Each month, Campus Kudos will spotlight recent awards and distinctions earned by University of Houston faculty and students. These include memberships into professional societies, international honors, competitive fellowships and other accolades. To submit recent accomplishments, send a note to Academic Update.
Piece of The PIE
Amb. Michael Pelletier (retd.), founding executive director of UH’s Institute for
Global Engagement, was named one of The PIE’s 50 Voices for the Americas. The list includes leaders, marketers, activists and policymakers across the region
who offer commentary on international education. The PIE’s 50 Voices for the Americas
is compiled by the publication’s editorial team, a leading source of news and information
in the international education sector.
Support for Offshore Safety Research
UH mechanical and aerospace engineering faculty Zheng Chen, Bill D. Cook Associate
Professor and principal investigator (PI), and Gangbing Song, Moores Professor and
co-PI, received a combined $500,000 grant for their Ocean Energy Safety Institute–funded project, Integration of Percussion with Robotics for Offshore Bolted Structure Inspection.
Selected as one of 14 awards from 91 proposals, the project advances innovative technologies
to improve the safety and environmental stability of offshore energy development.
Support for Offshore Safety Research
UH mechanical and aerospace engineering faculty Zheng Chen, Bill D. Cook Associate
Professor and principal investigator (PI), and Gangbing Song, Moores Professor and
co-PI, received a combined $500,000 grant for their Ocean Energy Safety Institute–funded project, “Integration of Percussion with Robotics for Offshore Bolted Structure Inspection.”
Selected as one of 14 awards from 91 proposals, the project advances innovative technologies
to improve the safety and environmental stability of offshore energy development.
Elected!
Kalyana Nakshatrala, Carl F. Gauss Professor and associate chair in the University
of Houston Cullen College of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
has been elected to the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory User Executive Committee.
A Most Influential Leader
“The National Jurist” has named University of Houston Law Center Dean Leonard M. Baynes
among the nation’s most influential leaders in legal education. The publication announced
its “Most Influential People in Legal Education” list at last week’s Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Annual Meeting in
New Orleans. Baynes currently serves on the AALS Executive Committee.
Exclusive Membership
University of Houston Law Center Clinical Assistant Professor Christina Crozier has
been elected to membership in the American Law Institute, a leading national organization dedicated to producing scholarly work that clarifies,
modernizes and improves the law.
End of Semester Honors
Each semester, the University of Houston College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
presents the Dan E. Wells Outstanding Dissertation Award to a doctoral student whose research demonstrates exceptional quality and scholarly
impact. The Fall 2025 awardee is Rabimba Karanjai, a Ph.D. graduate in computer science.
A “Disruptive” Student
University of Houston C. T. Bauer College of Business senior Valeria Serenil earned
national recognition from Poets&Quants, which named her startup, Aztec Contractors,
to its 2025 list of the Most Disruptive Business School Startups. Serenil, an entrepreneurship and finance major and Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship
student, co-founded the company with her father. The annual list highlights 22 undergraduate-led
ventures nationwide that demonstrate strong innovation and long-term potential beyond
college.
Prestigious Fellowship
Samira Ali, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the SUSTAIN Wellbeing COMPASS
Coordinating Center at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work,
will be inducted as a Fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research during the organization’s awards ceremony on Saturday, January 17, 2026, in Washington,
D.C.
Fresh Research
A new study on food safety was recently published in the “Journal of Food Protection.” Contributors included UH Conrad N. Hilton College of Global Hospitality and Leadership
faculty Juan M. Madera, Sujata A. Sirsat, Karla M. Acosta and Mary Dawson; Ph.D. graduate
Alberto A. Beiza; and current Ph.D. student Zhihong Lin.
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