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Tag: University of Texas at El Paso

  • UTEP to Boost Training of Next-Gen Engineers with $5.3M Grant

    UTEP to Boost Training of Next-Gen Engineers with $5.3M Grant

    Newswise — EL PASO, Texas (Aug. 21, 2023) – The University of Texas at El Paso is scaling up its role in preparing the next generation of engineers for U.S. aerospace and defense manufacturing sectors. The effort is supported by a new $5,300,000 grant from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

    The funds will enhance a variety of training programs offered by the UTEP Aerospace Center’s Digital Engineering Aerospace and Defense Systems Design Centers (DEDCs) in El Paso; Youngstown, Ohio; and Huntsville, Alabama. The new funds are a follow-up investment to a fiscal year 2021 grant from the AFRL that supported the creation of the DEDCs. 

    “UTEP stands among the top 5% of research universities in the United States,” said Ahmad Itani, Ph.D., UTEP vice president for research. “That fact, along with the growing stature of our engineering expertise and instructional capabilities, make our University uniquely well-suited for the critical task of preparing the workforce that will ensure our country remains competitive in a world where design and engineering processes of systems of all kinds evolve at an unprecedented rate.”

    Digital engineering entails the use of computing and software instruments to expedite and enhance various phases of engineering, including system design, production, testing, evaluation, adaptation and upkeep. This method holds the potential to accelerate design, reduce expenditures and facilitate collaboration. It can also substantially decrease the costs associated with long-term system maintenance. 

    “Digital engineering will allow America to keep and increase its technological advantage,” said Ahsan Choudhuri, Ph.D., UTEP associate vice president for the Aerospace Center and the grant’s principal investigator. “That is why innovation in digital engineering and talent development with advanced digital skills are crucial. This grant represents a substantial vote of confidence from AFRL in our ability to carry out this important task.” 

    The project will leverage the expertise of the UTEP Aerospace Center’s DEDCs. Using an immersive learning approach, it will provide pre-professional experiences to 200 engineering and technology students. Undergraduate and graduate students from various universities, as well as students from two-year colleges and Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs in grades 9 through 12, will be recruited for the program.

    Many of these students will have the opportunity to work as interns and undergraduate and graduate research assistants at the DEDCs for a 12-month program.

    In addition to student development, the DEDCs will offer a course in the principles of digital engineering. Approximately 100 participants from federal agencies, aerospace and defense contractors and small and medium manufacturers will have the opportunity to enhance their knowledge in this field. 

    To learn more about the UTEP Aerospace Center and the Digital Engineering Aerospace and Defense Systems Design Centers, visit www.utep.edu/aerospace/Design%20Centers/index.html.

    About The University of Texas at El Paso

    The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving University. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 24,000 students are Hispanic, and half are the first in their families to go to college. UTEP offers 169 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.

     

     

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  • Prestigious NSF Grants Awarded to UTEP Early-Career Faculty

    Prestigious NSF Grants Awarded to UTEP Early-Career Faculty

    Newswise — EL PASO, Texas (Aug. 8, 2023) – Two University of Texas at El Paso researchers have earned one of the nation’s highest awards for early-career faculty in 2023.

    Laura Alvarez, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences, received a $550,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. The funds will support her research in understanding how river landscapes and their ecological and economic values such as hydroelectric power generation, water storage and recreational resources respond to severe droughts, floods, climate change and human interventions.

    Deepak K. Tosh, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, received a grant of $492,000 from the same program. The award will support his work toward enhancing the cyber resiliency of operational technology around critical national infrastructure such as powerplants, refineries and manufacturing facilities. The research also aims to provide a means to achieve global resiliency by sharing information among physically separated entities.

    “CAREER awards are very prestigious,” said Ahmad Itani, Ph.D., UTEP vice president for research. “Earning one is a remarkable achievement for any research institution, and it serves as further evidence of the superb quality of the research and instruction UTEP faculty offer.”

    The NSF CAREER Program recognizes junior faculty who have the potential to serve as role models in research and education. For her part, Alvarez will work with students to develop and implement models that allow the quantification and forecasting of the flow and sediment dynamics in field-scale rivers. The expected societal outcomes of the education component are focused on increasing the representation of women in Earth science and creating new literacy in gender equity.

    “With the support of this grant, my research and educational pursuits find validation, further affirming my dedication as a teacher-scholar. I am excited to embark on this journey, using it as a catalyst to synergize research and education to drive positive transformation within UTEP’s mission,” said Alvarez. “I am profoundly humbled and grateful for being a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award.”

    The education plan in Tosh’s project aims to bolster critical infrastructure security skills among the next generation of engineers via the development of hands-on training modules for undergraduate and graduate students from various disciplines, cyber research immersion programs for community college students and summer training sessions for middle and high school teachers.

