Research Breakthroughs

Cullen Team Setting the Gold Standard in Diagnosis of Lupus Nephritis
September 12, 2023
$3M Grant Brings Artificial Intelligence on Board for Faster, More Accurate Diagnosis, Better Patient Outcome In the ever-perilous autoimmune disease world of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus), up to 60 percent of adult… 		From left, Chandra Mohan, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Endowed Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Hien Van Nguyen, associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, have received a $3 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to bring AI into the diagnostic picture.
More University Brain Power at the UH BRAIN Center
August 31, 2023
International Hub for Neurotechnology Grows Again with Addition of West Virginia University and Georgia Tech Two more universities, West Virginia University (WVU) and Georgia Institute of Technology, have been funded by the… 		The UH Brain Center, supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, allows research that would not be possible within the traditional silos of academic, industry, regulatory and clinical communities. At right, center director Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal prepares to map brain activity during a creative task.
ECE's Contreras-Vidal Creates Portable EEG Headset For Stroke Rehab
August 9, 2023
The world of at-home stroke rehabilitation is growing near, incredible news for the 795,000 people in the United States who annually suffer a stroke. A new low cost, portable brain-computer interface that connects the brain of… 		Passionate about brain waves, Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering, is an international pioneer in noninvasive brain-machine interfaces and robotic device inventions. Here he is working with a patient testing the at-home equipment.
Becker's research could unleash the Power of Intelligent Drone Swarms
June 5, 2023
Technology Will Allow Drones to Respond Fluidly to Changes in the Environment It’s a long-held notion, proven in fact, that robots are the perfect instrument to free humans from jobs that are dull, dirty and dangerous – the “3 Ds… 		Aaron Becker, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, is working to refine algorithms to devise coordinated control of drone swarms.
Researchers Study How Underserved Farmers Can Improve Crop, Impact Climate Change
March 14, 2023
University of Houston researchers are developing a program to teach small-scale, underserved and limited resources (SULR) farmers how to improve their crop production by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon… 		Xiaonan Shan
ECE's Hien Van Nguyen developing AI with a human touch
February 28, 2023
Despite the remarkable progress in artificial intelligence (AI), several studies show that AI systems do not improve radiologists' diagnostic performance. In fact, diagnostic errors influence 40,000 to 80,000 deaths annually in U… 		Hien Van Nguyen, University of Houston associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, is developing next-gen artificial intelligence to improve medical diagnostics.
UH Team Develops Novel Microscope To Design Better High-Performance Batteries
February 9, 2023
Lithium-ion batteries have transformed everyday lives – almost everyone has a smartphone, more electric vehicles can be spotted on the roads, and they keep power generators going during emergencies. As more portable electronic… 		As Assistant Professor Xiaonan Shan observes, recent UH graduate Guangxia Feng works on the operando reflection interference microscope (RIM) inside a “glove box,” since the lithium-ion battery electrolyte is flammable.
ECE Researchers Charging the Future with Modern Aqueous Batteries
December 12, 2022
Lithium-ion batteries, which today power everything from the smartphones we carry in our pockets to the electric vehicles we drive, are projected to capture 80 percent of the rechargeable battery market in the coming years. There… 		Researchers Yan Yao and Yanliang “Leonard” Liang.
ECE's Brankovic earns $300k grant for ferromagnetic alloy research
December 6, 2022
Stanko R. Brankovic, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering, has received a $300,000 grant to continue his research into creating a new magnetic alloys with superior properties for… 		Stanko R. Brankovic, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering, has received a $300,000 grant to continue his research into creating a new magnetic alloys with superior properties for induction application.
ECE's Chen, Shan part of new research on converting methane to hydrogen
November 3, 2022
A pair of professors from the Cullen College of Engineering are partnering with a colleague from Howard University to spur clean energy development via the use electromagnetic energy assisted hydrogen generation from fossil fuels… 		Jiefu Chen
Researchers Report Major Advance in Semiconductor Materials
July 21, 2022
High Carrier Mobility in Cubic Boron Arsenide Offers Promise for Next-Gen Electronics Researchers have for the first time experimentally discovered that a cubic boron arsenide crystal offers high carrier mobility for both… 		Zhifeng Ren and Jiming Bao, principal investigators at the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH, have for the first time experimentally discovered that a cubic boron arsenide crystal offers high carrier mobility for both electrons and holes, suggesting a major advance for next-generation electronics.
