UH College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics (NSM)

UH College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics (NSM) UH College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics: Excellence in teaching, research and service in physic

UH College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics: Excellence in teaching, research and service in physical and biological sciences, computer science and math.

🎉 Ph.D. Student Spotlight: Meng-Chen (Martin) Lee Congratulations to Meng-Chen (Martin) Lee, a Ph.D. student in UH’s Dep...
12/27/2025

🎉 Ph.D. Student Spotlight: Meng-Chen (Martin) Lee

Congratulations to Meng-Chen (Martin) Lee, a Ph.D. student in UH’s Department of Computer Science, for earning international recognition in multimodal interaction research!

Lee’s paper, “Online Multimodal End-of-Turn Prediction for Three-party Conversations,” received the Best Paper Runner-up Award at the ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI 2024).

His research advances how machines interpret human communication—through vision, speech, and gestures—making human-computer interaction more natural and intuitive.

Lee also completed a research internship at Microsoft Research Lab – Redmond and was named UH’s 2025 Best Ph.D. Student in computer science.

👏 Join us in celebrating this outstanding achievement!

🔗 Read more: https://bit.ly/496I0g5

Congratulations to University of Houston chemists Zhi-Hao Chen, Feng Chen, Olafs Daugulis and Maurice Brookhart on their...
12/26/2025

Congratulations to University of Houston chemists Zhi-Hao Chen, Feng Chen, Olafs Daugulis and Maurice Brookhart on their new publication in the Journal of the American Chemical Society:

“Vinylsilanes as Chain-Transfer Agents in Ethylene Polymerization: Direct Synthesis of Heterotelechelic Polyolefins.”

The team reports a single-step strategy for producing heterotelechelic polyethylene using vinylsilanes as chain-transfer agents. The approach enables precise control over polymer molecular weight and delivers polymers with reactive end groups that can be further transformed into functional materials.

This work opens new pathways for designing advanced polyolefins with tailored properties for downstream applications.

🔗 Read the publication: https://bit.ly/3MPNRyO

The University of Houston proudly awarded the 2025 President’s Medallion to Memorial Hermann Health System in recognitio...
12/24/2025

The University of Houston proudly awarded the 2025 President’s Medallion to Memorial Hermann Health System in recognition of its exceptional partnership and service.

For nearly three decades, Memorial Hermann has supported student success, expanded educational access, and served as the official health care provider for UH Athletics. Its philanthropic investments — including scholarships, campus expansion, and the Memorial Hermann Football Operations Center — have made a lasting impact on UH and the Greater Houston community.

Pictured: James McCarthy, Memorial Hermann Health System, with President Renu Khator (left) and Dean Dudley (right).

We are proud to announce that Rabimba Karanjai, a Ph.D. graduate in computer science, is the Fall 2025 recipient of the ...
12/23/2025

We are proud to announce that Rabimba Karanjai, a Ph.D. graduate in computer science, is the Fall 2025 recipient of the Dan E. Wells Outstanding Dissertation Award.

His dissertation, “Teaching AIs to Reason and Code, Confidentially,” introduces new multi-agent AI systems and decentralized security frameworks that improve the accuracy and safety of AI-generated code.

Rabimba’s innovations have drawn interest from Google, Mozilla, and top researchers in the field. He now works as a Staff Machine Learning Scientist at PayPal.

Join us in congratulating him on this outstanding achievement! 🎉

🎓 The University of Houston College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics celebrated 677 graduates at its Fall 2025 Commen...
12/22/2025

🎓 The University of Houston College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics celebrated 677 graduates at its Fall 2025 Commencement at the Fertitta Center.

The ceremony recognized academic excellence across all degree levels, honored Rabimba Karanjai with the Dan E. Wells Outstanding Dissertation Award, and presented the 2025 President’s Medallion to Memorial Hermann Health System for nearly three decades of partnership and support.

Read more about the ceremony and honorees:
👉 https://bit.ly/45bBL9q

International eyes are on Dr. Rabimba Karanjai and Dr. Weidong Shi from NSM's computer science department. They earned t...
12/22/2025

International eyes are on Dr. Rabimba Karanjai and Dr. Weidong Shi from NSM's computer science department. They earned the ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award for groundbreaking advances in AI-assisted software security. Karanjai has also been awarded the Dr. Dan E. Wells Outstanding Dissertation Award! MORE: https://bit.ly/3N9TFTN

Watch out, world! The Class of 2025 is on the move! Congratulations to our students as they close this chapter. We're ho...
12/19/2025

Watch out, world! The Class of 2025 is on the move! Congratulations to our students as they close this chapter. We're honored to have played a role in their accomplishments.

University of Houston chemistry professor Judy Wu has been awarded $1.96 million from the National Institutes of Health ...
12/18/2025

University of Houston chemistry professor Judy Wu has been awarded $1.96 million from the National Institutes of Health to study how light changes the shape and behavior of molecules — research that could advance drug delivery, medical imaging and smart materials.

