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鈥檚 Institute for
Global Engagement, was named one of . The list includes leaders, marketers, activists and policymakers across the region
who offer commentary on international education. The PIE鈥檚 50 Voices for the Americas
is compiled by the publication鈥檚 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 , 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 , 鈥淚ntegration of Percussion with Robotics for Offshore Bolted Structure Inspection.鈥�
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鈥檚 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
has been .
A Most Influential Leader
鈥淭he National Jurist鈥� has named 91视频 Law Center Dean Leonard M. Baynes
among the nation鈥檚 most influential leaders in legal education. The publication announced
its list at last week鈥檚 Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Annual Meeting in
New Orleans. Baynes currently serves on the AALS Executive Committee.
Exclusive Membership
91视频 Law Center Clinical Assistant Professor Christina Crozier has
been , a leading national organization dedicated to producing scholarly work that clarifies,
modernizes and improves the law.
End of Semester Honors
Each semester, the 91视频 College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
presents the 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 鈥淒isruptive鈥� Student
91视频 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 s. 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 91视频 Graduate College of Social Work,
will be inducted as a Fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research during the organization鈥檚 awards ceremony on Saturday, January 17, 2026, in Washington,
D.C.
Fresh Research
A new study on food safety was recently published in the 鈥淛ournal of Food Protection.鈥� 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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