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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#CC0000" vlink="#CC0000"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>To view online, visit http://www.egr.uh.edu/newsletter/deansmemo/0411.html<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=602 style='width:451.5pt'><tr style='height:63.75pt'><td valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:63.75pt'><p class=MsoNormal><img width=600 height=107 id="_x0000_i1029" src="cid:image001.gif@01CBFDCE.4D8408A0" alt="http://www.egr.uh.edu/newsletter/deansmemo/images/newswrapper_dean_new.gif"><o:p></o:p></p></td></tr><tr><td valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=600 style='width:6.25in'><tr><td colspan=3 valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><img width=30 height=30 id="_x0000_i1028" src="cid:image002.png@01CBFDCE.4D8408A0" alt="http://www.egr.uh.edu/images/space.gif"><o:p></o:p></p></td></tr><tr><td width=30 valign=top style='width:22.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><img width=30 height=30 id="_x0000_i1027" src="cid:image002.png@01CBFDCE.4D8408A0" alt="http://www.egr.uh.edu/images/space.gif"><o:p></o:p></p></td><td width=540 valign=top style='width:405.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><p><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f">
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</v:shape><![endif]--><![if !vml]><img width=120 height=150 src="cid:image003.jpg@01CBFDCE.4D8408A0" align=right hspace=9 alt="http://www.egr.uh.edu/newsletter/deansmemo/images/tedesco.jpg" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_2"><![endif]><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Dear Cullen College Faculty and Staff,</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>It's been a busy semester and we have a great deal to celebrate as it comes to a close. Recently, our faculty and students have been recognized for their professional, research and academic accomplishments. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>We are very excited to see this level of excellence continue as we pursue our Tier One goals. Join me in congratulating the following professors and students for these high honors:</span><o:p></o:p></p><div align=center><table class=MsoNormalTable border=1 cellspacing=10 cellpadding=0 width=540 style='width:405.0pt;border:none;border-bottom:dotted #333333 1.0pt'><tr><td width="50%" valign=top style='width:50.0%;border:none;padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><p><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The <strong><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>UH ACI Student Chapter</span></strong> (CEE) captured third place in the American Concrete Institute's International FRP Composites Competition.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Prof. and Chair Metin Akay</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> (BME) is the recipient of the first IEEE Information Tech in Biomedicine Leadership Award.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Prof. and Chair Abdeldjelil "DJ" Belarbi </span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>(CEE) received the Joe W. Kelly Award from the American Concrete Institute.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The Chem-E Car Team</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> (ChBE) won second place in the recent regional competition and will be advancing to nationals.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Prof. Ji Chen</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> (ECE) will receive an IEEE EMC Society Technical Achievement Award.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Prof. Ovidiu Crisan</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> (ECE) was named the IEEE Region 5 Outstanding Branch Counselor of the Year.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Prof. Matthew Franchek</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> (ME) has been appointed director of the college's Subsea Engineering Program.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p> <o:p></o:p></p></td><td width="50%" valign=top style='width:50.0%;border:none;padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Prof. Zhu Han</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> (ECE) and colleagues will received the 2011 IEEE Communications Society Fred W. Ellersick Prize for their paper titled "Dynamic Spectrum Access in IEEE 802.22-Based Cognitive Wireless Networks: A Game Theoretic Model for Competitive Spectrum Bidding and Pricing," published in the April 2009 issue of<em><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine</span></em>.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Graduate student <strong><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Rachel Howser</span></strong> (CEE) won the O.H. Ammann Research Fellowship from the American Society of Civil Engineers.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Prof. Thomas Hsu</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> (CEE) was honored for being a member of the American Concrete Institute for 50 years.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Prof. Dmitri Litvinov</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> (ECE) has been named a Moores Professor.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Prof. Hanadi Rifai</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> (CEE) has been named a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Prof. Jerry Rogers</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> (CEE) has been named the recipient of ASCE's 2011 History and Heritage Award and ASCE's Environmental and Water Resource Institute Lifetime Achievement Award.