OU Engineering

Inspired by the April 2015 challenge by Jim Gallogly, the college's namesake, to pursue excellence, the Pursuit of Excellence Award honors those who regularly and selflessly serve the college with excellence in all they do. Presented at the fall Board of Advisors meeting, the awards are among the highest recognition given by the college. In addition to a cash award, recipients receive a certificate of distinction. Introducing the class of 2022 Pursuit of Excellence Award recipients: Graduate Student Award - Roshan Sameer Annam Roshan Sameer Annam is pursuing a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering. He has served as a teaching assistant for many core lab courses and theory classes. Students appreciate his gregarious and helpful attitude. He makes the educational experience fruitful and enjoyable for students. He is active in the Graduate Student Community leadership where he has served the past three years. He is also a student representative on the AME Board of Advisors. Staff

The University of Oklahoma has received a $3.5 million gift from OU alumnus Michael Turner to support the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering in the Gallogly College of Engineering. Turner’s generous gift will fund the addition of cutting-edge equipment, positioning the school to recruit talented faculty and enhance its research impact. “By every metric, research at OU is boldly advancing to new heights, and yet, we know this is only the beginning of our research trajectory,” said OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. “One of the goals of OU’s ‘Lead On’ fundraising campaign is to create real-world impact through research, and that is precisely what Michael Turner’s transformative gift will do. His investment in exceptionally sophisticated equipment will generate even more promising breakthroughs in medical research, and countless Oklahomans will benefit.” The OU School of Biomedical Engineering focuses on generating groundbreaking discoveries in health care areas that include cancer,

University of Oklahoma biomedical engineer Yuan Yang, Ph.D., has received nearly $2 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association to examine the impact of strokes and the movement impairments suffered by stroke patients. Stroke is one of the leading causes of death in the United States and a major cause of serious disability for adults. With more than 7 million stroke survivors in the United States, strokes are disrupting lives at a rate of one stroke every 40 seconds, Yang says. Four out of five stroke patients have movement problems in their hands, arms and shoulders causing difficulties in reaching, grasping and opening their hands. “In more severe cases, existing treatments are not effective due to an inadequate understanding of the changes experienced by the brain following a stroke, particularly when targeted treatment is not administered,” said Yang, an assistant professor at the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering at OU. NI

In November, deans from the Gallogly College of Engineering presented Cheryl Carney with the GCOE Superior Staff Award.  Carney has more than 30 years of service with OU, with most of those years dedicated to the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.  Photo from left: John Klier, Carney, Randa Shehab and Zahed Siddique.

OU-Tulsa President Jim Sluss, prior director of the OU School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was recently honored by the IEEE Education Society (EdSoc). Sluss received the organization's 2022 Distinguished Member Award for his long-term leadership, dedication and service to the IEEE Education Society, as well as for scholarship, service and leadership in undergraduate engineering education. The IEEE Education Society, founded in 1957, is one of the oldest technical societies in the IEEE. The society is an international organization that promotes, advances and disseminates state-of-the-art scientific information and resources. By OU Marketing and Communications, OU-Tulsa

In November, the Universidad Antenor Orrego presented OU engineering professor Jorge Salazar-Cerreño, Ph.D., with a Doctor Honoris Causa, an honorary degree distinction given to an individual who has made significant contributions to their field. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1994 from the Universidad Antenor Orrego, a Peruvian private university in Trujillo, La Libertad Region. He earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in 2012.  In 2014, he joined the University of Oklahoma. Salazar is the William H. Barkow Presidential Associate Professor in the OU School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research covers novel and state-of-the art microwave and mmWave technologies for phased array radars, sensors and communication systems.

Christian Newkirk, a mechanical engineering major and undergraduate certificate holder in engineering leadership, has been named the Gallogly College of Engineering Outstanding Senior at the University of Oklahoma. Newkirk, a native of Dallas, has served in leadership roles in the OU Class Council, Tau Beta Pi, The Big Event, President’s Leadership Class, Engineers’ Club and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.  As SHPE president, Newkirk creates effective relationships with campus and regional leaders while promoting community engagement with over 400 students in the Hispanic engineering community at OU.  Newkirk has interned at Spirit AeroSystems as a design engineering intern and diversity, equity, and inclusion intern. In the role, he supported employee business resource groups on talent acquisition, webpage updates, and community initiatives.  His passions include representing the LGBTQ+ community in diversity and inclusion efforts and being a mentor to first-generation