    “Developing cyber secure operational technology for critical infrastructure has been the core pillar of my research agenda,” said Tosh. “Therefore, this award is an important personal milestone of which I am absolutely proud. I’d like to thank NSF and my colleagues for all their support.”

    Alvarez’s and Tosh’s awards follow the NSF CAREER grant awarded in May to Alexander Friedman, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, in support of his work on the neural mechanisms of decision-making.

    About The University of Texas at El Paso

    The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving University. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 24,000 students are Hispanic, and half are the first in their families to go to college. UTEP offers 169 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.

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  • Extroverts More Likely to Resist Vaccines, Study Shows

    Extroverts More Likely to Resist Vaccines, Study Shows

    Newswise — EL PASO, Texas (Aug. 2, 2023) – Which types of personalities were more hesitant about COVID-19 vaccination during the pandemic’s peak? Extroverts — according to a new study on more than 40,000 Canadians.

    “We expected that people who were especially high in extroversion would be more likely to get the vaccine,” said Melissa Baker, Ph.D., lead author and assistant professor at The University of Texas at El Paso. “We figured those people would want to get back out in the world and socialize, right? It’s actually the opposite.”

    The findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, can help with future public health messaging and vaccination campaigns, according to the team of scientists, based at UTEP and the University of Toronto. It also offers a unique perspective in vaccine hesitancy research, a field that has largely focused on political affiliation.

    “We wanted to look at vaccine hesitancy a different way,” said Baker who is a member of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration. “Of course, politics can help explain some of it, but there are personal differences between people, too — and that led us to this personality aspect.”

    The study is based on surveys of more than 40,000 Canadian adults, taken between November 2020 and July 2021. Online questions evaluated each participant’s personality, based on a model known as “big five,” which gauges an individual’s openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and emotional stability. 

    Additional questions probed how respondents felt about vaccination. One question, for example, asked, “When a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, will you be vaccinated?” As the vaccine rollout began, questions were altered to reflect their availability.

    Most of the team’s hypotheses were supported. For instance, people who were more open and agreeable were more likely to get the vaccine.

    “Those are the kind of people who are open to new things, new information and just like to go with the flow,” Baker said. “We also expected that for people with high conscientious because they are detail-oriented and big planners.”

    On the other hand, those with low emotional stability — or those who experience extreme emotions — were less likely to be vaccinated. And extroverts, to their surprise, were 18 percent more likely to refuse the vaccine.

    While the pandemic is over, the team said the findings could help with future public health messaging strategies for vaccination from various diseases, not just COVID-19.

    Baker explained, “If we know you need to reach a certain type of personality, we can think about the message that will actually reach and persuade that person.

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     About The University of Texas at El Paso 

    The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving University. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 24,000 students are Hispanic, and half are the first in their families to go to college. UTEP offers 169 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.

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  • This Self-Driving Boat Maps Underwater Terrain

    This Self-Driving Boat Maps Underwater Terrain

    Newswise — EL PASO, Texas (June 27, 2023) ­– Step aside self-driving cars, self-driving boats are here — and they can do more than take you on a cruise.

    Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have constructed a fully autonomous boat that can carry out bathymetric surveys — surveys of the depth and terrain of bodies of water like oceans, rivers and lakes. The team hopes the robotic boat can help simplify the survey process, which usually takes a crew of individuals to complete, as well as assist with reconnaissance missions.

    The boat and its capabilities are described in the May issue of the journal Sensors.

    “There are lots of reasons scientists carry out bathymetric surveys,” said Laura Alvarez, Ph.D., lead author of the study. “If you want to work in water-related studies, you need to know the shape and landscape of bodies of water. For example, you might want to map a reservoir to learn about water supply for electrical demand, or a river to learn about river evolution or flow patterns.”

    Alvarez, an assistant professor in UTEP’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences, specializes in unmanned systems for earth science. She started developing the boat several years ago but needed help tweaking and perfecting the system.

    That’s when she recruited science and electrical engineering master’s student Fernando Sotelo ‘22.

    “The first time we tested the boat was at the swimming pool at UTEP — just to make sure it could float,” laughed Fernando Sotelo, study co-author and now UTEP alumnus.

    Over the course of a year, Sotelo refined the aluminum watercraft, a 3-foot-by-3-foot circular craft that rests on a thick black inner tube, testing it in various environments like New Mexico’s Grindstone and Elephant Butte lakes. 

    His goals included extending the boat’s hours of operation and reliability; and making it fully autonomous and responsive to potential environmental issues like wind speed and temperature flux. Now, a failsafe can detect when batteries are low or wind gusts are too high and triggers a return-to-base function.