ECE's Yao, Research Team Develop Sodium Glassy Electrolytes Capable of Supporting Long-Duration Grid-Scale Energy Storage
June 1, 2022
Lithium-ion batteries are currently the preferred technology to power electric vehicles, but they’re too expensive for long-duration grid-scale energy storage systems, and lithium itself is becoming more challenging to access.… 		Yan Yao (left) and Ye Zhang work with all-solid-state sodium batteries.
UH Researchers Look to Disrupt Energy and Health Care Industries with Miniature Pulsed Power System
April 13, 2022
High-density Energy Storage Machine Less Expensive, More Reliable than Current Technology   Pulsed power systems accumulate and store large amounts of energy for a certain period of time to be released instantaneously later. The… 		Researchers at the University of Houston plan to develop a miniaturized pulsed power system that will power mobile hand-held MRI machines.
ECE's Shan Developing Imaging Technique to Understand How Dendrites Form in Batteries
February 24, 2022
As the world lessens its dependence on fossil fuels, industries and manufacturers are turning to lithium-ion batteries to power the machines that make modern life possible. These batteries power electric vehicles, mobile phones,… 		Xiaonan Shan and his team have developed a “novel in-situ” 3D microscopy to image and study the localized electrochemical environments and understand where dendrites start forming in batteries.
UH Researcher Develops New Fluid That Light Can Cut
November 29, 2021
** See video of scientists in the Bao lab shaping water with lasers into a familiar shape.** Jiming Bao, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Houston, has developed a new fluid that can be cut… 		Jiming Bao, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering, has developed a new fluid that can be cut open by light with potential applications in adaptive optics, mass transport and microfluidics manufacturing and molding of micro and nanostructures.
UH Researcher Creates Real-Time COVID-19 Infection Risk Assessment System
November 23, 2021
In this pandemic era, have you ever wondered when the best time to go run an errand might be, maybe when your grocery store is the least crowded, so you could reduce the chance of being exposed to a contagious disease?   Well,… 		Albert Cheng, professor of computer science and electrical & computer engineering at the University of Houston, presented his plans for real-time risk assessment at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) conference HPC (High Performance Computing) for Urgent Decision Making.
Boosting the Economy Through UH Engineering Technology
September 13, 2021
A coveted technology, while attractive to established defense companies like Rockwell in Thousand Oaks, California, and others around the country, made its home in Sugar Land, putting millions into the greater Houston economy.… 		Stock image of a researcher from CasarsaGuru/E+/Getty Images.
Paper from CML outlines new Approach for Management of Cushing's disease
September 7, 2021
Researchers from the Cullen College of Engineering are exploring ways to automate the administration of medicine for patients suffering from Cushing's syndrome, with a proposal establishing architecture for that recently… 		Researchers from the Cullen College of Engineering, including doctoral student Hamid Fekri Azgomi, are exploring ways to automate the administration of medicine for patients suffering from Cushing's syndrome, with a proposal establishing architecture for that recently published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.
New Smartwatch Technology Uses Sweat on Skin to Infer Brain Stress
August 24, 2021
The old adage “never let them see you sweat” doesn’t apply in the electrical and computer engineering lab of Rose Faghih, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the University of Houston Cullen College of… 		Rose Faghih, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, is reporting the first steps toward monitoring brain responses using wearable devices.
UH Licenses Cutting Analysis Software to Optimize Drilling Operations
August 9, 2021
Drilling can be a challenging and expensive operation and the industry is always looking for ways to innovate and make the operation more efficient and safer. Two assistant professors in the University of Houston College of… 		UH Licenses Cutting Analysis Software to Optimize Drilling Operations