H M Imran Kays and Maisha Khan ( photo, from left ), both Ph.D. students in the OU School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, were two of three students awarded with $2,000 scholarships from the Oklahoma Traffic Engineering Association scholarships.   The scholarships are given to outstanding students pursuing a career in transportation or traffic engineering. Kays and Khan are both graduate research assistants under the supervision of Arif Sadri, an assistant professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science. Kay’s research focuses on developing an aggregated resilience model for Oklahoma against natural hazards, investigating the dependence and cascading of failure from other infrastructures to the traffic system and the impact on communities in natural disasters, and developing a traffic prediction model using machine learning and big data for weather events. Khan's research involves incorporating transportation engineering into social science, d

Rachel Bennett, a Ph.D. student in the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, received a student poster award at the inaugural Oklahoma Conference for Statistics, Biostatistics and Data Science .  Bennett's presentation, titled “Early Detection of Preeclampsia using a Scalable Deep Neural Network Algorithm,” focused on detecting signs of preeclampsia (high blood pressure or hypertension) during pregnancy using deep/machine learning. Bennett conducted the research under Talayeh Razzaghi, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Bennett shared her results at the conference and also received a cash award for her contributions. The inaugural event took place in October at the OU Health Sciences Center and was hosted by the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Statistical Association, Oklahoma Shared Clinical and Translational Resources, American Statistical Association, Bayesic Technologies and the Department of Biostatistics and Epide

In October, three University of Oklahoma students received cash prizes from the Oklahoma Aerospace and Defense Innovation Institute Student Poster Competition. The winning research posters were selected by a panel of judges during the inaugural OU defense symposium held at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Benton Smith, a graduate student in the OU School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a graduate research assistant with the Advanced Radar Research Center, received first place and a $500 cash prize for his poster, “Development of AI/ML Algorithms for All-Digital Arrays.” ARRC faculty Nathan Goodman, David Schvartzman and Tian-You Yu advised the research. ECE student Cameron Goodbar contributed to the project. Syed Shahan Jehangir, an ECE and ARRC doctoral student, received second place and a $250 cash prize for the poster, “Designing Ultrawideband High Precision Dual-polarized Antenna Probes for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Based Real-time Calibration of Digital P

University of Oklahoma engineer Li Song, Ph.D., never imagined her research would occur in a 1940’s bungalow. After all, for more than 20 years she has primarily studied thermal science in large-scale complex buildings such as hospitals, office buildings and towers.  However, the mechanical engineering professor saw an opportunity a few years ago. Only on the market since 2017, Song thought that smart thermostats – Wi-Fi thermostats – showed the potential for further investigation. She noticed hundreds of computer scientists were collecting data about smart thermostat usage, but few were studying their actual physical systems. To begin, Song needed a laboratory. Enter the bungalow located just a block south of the OU campus. The home is made possible by research funding from the Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and OG&E with additional support from the Department of Energy. Before even converting the bungalow to a lab,

Through a Department of Energy-funded project, University of Oklahoma engineers have developed a low-cost, field installable retrofit kit to reduce emissions and enhance the performance of integral reciprocating compressors used in the production, gathering, transmission and processing of natural gas. As part of the development effort, OU will partner with Elipsa, a leader in no-code industrial artificial intelligence.  “The partnership with Elipsa has resulted in a low-cost retro-fit kit specifically designed to reduce emissions from integral reciprocating compressors, a critical machine in the field of natural gas,” said Pejman Kazempoor, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the OU School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. Integral Reciprocating compressors, known as IRCs, are used to produce the pressure needed to propel natural gas through the networks of pipelines that deliver gas to homes and businesses around the world. There are over thousands of IRCs running 24 hours a day i

University of Oklahoma undergraduate students Adriana Landry ( left, in photo ) and Shivam Patel, both in the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering in the Gallogly College of Engineering, received first and second place, respectively, at the 2022 Undergraduate Student Poster Competition during the AIChE Annual Meeting in Phoenix on Nov. 14. AIChE – American Institute for Chemical Engineers –is the world's leading organization for chemical engineering professionals, with more than 60,000 members from more than 110 countries. First-place winner, Landry, presented on the synthesis of modified spirocyclic polymers. Patel won second place for his research on the fabrication of perfluorinated polymer blends and their thermodynamic and transport characterization.  Landy and Patel are advised by CBME assistant professor Michele Galizia and are members of Galizia’s Membrane Lab , which aims to develop new polymer-based materials for large-scale gas, vapor and liquid sepa

