Principal Investigator: Dany Munoz-Pinto, Ph.D.

Dany J. Munoz Pinto, Ph.D. leads research in the synthesis, modification, fabrication and characterization of bio-inspired materials for regenerative medicine applications. In this research facility, students are exposed to an interdisciplinary environment were the principles of engineering and material science converge with the biological sciences. This research space is equipped with a chemical fume hood, a 6 ft. bio-safety cabinet, a tri-gas incubator, a q-RTPCR instrument, electrophoresis apparatus and small equipment to support cell culture activities.

Principal Investigator: Mahbub Uddin, Ph.D.

This laboratory supports Uddin’s current research on Hydro Fracking Waste Water Treatment Processes, and Solar Membrane Distillation. Several undergraduate students and senior design groups work with Dr. Uddin in this laboratory.

Principal Investigator: Jack Leifer, Ph.D.

Jack Leifer’s research laboratory includes a large studio space equipped with custom-designed lighting and curtains to facilitate photogrammetry and videogrammetry. Equipment includes various camera and computer systems for optical motion tracking, as well as a modal shaker and accelerometers (for testing the dynamic response of various systems.

Principal Investigator: Peter Kelly-Zion, Ph.D.

Research is being conducted to improve the understanding of the complex transport phenomena involved in the evaporation process of sessile drops and films. The understanding of sessile drop evaporation is important for a wide variety of technical applications including combustion, spray cooling, coating, ink-jet printing, DNA stretching and depositing, and self-assembly and surface patterning, which has potential for fabricating nano-scale structures. The major instruments used in the experiments are spectrometers and various imaging hardware.

Principal Investigator: Emma Treadway, Ph.D.

The haptics laboratory supports Dr. Treadway's research into physical human-robot interaction, haptic rendering, and perception. Treadway and her students develop custom robotic interfaces and study how humans interact with them physically, using equipment including force/torque sensing, surface electromyography, and inertial measurement unit-based motion capture. The lab is equipped for data acquisition and control with National Instruments and Sensoray data acquisition hardware and Simulink software. 

Principal Investigator: Wilson Terrell Jr., Ph.D.

This laboratory supports Terrell’s research on heat and mass transfer and involving with HVAC systems. Terrell studies the heat transfer and pressure drop of various fluids in both laminar and turbulent regimes. Terrell also determines the thermophysical properties of heat transfer fluids (thermal conductivity, specific heat, heat of fusion, and viscosity). The lab equipment is interfaced with National Instruments data acquisition hardware and Labview software.

Principal Investigator: Joshua David Schwartz, Ph.D.

Schwartz conducts research in microwave-frequency circuits and systems as they apply to problems in sensing and communication areas. This research explores the theoretical and experimental design and assembly of new passive transmission line-based circuits and their application, presently with an emphasis on the medical imaging of breast cancer. Schwartz assembles complete demonstration systems using commercial and custom electronics to illustrate novel applications of his designs. The lab space itself contains a stock of microwave cables, components, and analysis equipment including a vector network analyzer, in addition to simulation and computing resources.

Principal Investigator: Kevin Nickels, Ph.D.

Kevin Nickels conducts research in the area of robotics. He has developed several robotic platforms related to his research in computer vision. He has collaborated with NASA (both Johnson Space Center in Houston TX and Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena CA) on the visual control of robot manipulators, and with ARL (the Applied Research Laboratory in Austin TX) on robot navigation. He has several hardware and software platforms available for student projects as well as his own research.