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OU Environmental Engineering Students Recognized at ASRS Meeting

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Two members of the Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds (CREW) have received top honors from the American Society of Reclamation Sciences (ASRS), an international society focusing on land reclamation and the protection and enhancement of soil and water resources. OU doctoral students ( photo ) Nick Shepherd and M’Kenzie Dorman won two of the six awards presented annually to ASRS members. Shepherd received first place in the ASRS Best Student Oral Presentation. A CREW member , Shepherd conducts research on watershed biogeochemistry and ecological engineering. His studies revolve around mine drainage at the Tar Creek Superfund Site ranging from the physical and chemical characterization of mine drainage to the biological impacts on receiving aquatic ecosystems.  Dorman was awarded second place in the ASRS Best Student Oral Presentation. Her research focuses on the passive treatment of acid mine drainage to create more sustainable treatment processes that limit the footprin
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Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology Selects Funding Recipients

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Four interdisciplinary biomedical research projects have been selected for funding through the 2022 IBEST-OUHSC Cross-Campus Program, a co-funding mechanism created to facilitate the development of multidisciplinary teams of OU Norman and OU Health Sciences Center faculty to compete for external funding on significant cross-disciplinary healthcare research topics.  The  Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology in the  Gallogly College of Engineering spans research and education activities in bioscience and biomedical engineering on the Norman and Oklahoma City campuses. The four teams are: Project 1:   A pilot bedside-to-bench study, employing a pre-clinical localized ablative immunotherapy-based combination approach to modulate biomarkers of immunotherapy resistance identified in metastatic melanoma patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.  Led by Abdul Rafeh Naqash, OU Health Sciences Center,  and Wei Chen , Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering
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OU and Air Force Engineers Improve Natural Language Generation for Auto-Routing Aircraft

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  A research team, coordinated by the Oklahoma Aerospace and Defense Innovation Institute at the University of Oklahoma, is applying artificial intelligence and machine learning methods to improve autonomous routing of aircraft being operated by the U.S. Air Force. “The Department of Defense analyzes massive amounts of information to orchestrate the defense and security actions of allied forces,” said Dean Hougen , Ph.D., an associate professor in the School of Computer Science in the Gallogly College of Engineering. “Routing platforms, like those used to set the flight plans for aircraft, depend on massive quantities of data that are ever evolving, and current routing methods are often heavily dependent on direct human involvement.” Hougen is leading the project in partnership with the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex to develop a platform that will use natural language generation to improve autonomous routing capabilities. Co-investigators John Antonio and Lacey Schley, with OU en
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OU Biomedical Engineering Researcher is Ready to Transform TBI Surgery

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A battered woman. A wounded warrior. A football player. All from completely different worlds. Yet, all are connected by one thing – traumatic brain injury. In the United States, traumatic brain injury affects around 1.7 million people, with most of the injuries occurring in adolescents ages 15-19 and adults aged 65 and older. In 2020, over 64,000 TBI-related deaths were reported in the United States.  Across the globe, hundreds of researchers have dedicated their careers to studying and testing methods to improve treatment options for TBI survivors. Michael Detamore, Ph.D., a biomedical engineering researcher at the University of Oklahoma, was recently awarded $640,000 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health for his project titled, “Single stage surgical intervention for treatment of severe traumatic brain injury.” Patients who suffer a severe TBI must undergo two surgeries: one to remove a part of the skull to allow the bra
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Chemical Institute of Canada Catalysis Division Honors OU Engineering Prof

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The 2022 Robert B. Anderson Catalysis Award from the Chemical Institute of Canada’s Catalysis Division was presented to University of Oklahoma engineering professor Daniel Resasco, Ph.D., for his research that deepens the understanding of chemical reactions in the production of sustainable energy.   The award, named after a prominent Canadian catalysis researcher, is given to an internationally recognized leader in the field of catalysis. Resasco was distinguished for advancing solutions for a lower-carbon future, including catalytic conversion of biomass feedstocks to carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals.  Among the various fundamental aspects of the reactions investigated by Resasco and his group is the molecular interactions occurring at the solid-liquid interfaces that determine the performance of the catalyst and govern the type of products that are obtained.   Earlier this year, the honor was bestowed at the institute’s annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. While t
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2 OU Engineering Graduate Students Receive Top Honors

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Two of three graduate students receiving the Outstanding Graduate Student Award from the OU Graduate Student Senate hail from the Gallogy College of Engineering. Nicholas Shepherd, of the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, was named the Overall Outstanding Graduate Student for the 2021-2022 academic year. He is a member of the OU Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds (CREW) conducting research on watershed biogeochemistry and ecological engineering. His studies revolve around mine drainage at the Tar Creek Superfund Site ranging from the physical and chemical characterization of mine drainage to the biological impacts on receiving aquatic ecosystems. He has spent over a decade conducting research at the Tar Creek Superfund Site beginning in high school. Chen Wang, of the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, was named the Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant for the 2021-2022 year. He is a Ph.D. candidate with research that focuses on applyin
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OU Biomedical Engineering Students Develop Shake-Canceling Spoon

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Eating can be an upsetting and humiliating ordeal for people whose hands shake uncontrollably due to Parkinson’s disease or a tremor disorder. Four biomedical engineering students at the University of Oklahoma hope that their invention will help those diagnosed with these illnesses.  Their invention is called SteadiSpoon, a self-stabilizing eating utensil that helps Parkinson’s and essential tremor patients to feed themselves despite hand tremors, says Jacob Nichols, of Ardmore, Oklahoma.  “Our team designed SteadiSpoon to empower people with tremors to regain the agency, autonomy and dignity that comes from feeding oneself. Unlike other devices, the SteadiSpoon is self-stabilizing and does not require batteries,” Nichols said. “With the help of the Center for Human Performance Measurement at the OU Health Sciences Center, we determined that our device performs on par with the best existing solutions, making it the most affordable device in its class by far.” In April, Nichols and Andr
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