Wind Energy Reliability and Operation," and it has a budget of $1.3 million.

The project involves two other partner universities, the University of Michigan and the University of Connecticut. Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station is the lead institute in this effort. The team also partners with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and a number of renewable energy companies that will provide the crucial access to the operational data of their commercial wind farms.

Despite the remarkable progress that the wind industry has made in the past decade, wind energy is still not market competitive without the substantial federal production tax credit. In order for wind energy to be competitive on its own, its operational performance and reliability needs a significant uplifting through relentless technical innovation. Although a large amount of data is continually being accumulated in the wind industry, making effective use of these heterogeneous wind engineering data is challenging. The primary objective of this NSF big data project is to address this critical need.

“The Energy Assessment Director of a major wind company once told me: 'The potential benefit of data science increases with the amount of available data and the complexity of the system being analyzed. Wind Energy has both: huge amount of data and non-linear and complex characteristics.' I agree with him wholeheartedly,” said Ding. “With the talents in this multidisciplinary team, I am excited about the potential impact of our data science solutions, which could enable wind energy to stand on its own feet."

Working closely with domain experts in the wind industry, Ding's team plans to develop data science solutions that evaluate and improve a wind turbine’s design and operation, enhance the understanding of local wind field dynamics and the short-term wind forecasting, optimize for maintenance policies under weather uncertainty and disruption, as well as integrate these data science solutions into a reliable and efficient computational platform.

Ding is jointly appointed with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research specializations include system informatics, data and quality science, and their applications in wind energy and manufacturing.

Li specializes in integrated circuits and systems, machine learning and its hardware realization in very-large-scale integration. He specializes in integrated circuits and systems, brain-inspired computing, machine learning and its hardware realization in very-large-scale integration.

Mallick holds the Susan M. Arseven'75 Chair in Data Science and Computational Statistics. He is an internationally renowned expert in the field of Bayesian predictive modeling and uncertainty quantification.

Kezunovic appointed to Department of Energy advisory committee

Wed, 13 Dec 2017 00:00:00 CST

Dr. Mladen Kezunovic, Regents Professor and the Eugene E. Webb Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been appointed to serve on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC).

“The Electricity Advisory Committee is critically important to ensuring our nation’s energy infrastructure and delivery system is secure, resilient and reliable,” said Dr. M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of engineering and director of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES). “Dr. Kezunovic’s expertise in the modernization and resiliency of the smart grid will be a strong contribution to this high-level group of energy experts.”

Kezunovic, director of the TEES Smart Grid Center, also currently serves as the site director of the Power Engineering Research Center, a consortium of 40 industry and 13 university members. As an EAC advisory board committee member, he will help the DOE define a strategy on long-range planning and priorities for the nation’s electricity system. He joins 23 other members, including state government officials, industry executives, consumer advocates and environmentalists charged with providing advice on implementing the Energy Policy Act of 2005, executing the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and modernizing the nation’s electricity delivery infrastructure.

“I am quite honored and privileged to serve on this committee as it will give me a chance to learn about the nation’s energy priorities and provide advice based on over 40 years of my experience in conducting focused research and consulting on innovative applications in the electricity grids aimed at more reliable grid operation,” Kezunovic said.

Kezunovic’s expertise is in protective relaying, automated power system disturbance analysis, computational intelligence and data analytics, and smart grids. Before joining Texas A&M in 1986 Kezunovic worked for Westinghouse Electric Corp and Energoinvest in Europe.

Among his many honors, Kezunovic has been named an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Life Fellow and a Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE) Fellow and Honorary Member. He has published more than 550 papers in journals and conference proceedings and was invited to give more than 120 lectures worldwide. He is also listed as a distinguished speaker of the IEEE Power Engineering Society. While at Texas A&M he has been the principal investigator on more than 100 research projects and supervised more than 50 graduate students.

The EAC was established in 2008 to enhance leadership in the electricity delivery modernization and provide senior-level counsel to the DOE on ways in which the nation can meet the many challenges to moving forward, including the deployment of smart grid technologies, research and development of energy storage technologies, renewable energy resource system integration and new transmission infrastructure.