    The rudderless watercraft operates with four thrusters, allowing it to travel up to 5 feet per second and easily rotate 360-degrees. A solar panel and lithium battery allow the boat to last up to four hours at sea — covering an area up to 472,400 square feet.

    All the while a multibeam echosounder — a sonar system — emits sound waves from the bottom of the boat. Water depth can be calculated by the time it takes for the sound wave to water to hit the seafloor and return to the sonar system. The sound itself that returns to the device can help detect the type of material on the seafloor.

    To show proof of concept, the team successfully created 2D and 3D maps of portions of Ascarate Lake in El Paso, Texas and Grindstone Lake in Ruidoso, New Mexico.

    “My goal was to make the boat state-of-the-art and I think I did that. Of course, there’s always room to improve,” said Sotelo, who worked on the boat for his master’s thesis. “But the system works and for now, I hope it can make it easier for scientists like Dr. Alvarez to conduct their research.”

    Alvarez will put the boat to use for the first time this summer to study the Rio Grande River’s flow and depth.

    She adds that the instructions to replicate the boat are online in their latest Sensors publication.

    “The reason we wrote the paper was so that anyone can reproduce it by themselves,” Alvarez said. “It serves as an effective guideline to get them started.”

     

    About The University of Texas at El Paso 

    The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving University. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 24,000 students are Hispanic, and half are the first in their families to go to college. UTEP offers 169 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.

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  • Researchers to Train Farmers on How to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Improve Soil Health

    Researchers to Train Farmers on How to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Improve Soil Health

    Newswise — EL PASO, Texas (June 21, 2023) — In 2021, agricultural activities contributed to 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Now, researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso will help reduce these emissions by training farmers across the nation on climate-friendly agricultural practices.

    The project is supported by a new $2 million, four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

    The team behind the Carbon SMART (Soil Monitoring, Assessment, Research and Training) project includes soil scientists and geochemists from UTEP as well as geomorphologists, landscape ecologists, sociologists, and environmental anthropologists from Boise State University in Idaho. The researchers will train farmers and ranchers in Idaho and the surrounding region to monitor carbon levels in soil and practice climate-smart conservation practices.

    Increasing carbon in soil is key to increasing soil health, according to the team. Carbon is a key ingredient in photosynthesis, the process by which plants absorb and convert carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen. Once absorbed from the atmosphere, carbon is stored in the surrounding soil as decaying plant matter.

    “On a global scale, soil collectively holds about twice as much carbon as the atmosphere,” said David Huber, Ph.D, the project’s principal investigator and a research assistant professor in the UTEP Department of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences.

    But certain farming practices, like tilling and lack of cover crops, can disrupt soil structure and cause carbon to be released into the atmosphere faster than it is stored naturally, which contributes to atmospheric warming, climate change and reduced soil health. According to Huber, maintaining stable levels of carbon in soil is in the best interest of farmers and critical to preventing further warming.

    In addition to training producers to measure carbon levels in soil, the Carbon SMART team will monitor the success of various conservation methods at maintaining stable carbon levels.

    “This project will offer farmers and ranchers a practical toolset to assess for themselves the virtues of climate-smart conservation practices.” said Huber. “It will also provide important insight into why producers adopted one set of conservation practices but not others.”

    The team that received the grant will primarily work with farmers and ranchers from underserved communities. They plan to begin outreach with non-governmental agencies that work with these producers, as well as partner with state and federal agencies, state agricultural boards and industrial farms.

    “The Carbon SMART project will generate crucial knowledge about conservation practices that enhance carbon storage in soil and can be used to help agricultural producers improve soil health throughout the western U.S.,” said Robert Kirken, Ph.D., dean of the UTEP College of Science. “I’m very proud of the team for earning this grant that helps prevent further climate change while simultaneously helping historically underserved communities, and I’m looking forward to what they accomplish.”

    Additional investigators on the project include UTEP Professor of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences Lixin Jin, Ph.D. and Boise State University faculty members Jen Pierce, Ph.D.; Jodi Brandt, Ph.D.; Lisa Meierotto, Ph.D.; and Rebecca Som Castellanos, Ph.D.

     

    About The University of Texas at El Paso 

    The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving University. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 24,000 students are Hispanic, and half are the first in their families to go to college. UTEP offers 169 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.

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  • UTEP Awarded Numerous Grants to Support NASA Space Research

    UTEP Awarded Numerous Grants to Support NASA Space Research

    Newswise — EL PASO, Texas (May 4, 2023) – Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso will help build a robotic device for welding in space, prepare astronauts for a mission to the Moon and more, thanks to a slew of new grants from NASA.

    The burst of grants awarded to faculty across various departments and colleges highlight UTEP’s strong partnership with NASA and the critical scientific and engineering contributions made by the University for space exploration.