Three University of Oklahoma engineering students have taken top honors in the first Hydrogen Business Case Prize Competition supported by the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office in the U.S. Department of Energy.  The OU team – Hydrogen for South-Central Region of the U.S., or H24SCR for short – placed fourth in phase two of the national contest, receiving a $20,000 cash award.  Seniors John Fisher and Raelin Lane, along with graduate student Megan Fox, developed a financial analysis tool to help address the best places for hydrogen energy production. Their concept was titled “Probability of Hydrogen Integration (Phi) tool to calculate the viability of hydrogen production in a given location.” Mentoring the OU team were aerospace and mechanical engineering faculty members Pejman Kazempoor, Ph.D., and Farrokh Mistree, Ph.D., and Janet K. Allen, Ph.D., an industrial and systems engineering professor. The south-central region of the United States – Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and

A three-year research project led by Song Fang, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the School of Computer Science in the Gallogly College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma, aims to develop better ways to locate hidden wireless devices, develop countermeasures against unauthorized voice or motion detection, and create techniques to safeguard user privacy against unauthorized monitoring from such devices. From Ring doorbell cameras to voice assistants and many other such smart devices, technologists describe this network of internet-enabled data-capturing devices the Internet of Things, or IoT. These smart devices often use voice or motion detection to activate and then upload that sensing data to the cloud, which brings privacy concerns associated with how that data could be accessed. Fang says such devices also create privacy concerns associated with unauthorized monitoring, as such devices can be easily hidden in various locations with the intent to capture information. “Trad

In October, more than 100 middle school girls from local and statewide schools visited the University of Oklahoma campus to learn more about engineering. The GLAMS program – Girls Learning and Applying Math and Science – introduced young women to the field using interactive hands-on activities led by OU engineering students. Hands-on activities included learning about Boolean logic by creating circuits to turn on a light and exploring electromagnetic fields using magnets and a battery to move a copper wire design. Sponsored by OG&E, eight OG&E employees helped host the students in the hopes of boosting the number of women studying engineering – currently, only 25% of students in the OU Gallogly College of Engineering are women. “As a woman in a STEM career myself, inviting girls and young women to explore and get excited about STEM concepts is a passion of mine,” said Andrea Dennis, vice president of transmission and distribution operations at OG&E. “The energy sector will

Front row, left: Qinghao Zhang, Chongle Pan, Feng Yan, Jessica Shaw, Sinaro Ly and Qinggong Tang. Back row, left: Zaid Alhajeri, Chen Wang, Justin Reynolds, Yunlong Liu, Paul Contreras and Parker Brandt. Each year more than 8,000 people die while waiting to receive a kidney transplant, many of whom have spent four or more years on donor waitlists, hoping for a miracle to arrive. These deaths occur due to a worldwide shortage of kidneys for transplantation because there is currently no reliable means to quickly and efficiently determine the viability of enough donor kidneys to meet the demand. A team of researchers from the University of Oklahoma and the OU Health Sciences Center, with assistance from LifeShare of Oklahoma, as well as researchers and clinicians from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Worchester Polytechnic Institute and Georgetown Medical Center will collaborate to investigate the use of optical coherence tomography to evaluate donor kidneys and develop new scanni

Farrokh Mistree, Ph.D., L.A. Comp Chair in the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, has received an ICONNN Award from the International Conference series on Research into Design (ICoRD’23) organizing committee.  Mistree is one of two recipients globally selected for making outstanding contributions to the advancement of research and/or education in design. In January 2023, he will deliver a keynote titled “From Make to DESIGN and Make” at the ninth International Conference on Research Into Design at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India. “Design, in its ubiquitous and inter-disciplinary sense, is one of the fastest growing areas of research, education and practice. However, while there are numerous awards for design practitioners, there are very few awards to acknowledge and honor outstanding researchers and educators of design. These awards are a small step to addressing this gap,” said Amaresh Chakrabarti, conference and program chair.   ICoRD was established

There’s no doubt that today’s electric grid is aging and being pushed to do more than intended. Extreme weather, natural disasters and increased demand – all are taking a toll on America’s century-old infrastructure. Across the globe, hundreds of researchers have dedicated their careers to studying renewable energy to help reduce carbon emissions and energy independence. In September, University of Oklahoma assistant professor Jie Cai, Ph.D., and a team of researchers were awarded funding to study thermal energy storage in commercial and residential buildings to promote renewable energy utilization.  The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Energy through its Establish Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) . Cai’s project was one of 29 new projects nationwide to receive research funding totaling $21 million. The project is titled “Aging-Aware Management of Motorized Energy Storage for Grid Flexibility Provision.” Paul Moses, Ph.D., an assistant professor in OU’s Schoo