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The <strong><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>UH IEEE Student Chapter</span></strong> (ECE) was named the IEEE Region 5 Outstanding Student Branch of the Year.</span><o:p></o:p></p></td></tr></table></div><p><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Here are also few announcements and upcoming events that I'd like to share with you:</span><o:p></o:p></p><div align=center><table class=MsoNormalTable border=1 cellspacing=10 cellpadding=0 width=540 style='width:405.0pt;border:none;border-bottom:dotted #333333 1.0pt'><tr><td valign=top style='border:none;padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>OTC: </span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The UH Cullen College of Engineering will have a booth at the upcoming Offshore Technology Conference to promote the Energy Research Park and Cullen College energy initiatives such as our petroleum engineering program and developing subsea certificate program.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Virginia Tech Research Park Visit: </span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>In late March, a delegation from UH visited the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center to benchmark and explore best practices in the development of successful research parks. Joe Meredith, president of the Virginia Tech park, will be visiting the UH Energy Research Park soon to discuss strategic planning and development.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Grant: </span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The Cullen College of Engineering will play a key role in a university-wide effort to obtain a National Science Foundation ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Grant. The purpose of the funding is to increase participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>ELB: </span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The Engineering Leadership Board convened last Friday and welcomed new members Carlos de Aldecoa Bueno, president of Maximum Coffee Group; Rick Coneway, vice president and Austin division manager of Doucet & Associates; David Brunnert, vice president of drilling tools and intervention services at Weatherford International; Ronald Mullinax, president of Brown & Gay Engineering; David Eastwood, president of Geotech Engineering & Testing; and Michael Liberman, emeritus member of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and chair emeritus of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at The Methodist Hospital Physician Organization.</span><o:p></o:p></p></td></tr></table></div><p><strong><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Upcoming Events:</span></strong><o:p></o:p></p><div align=center><table class=MsoNormalTable border=1 cellspacing=10 cellpadding=0 width=540 style='width:405.0pt;border:none;border-bottom:dotted #333333 1.0pt'><tr><td width="50%" valign=top style='width:50.0%;border:none;padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>ASME/UH Cajun Crawfish Boil</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'><br>May 1, 2011<br>Lynn Eusan Park<br><a href="http://egr.uh.edu/alumni/events/?e=crawfishboil">More information</a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Spring Faculty/Staff Meeting</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'><br>May 3, 2011, 3-4:30 p.m.<br>L2-D2</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Executive Retreat</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'><br>May 6, 2011<br>UH Hilton</span><o:p></o:p></p></td><td width="50%" valign=top style='width:50.0%;border:none;padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Engineering Commencement</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'><br>May 13, 2011<br>Hofheinz Pavilion<br><a href="http://egr.uh.edu/students/current/?e=commencement">More information</a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Engineering Awards Gala</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'><br>June 3, 2011<br>Four Seasons, Houston <br><a href="http://egr.uh.edu/eaa/activities/?e=gala">More information</a></span><o:p></o:p></p></td></tr></table></div><p><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Thank you, as always, for your continued dedication and support!</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Warm regards,</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><img border=0 width=251 height=71 id="_x0000_i1026" src="cid:image004.png@01CBFDCE.4D8408A0" alt="http://www.egr.uh.edu/newsletter/deansmemo/images/Tedesco_Signature.gif"><o:p></o:p></p><p style='mso-line-height-alt:0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Joe Tedesco </span><o:p></o:p></p></td><td width=30 valign=top style='width:22.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-line-height-alt:0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p></td></tr></table><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><hr size=1 width="98%" noshade style='color:gray' align=center></div></td></tr><tr><td valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=600 style='width:6.25in'><tr><td width=28 style='width:21.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></td><td width=572 style='width:429.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=5 cellpadding=0><tr><td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'><a href="http://www.egr.uh.edu" target="_blank">EGR HOME</a> | <a href="http://www.egr.uh.edu/news/" target="_blank">EGR NEWSROOM</a> | <a href="http://www.egr.uh.edu/alumni/" target="_blank">EGR ALUMNI ASSOCIATION</a> | <a href="http://www.egr.uh.edu/communications/?e=pub" target="_blank">PARAMETERS</a></span><o:p></o:p></p></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>