    “These joint initiatives between UTEP and NASA strengthen UTEP’s reputation as a premier research institution,” said Stephen Aley, Ph.D., associate vice president of research and special projects with the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects. “The work and research performed by our faculty will impact NASA’s future space exploration and beyond.”

    The grants include:

    Lunar Regolith Simulants Study

    Professors Reza Ashtiani, Ph.D. and Darren Cone will perform research on the granular mechanics of lunar soils. Under this grant, UTEP will become the repository of lunar regolith simulants, materials developed in the lab to represent physical, chemical and mineralogical characteristics of planetary soils. The study aims to provide valuable insights into the complex challenges of constructing infrastructure on other planets. 

    Development of a Robotic System for In-Space Welding

    Professors Angel Flores-Abad, Ph.D., Joel Quintana, Ph.D., and John Bird, Ph.D., will support the development of a digital and hardware robotic system for in-space welding by characterizing process motion and forces and generating real and synthetic performance data.

    Artemis Lunar Operations Support

    This grant will allow professor Jose Hurtado, Ph.D., to continue his long-time work of providing geology expertise to NASA, including mission simulations and intensive field training for NASA astronauts at locations on Earth that resemble the Moon. 

    Lunar Soil, Rock Simulant Analysis

    Through this grant, UTEP professors Carlos Cabrera Martinez, Ph.D., and Cone, along with Alejandro Metta, Ph.D., manager of the X-Ray Core Facility within UTEP’s Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, will study imitation planetary regolith, the layer of rock on top of bedrock. The research this team will conduct will help analyze important structures in imitation lunar dust, helping to identify lunar resources that could support future bases of people living on the Moon.

    “It’s important to learn about what types of oxides, water and other types of resources may be available on the Moon,” said Carlos Cabrera Martinez, Ph.D., professor and chair of the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UTEP. “This can give you an idea of where you can get, for example, oxygen and other metals and water — and that’s important to know for people staying on the Moon for a long time.”

    Cabrera is hopeful that all of these grants are paving the way for UTEP to continue providing expertise and assistance to NASA for lunar research and other expeditions.

    About The University of Texas at El Paso

    The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving university. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 24,000 students are Hispanic, and half are the first in their families to go to college. UTEP offers 169 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.

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  • UTEP to Build on Research Strengths with Brookhaven National Laboratory Partnership

    UTEP to Build on Research Strengths with Brookhaven National Laboratory Partnership

    https://www.utep.edu/newsfeed/2023/utep-to-build-on-research-strengths-with-brookhaven-national-laboratory-partnership.html

    The University of Texas at El Paso signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory to create new research opportunities for UTEP faculty and students as well as internship and employment opportunities in critical fields such as energy, data science and quantum information.

    “Long-term partnerships with national laboratories like Brookhaven become more important as we expand UTEP’s research portfolio and graduate more and more doctoral students,” said UTEP President Heather Wilson. “We look forward to working together.” 

    Brookhaven Lab, located in Long Island, New York, is one of 10 national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the DOE’s Office of Science. It opened in 1947 and is home to seven Nobel Prizes and more than 2,500 staff members.

    The agreement signed this week stems from interests shared by both UTEP and Brookhaven in advancing discovery in science, technology and engineering, officials from both institutions said. 

    “Brookhaven is honored to have entered into an MOU with UTEP,” said Brookhaven Lab Director Doon Gibbs. “We look forward to leveraging the facilities and expertise of our two institutions, identifying areas where we can collaborate to solve national challenges, and developing the next generation of scientists and engineers.” 

    To foster collaboration and help develop professional relationships, UTEP and Brookhaven will implement exchange visits, study tours and short courses offered at both locations so that members of the Brookhaven team can learn about the work done at UTEP and vice versa.

    For UTEP faculty and students, this plan will offer the added benefit of access to advanced research facilities and specialized equipment not widely available at universities nationally.

    UTEP and Brookhaven will also proactively work to identify opportunities for UTEP students to work at or with the lab on projects that could lead to future employment opportunities.

    Alex Harris, Ph.D., director of Energy Science and Technology at Brookhaven, will serve as the lab’s liaison with the University. His counterpart will be Carlos R. Cabrera Martínez, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in UTEP’s College of Science.

    One of the first products of the agreement that is already underway is a research collaboration between UTEP faculty and members of the chemistry department at Brookhaven on sustainable energy. Several more joint initiatives are now in the planning stages. 

    About Brookhaven National Laboratory

    One of 10 national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by DOE’s Office of Science, Brookhaven Lab conducts research in the physical, biological, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, a partnership founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit applied science and technology organization.

    Follow @BrookhavenLab on Twitter or find us on Facebook.

    About The University of Texas at El Paso

    The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving university. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 24,000 students are Hispanic, and half are the first in their families to go to college. UTEP offers 169 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.

     

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