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</v:shape><![endif]--><![if !vml]><img width=120 height=150 src="cid:image003.jpg@01CCB999.533A0D30" 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'>Another successful semester is wrapping and I'd like to thank each of you for the hard work that you continue to do for the Cullen College. We will be celebrating the hard work of our students at our graduation ceremony this Friday, December 16 at 7 p.m. in Hofheinz Pavilion. Hope you can make it and applaud our newest generation of Cougar Engineers.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Here are a few announcements and updates 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 style='height:555.75pt'><td valign=top style='border:none;padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;height:555.75pt'><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>ME Chair:</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> It is with great pleasure that I announce the appointment of Professor Pradeep Sharma as the new chair of our Department of Mechanical Engineering. Pradeep has been a leader in both academic and research efforts in the department, including our GK-12 program where graduate students teach high school students advanced topics, our recent proposal to the National Science Foundation for an Engineering Research Center to advance nanosciences for energy storage, and has led an NSF Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT) effort to develop piezoelectric materials. We are very excited about Pradeep's vision for the department and have full confidence in the direction he plans to take it. Please join me in congratulating Pradeep on his new appointment and thanking Matt Franchek and Dave Zimmerman for leading the department in the interim.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>ASME:</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> The University of Houston recently received a $1.25 million gift from ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers). The Cullen College of Engineering will receive $1 million to establish an endowed chair for our subsea engineering program. The College of Technology received the other $250,000 for their petroleum technology initiative. We are extremely excited about the commitment ASME has made to our subsea engineering program, a program that continues to draw great interest. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Dean Kirkpatrick:</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> Charles V. Kirkpatrick, who as dean from 1965-1975 led the Cullen College of Engineering through a period of tremendous growth, passed away on December 2 at the age of 95. A petroleum engineer, in the early 1960s Kirkpatrick was named interim dean of the Cullen College and was appointed the post on a permanent basis in 1965, becoming the college’s second dean. During this period the University of Houston became a state institution, resulting in a huge increase in the college’s enrollment and the corresponding growth in faculty count. Kirkpatrick successfully led the college through this time of transition. Kirkpatrick also oversaw significant improvement to the college’s graduate program. Under his watch, the Cullen College began offering PhDs in five academic areas and hired several prominent faculty members to support these programs. These efforts earned him a number of honors, highlighted by an Honorary Doctorate awarded in 1970 by the College of Chinese Culture in Taiwan. His leadership and contributions were also recognized by alumnus William C. Miller, who established a $1 million endowed chair in petroleum engineering in 2007 in his honor.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>New Faculty: </span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Recently, two new faculty members joined the Cullen College. Please join me in welcoming Professors Contreras-Vidal and Gifford to UH!<br><br><a href="http://www.ee.uh.edu/faculty/contreras-vidal">Professor Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal</a> joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland School of Public Health, where he served as an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology and as part of graduate programs in both bioengineering, and neuroscience and cognitive science. He received a Ph.D. in cognitive and neural systems from Boston University in 1994, an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Boulder in 1990 and a B.S. in electronic and communications engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology in 1987. His research interests include neural, cognitive and rehabilitation engineering, computational neuroscience, noninvasive brain neuroimaging, brain-machine interfaces, movement disorders, models of the injured brain and smart neuroprosthetics. <a href="http://bme.uh.edu/faculty/gifford/main"><br><br>Associate Professor Howard Gifford</a> joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He received a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from University of Arizona in 1997. His research interests include image formation and reconstruction for medical imaging, objective assessment of imaging systems, visual perception and sources of observer variability in perception studies, image classification and pattern recognition, statistical decision and estimation theory and parallel-computing applications in imaging.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>CAREER Workshop:</span></strong><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> The Cullen College will be hosting a workshop to help junior faculty learn about applying for NSF CAREER Awards on January 9. For more information, please contact <a href="mailto:fclaydon@uh.edu">Associate Dean Fritz Claydon</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'>Have a wonderful winter break—happy holidays to you and your family.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><img border=0 width=251 height=71 id="_x0000_i1026" src="cid:image004.png@01CCB999.533A0D30" 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>