NSM Pride

Share News of Your Achievements

NSM is proud of the achievements of our outstanding alumni, students, staff and faculty. Submit news of your awards, new jobs and honors to breakthrough@nsm.uh.edu or contact Kathy Major at ksmajor@uh.edu or 713-743-4023.

Alumni

Bonnie Charpentier (’74, Ph.D. ’81, Biology) is the 2014 recipient of the Sherrie Wilkins Award from the Northern California Chapters for the Association for Women in Science. She received the award for going above and beyond to mentor other women in science and for being a role model for all women. Charpentier serves on the American Chemical Society’s board as a director for District VI, and she is a senior vice president, Regulatory Affairs Compliance, at Cytokinetics, Inc., in South San Francisco.

Bernard A. Harris, Jr., M.D. (B.S. ’78, Biology) received the Humanitarian Award from the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Houston-Galveston. Harris is a former astronaut and the first African-American to perform a spacewalk. He serves as CEO and managing partner of Vesalius Ventures Inc., and president of the non-profit Harris Foundation.

Ali Polat (M.S. ’92, Geology) received the 2014 W. W. Hutchison Medal from the Geological Association of Canada. The medal is awarded to a young individual for recent exceptional advances in Canadian earth science research. Polat is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Windsor.

Students

Marisa Simon (Biology major) and Christina Stegemoller (Physics major) were awarded a Goldwater Honorable Mention from the Goldwater Foundation. The Goldwater Foundation recognizes outstanding students in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. Nationwide 1,166 students were nominated by their colleges and universities. While 283 were chosen for the Goldwater Scholarship (NSM’s Khanh Nguyen), another 247 received a Goldwater Honorable Mention. Simon, a junior, plans to pursue a Ph.D. in molecular medicine and specialize in cancer research. Stegemoller, also a junior, will pursue a Ph.D. in physics and plans to conduct research in elementary particle or astroparticle physics.

Elita de Abreu and Venkatesh Anantharamu (Earth and Atmospheric Sciences graduate students) won the regional finals at the 8th Annual Society of Exploration Geophysicists Gulf Coast Challenge Bowl. The competition took place during the Geophysical Society of Houston-SEG Spring Symposium in Houston. The SEG Challenge Bowl is an international contest testing students’ breadth and depth of knowledge about the field of geoscience. The UH team of Joan Marie Blanco and Azie Aziz placed second.

AAPG Best Student Poster Winners: UH graduate students won third and fourth place in the Student Poster Presentations at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Convention and Exhibition. Out of more than 100 applications, AAPG selected only 15 student posters for the competition. Winners were Bryan Ott, third place, and Javier Sanchez, fourth place.

The 2014 Imperial Barrel Award (IBA) Team (Katherine Tilghman, Luan Nguyen, Fabiola Ruiz, Travis Tillman and David Wearden) placed third in a field of 13 universities at the Gulf Coast IBA Regional Competition. The graduate students took home a trophy and $1,000 for the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences scholarship fund. For the competition, teams analyze a dataset (geology, geophysics, land, production infrastructure, and other relevant materials) prior to the competition and deliver their results in a presentation to a panel of industry experts.

Faculty and Staff

Kevin E. Bassler (Professor, Physics and Mathematics) was named a John and Rebecca Moores Professor at the 2014 University of Houston Faculty Excellence Luncheon. The Moores Professorship is a five-year renewable award given to faculty who are outstanding in teaching, research and service. The recipient receives a $10,000 annual stipend.

Bernhard Bodmann (Associate Professor, Mathematics) was selected for a Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers. Bodmann’s fellowship supports a long-term research project (6-18 months) in applied mathematics at Technische Universität Berlin.

Sunica Canic (Cullen Distinguished Professor, Mathematics) was named to the 2014 Class of Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Canic was recognized for her contributions to the modeling and analysis of partial differential equations motivated by applications in the life sciences.

Alex Ignatiev (Cullen Professor of Physics, Chemistry and Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director, Center for Advanced Materials) made a presentation on technologies needed for space exploration and utilization at the celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Kazakhstan National Center for Space Research. Ignatiev also met with Cosmonaut Talgat Moussabaiev, the director of the Kazakhstan Space Agency, where they discussed mutual collaboration on advanced materials processing in space.

Elsie Myers (Department Business Administrator, Chemistry) received a 2014 UH Staff Excellence Award. She has been on the staff for 12 years, starting in 2002 in the Department of Chemistry, moving to Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH in 2006 and returning to Chemistry in 2011. The award recognizes meritorious service, dedication and contribution to the university beyond the requirements and expectations of the job. See photo in Scenes Around NSM.

William Sager (Professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences) presented his research at a Houston Museum of Natural Science Distinguished Lecture. His topic was “Tamu Massif: The World’s Biggest Volcano Is Hiding Beneath the Sea.” The volcano, located in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, is comparable in size to the largest known volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons on Mars.

UH Faculty Awards: Fourteen NSM faculty members brought home honors for excellence in the areas of teaching, research and scholarship. The awards, given each year at the “UH Faculty Excellence Luncheon,” are among the highest honors bestowed by the University of Houston. NSM award recipients include:

Teaching Excellence Career Award
Given to a faculty member who has demonstrated excellence over the course of his or her career of 20 years or more at UH.

• Randy Thummel (Chemistry)

Awards for Excellence in Research and Scholarship - Assistant Professor
Two awards at the Assistant Professor rank are presented to individuals who have demonstrated great potential in research, scholarship or creative endeavors.

• Ognjen Miljanić (Chemistry)

Awards for Excellence in Research and Scholarship - Associate Professor
Two awards at the Associate Professor rank are presented to individuals who have established a growing record of outstanding research, scholarship or creative contributions.

• Steven Baldelli (Chemistry)

Teaching Excellence Award
Given to faculty members in recognition of outstanding achievement in teaching.

• Shuhab Khan (Earth and Atmospheric Sciences)
• William Ott (Mathematics)
• Robert Stewart (Earth and Atmospheric Sciences)
• Jokūbas Žiburkus (Biology and Biochemistry)

Teaching Excellence Award - Provost’s Core
Given to faculty in recognition of outstanding teaching in the Core Curriculum.

• Barry Lefer (Earth and Atmospheric Sciences)

Teaching Excellence Award - Instructor/Clinical
Given in recognition of outstanding teaching by faculty instructors, clinical faculty, research faculty, artist affiliates, and lecturers.

• Rebecca George (Mathematics)

Teaching Excellence Award - Group Teaching
Recognizing a cluster of faculty in both formal and informal programs who demonstrate a strong commitment to teaching and student success, who have worked together collaboratively to improve student outcomes, and who demonstrate effective and innovative teaching.

• Paige K. Evans, Maria B. Benzon, Perri F. Segura and Leah McAlister-Shields for teachHOUSTON

Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award - Pre-Tenure
Given by the University Commission on Women in recognition of faculty scholarly achievement.

• Cecilia Williams (Biology and Biochemistry)