Wu’s team will use computational chemistry to build predictive “blueprints” that help scientists design molecules that store and release chemical energy when exposed to light.

🔬💡 Read the full story:
👉 https://bit.ly/48K9JUO

Congratulations to UH’s Department of Physics and the Texas Center for Superconductivity (TcSUH) researchers — Liangzi D...
12/12/2025

Congratulations to UH’s Department of Physics and the Texas Center for Superconductivity (TcSUH) researchers — Liangzi Deng, Daniel J. Schulze, Melissa Gooch, Ting-Wei Kuo, Xin Shi, Shaowei Song, Zhifeng Ren and Ching-Wu Chu — on their new Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences publication:

📄 “Creation, stabilization, and investigation at ambient pressure of pressure-induced superconductivity in Bi₀.₅Sb₁.₅Te₃.”
🔗 https://bit.ly/4accoHZ

The team addressed one of the biggest challenges in modern superconductivity: retaining high-pressure superconducting phases at ambient pressure. Using their newly developed pressure-quench protocol (PQP), they successfully stabilized multiple superconducting phases of BST, including one with a possible topological origin.

Key findings include:
• Three superconducting phases observed under high pressure (BST-I, -II, -III)
• Successful retention of all phases at ambient pressure using PQP
• Superconductivity reaching 10.2 K — the highest for this material series
• Evidence that PQP and depressurization may further enhance Tc

This work marks a major step toward superconductors that operate without extreme pressure, advancing the path to practical, real-world applications.

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Reginald Mills and postdoctoral fellows Kavita Choudhary and Bhaswati Paul from t...
12/11/2025

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Reginald Mills and postdoctoral fellows Kavita Choudhary and Bhaswati Paul from the Department of Chemistry on their new publication in ACS Catalysis:

📄 “C(sp2)–C(sp3) Cross-Coupling Enabled by Alkyl Radical Capture at Isolable, Low-Spin (S = 1/2) Cobalt(II)–Monoaryl Catalysts.”

The team developed a cobalt(II) catalyst that enables more efficient C(sp2)–C(sp3) cross-coupling reactions—an essential tool in building complex molecules for pharmaceuticals and other advanced materials. Their work captures rare mechanistic evidence of a cobalt–aryl intermediate and demonstrates how alkyl radicals can be selectively incorporated to form desired products.

This research offers a promising, versatile pathway for designing sustainable catalytic methods in organic synthesis.

🔗 Read the publication: https://bit.ly/4j0xnA0

Congratulations to William Struble, assistant professor of geomorphology and surface processes in the Department of Eart...
12/11/2025

Congratulations to William Struble, assistant professor of geomorphology and surface processes in the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, on his new publication in Geophysical Research Letters:

📄 “Dip Angles of Mountain-Front Facets Encode Long-Term Slip Rates Along the Wasatch Normal Fault, USA.”

The study examines how the steepness of mountain-front facet slopes—planar rock surfaces shaped by faulting and erosion—can be used to estimate long-term slip rates along the Wasatch Fault Zone in Utah. Dr. Struble and colleagues show that steeper facet angles correlate with faster fault slip, allowing scientists to reconstruct fault behavior over the past 100,000 years.

Their results indicate that long-term slip rates are lower than Holocene rates, suggesting a recent acceleration in activity on this major normal fault. The research also demonstrates that analyzing facet angles is a powerful new tool for estimating slip rates on range-bounding faults worldwide.

🔗 Read the publication: https://bit.ly/4pRuEuS

Congratulations to Paige Evans (Co-Director & Clinical Professor, teachHOUSTON), Donna Stokes (Associate Dean, Undergrad...
12/10/2025

Congratulations to Paige Evans (Co-Director & Clinical Professor, teachHOUSTON), Donna Stokes (Associate Dean, Undergraduate Affairs & Student Success) and Mariam Manuel (Clinical Assistant Professor, Science Master Teacher, teachHOUSTON) on their new publication in Teachers and Teaching:

📄 “Chain mentoring in a U.S. secondary STEM teacher education programme.”

The study examines chain mentoring, a model that connects faculty, preservice teachers and in-service teachers through both formal and informal mentoring networks. This approach strengthens professional relationships, enriches teacher preparation and directly benefits secondary students through improved STEM instruction.

The research highlights how chain mentoring—alongside inquiry-based teaching, culturally responsive pedagogy and strong disciplinary foundations—contributes to ISTEP’s remarkable 80% teacher retention rate, far exceeding the U.S. average of 56%. Over nearly two decades, graduates have continued serving in high-need, urban classrooms, underscoring the program’s lasting impact.

🔗 Read the publication: https://bit.ly/3XMdJOj

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