Bhattacharyya invited to teach control design theory for India’s Global Initiative for Academic Networks

Mon, 04 Dec 2017 00:00:00 CST

Dr. Shankar Bhattacharyya has been invited to teach a course on engineering controls at the 2017 Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN) in New Delhi, India. GIAN is a Government of India initiative that was developed to tap into the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs internationally and encourage them to engage with higher education institutions in India.

Bhattacharyya is the Robert M. Kennedy '26 Professor II in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University. He studies automatic control systems and theory and applications of robust stability.

His lecture titled, “Robustness, Fragility Optimality and Modern PID Control,” will consist of a modern approach and recent results on multi-objective classical control design methods developed at Texas A&M, and historical reasons for the recent upsurge of interest in classical controllers. The course will be a set of 15 two-hour lectures to be given from Dec. 11-21 at the National Institute of Technology, Silchar, and will be attended by engineers, graduate students and faculty from across India through live web broadcasts.

Bhattacharyya’s awards and honors include National Academy of Sciences- NASA Research Associate (1974-75), IEEE Fellow (1989), International Federation of Automatic Control Fellow (2011), Boeing-Welliver Faculty Fellow (1999), Foreign Member of Brazilian Academy of Sciences (2011), Foreign Member of Brazilian Academy of Engineering (2016) and Professor Visitante Especial by the Brazilian Research Council (2014-17).

His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation for 34 years and also through the Qatar National Research Fund, National Instruments and the Brazilian Research Council.

Using machine learning to uncover genetic mutation mechanism

Mon, 04 Dec 2017 00:00:00 CST

Our genes contain recipes to make proteins that build and regulate our bodies. Our genetic information is stored in our DNA. Genetic mutations occur when there is a permanent alteration, inherited or acquired, in the DNA sequence. The mutations may lead to protein malfunction often causing diseases or counteracting medicines. In contrast to big data on disease-related mutations, very limited knowledge exists about how genetic mutations may affect our health.

A researcher in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University and the TEES-AgriLife Center for Bioinformatics and Genomic Systems Engineering is developing computational frameworks to study the mechanisms by which disease-related genetic mutations can cause health problems.

Assistant Professor Dr. Yang Shen has received the Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) for Early Stage Investigators (ESI) for his research project titled, “Unraveling Molecular and Systems-Level Mechanisms of Human Disease-Associated Protein Mutations,” from the National Institutes of Health. The $1.67 million project will span over five years.

“High-throughput technologies have endowed us with a wealth of data about genetic mutations and resulting health problems,” said Shen. “However, there is a great need for effective and efficient methods to discover knowledge, that is, to determine why the mutations cause such problems and how they can be addressed therapeutically.”

The interdisciplinary project aims to develop novel, multiscale computational frameworks that are rigorous and generalizable to help close the ever-increasing gap between observable data and mechanistic knowledge and to help develop effective therapeutic strategies.

“Specifically, a computational framework will predict and explain mechanistically how the consequence of a protein mutation ripples through an individual’s 1D sequence and 3D shape, its interactions with other proteins and the emergent behaviors of many,” said Shen. “And an inverse computational framework will design mutagenesis experiments and drug candidates for desired health effects following the mechanisms discovered. The interplay of these computational frameworks will enable computations and experiments to feed each other iteratively in the pursuit of knowledge discovery.”

Shen says, the successful completion of the project will make algorithmic contributions to mathematical optimization, machine learning and graph theory. The project is expected to provide new insights into the pathobiology of diseases and facilitate a systems-based approach to the design of therapeutic strategies.

Shen’s MIRA for ESI is the first award of its kind to the College of Engineering at Texas A&M. It is also the first similar award to the Texas A&M System, together with another award this year to Dr. Jonathan T. Sczepanski, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry.

Shen joined Texas A&M in 2015. His research interests in bioinformatics include topics such as optimization and learning algorithms for modeling biological molecules, systems, and data. The applications of his research include protein docking, protein and drug design, systems and synthetic biology, and omics. His research projects have also been funded by the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies.

Learn more about Shen’s research here.