In 2023, the Gallogly College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma will open an interdisciplinary workforce education and research center to serve the growing biopharmaceutical industry in Oklahoma. Named the OU Bioprocessing Core Facility, the center will serve as a shared research resource in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and bioprocess engineering.  The proposed facility is part of the Oklahoma Biotech Innovation Cluster Initiative , a coalition spearheaded by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber alongside partners, including OU, the Oklahoma City Innovation District and Echo Investment Capital. Oklahoma’s proposal was one of 21 out of 529 applicants selected nationally for the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge . John Klier, Ph.D. dean of the Gallogly College of Engineering, and Zahed Siddique, Ph.D., the college’s associate dean for research, lead the project. “The OU Bioprocessing Core Facility will provide University of Oklahom

Cultural anthropologist Dawn Martin-Hill (shown in photo, fourth from left) is the recipient of the 2022 OU International Water Prize presented at the OU International WaTER Conference at First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City. An associate professor at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, she was recognized for her contributions to understanding how water quality and security are linked to Indigenous community culture, livelihood and health. View program, presentations and photos. By Jim Chamberlain Dawn Martin-Hill is a storyteller because it is in stories where the truth lies. She tells one story of leading a water ceremony out on the west coast of the United States. One participant brought a pottery bowl that was engraved with “Water is Life” in many different languages. That bowl is a symbol of Martin-Hill's lifework – to honor and celebrate the sacramental gift that water is to all peoples using the stories and myths of her culture, the Haudenosaunee peoples of Canada’s S

A research team, coordinated by the Oklahoma Aerospace and Defense Innovation Institute at the University of Oklahoma, is working with members of the 76th Maintenance Wing at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex to develop a novel chromium-free organic primer for aerospace applications. John Klier, Ph.D., dean of Gallogly College of Engineering and co-principal investigator for the research project, is leading the project alongside Brian Grady, Ph.D., a professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, in partnership with the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex. OC-ALC technical leads are Blake Yort and Ross Moseley. Currently, chromium compounds are added to paints and primers to provide protection against corrosion and create certain colors. Hexavalent chromium is a toxic form of chromium with can cause severe health effects to those exposed, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. “Hexavalent chromium is the benchmark in corrosion

Floods in 2022 have set records, and new research suggests that could become the norm. Summer 2022 has been an unprecedented one with five “1-in-1,000-year” floods experienced across the U.S.: St. Louis on July 26, Eastern Kentucky on July 28, Southeast Illinois on Aug. 1, Death Valley on Aug. 5 and Dallas on Aug. 22.  “The intense rainfall combined with conducive land surface conditions, known as impervious surfaces, have caused flash floods and widespread inundation in cities,” said Yang Hong, Ph.D., professor of hydrology and remote sensing in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science in the Gallogly College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. “The continued warming climate and aging water infrastructure will exacerbate flood risks.” Hong is leading a research team with Zhi Li, Ph.D., and Jonathan Gourley, Ph.D., research hydrometeorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Severe Storms Laboratory. Their latest study,

Funded by the Department of Energy, a theoretical study led by Bin Wang, associate professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering in the Gallogly College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma, is modeling how carbon dioxide could be combined with ethylene, the most common industrial chemical, to make acrylic acid, a common component of many household industrial products. Acrylic acid is used to make disposable diapers, clothing, plastics, and many other consumer applications. It is currently produced by oxidation of propene, a gaseous product of oil refineries. “If you can replace propene and find alternate ways to make acrylic acid using CO2 as feedstock, there are two advantages,” said Wang. “It provides an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas and make CO2 more valuable.” Researchers have been investigating this alternate approach for more than four decades to try to find a more durable solution to making acrylic acid. “Over the last 40 years, homoge

The American Chemical Society honored University of Oklahoma engineering professor Daniel Resasco, Ph.D., with the Exceptional Achievements in Catalysis award at a special symposium of the Catalysis Division during its Fall 2022 national meeting in Chicago.  Resasco was recognized for advancing solutions for a lower-carbon future working closely with researchers at Phillips 66. Walter Alvarez, Ph.D., principal scientist at the Phillips 66 Research Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, led the nomination effort. “The catalysis group at the University of Oklahoma and researchers at Phillips 66 have a long-term research collaboration focused on the development of an in-depth understanding of the chemical reactions of interest in the production of fuels,” Alvarez said.  The collaboration covers a wide range of interconnected areas such as the analysis of the molecular structure of the reactants, detailed catalyst design and catalyst characterization, reaction kinetics and processes optimizatio