2021 News
CAMEE MS Student Iyare Osaghae Part of First Place Team in Transdisciplinary Team Grand Challenge: Water
December — Project Title: Developing an integrative machine learning algorithm to accurately predict future water main failures
Project Team: Savannah Heath, BME PhD student; Iyare Osaghae, Geoinformatics MS student; Caden Povlish, Data Analytics MS student; and Tom Varner, ESE PhD student
CAMEE PhD Student Mansi Joshi Part of Second Place Team in Transdisciplinary Team Grand Challenge: Water
December — Project Title: Developing an integrative machine learning algorithm to accurately predict future water main failures
Project Team: Savannah Heath, BME PhD student; Iyare Osaghae, Geoinformatics MS student; Caden Povlish, Data Analytics MS student; and Tom Varner, ESE PhD student
Dr. Christopher Combs Featured in UTSA Today
October — Dr. Christopher Combs recently secured a two-year, $1.5 million grant to study modeling and experimental measurements of hypersonic separation events. The grant also provides for experiential learning opportunities at UTSA. Read "UTSA's Hypersonics Research Brings New Opportunities for Innovation, Student Growth" to learn more.
Dr. Neil Debbage DFeatured in UTSA Today
September — The article "UTSA professor develops model to understand how a city’s design creates congestion" examines a new approach that was designed based on the configuration of land use within cities.
CAMEE MS Student Thanh Tran Won First Place at the 2021 ASME Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting
August — Thanh's presentation was "The Four Stage Development of Starting Turbulent Buoyant Plumes."
CAMEE MS Student Daniel Brun Won Third Place at the 2021 ASME Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting
August — Daniel's presentation was "Plume Chamber Studies to Characterize Turbulent Buoyant Plumes."
UTSA Team GEE-ISD (Google Earth Engine Iceberg & Ship Database) Placed Third in NSIN Polar Vortex Hackathon
August — CAMEE PhD student YoungHyun Koo was one of the three GEE-ISD team members.
CAMEE Students Ashley Aguilar and Karen Mendiondo Featured in MIRO Program Web Article
June — Ashley is a Geology MS student; Karen is an Environmental Science and Engineering PhD student. See NASA article "NASA Encourages Aspiring Environmental Scientists with MIRO Funding."
CAMEE MS Student Ashley Aguilar Awarded Geological Society of America Graduate Student Research Grant
May — The primary role of the GSA research grants program is to provide partial support of master's and doctoral thesis research in the geological sciences for graduate students enrolled in universities in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America.
Dr. Alan Whittington Featured in UTSA Today
May — Dr. Whittington is leading a team of UTSA researchers to design an induction furnace-nozzle for forming and placing lunar regolith bricks for landing pad construction. Read "Research could help develop the Moon’s first construction site" to learn more.
Dr. Christopher Combs' Hypersonic Wind Tunnel Featured in Several Articles
May — Dr. Combs talks about the hypersonic wind tunnel he has built in his lab:
'7 Times the Speed of Sound': UTSA Goes Hypersonic to Study the Next Generation of Flight –San Antonio Express-News
New hypersonic facility accelerates UTSA as leader in aerospace projects –UTSA Today
Texas University opens hypersonic wind tunnel –Aerospace Testing International
CAMEE Expert Dr. Christopher Combs Comments on the Chinese Rocket Debris Entry
May — Chances are slim that debris from the 10-story-tall, 22-ton first-stage booster of the Long March CZ-5B spacecraft will hit land or even a populated area. Slim, but not zero. Read "Chances of falling Chinese rocket landing in a populated area? Slim...but not none" in the San Antonio Express-News.
CAMEE Student Samantha Pickell Part of Design Team Selected by NASA MINDS
March — Samantha is a member of the undergraduate design team mentored by Dr. Kiran Bhaganagar that was selected to the NASA's MUREP Innovative New Designs for Space (MINDS). The team received an award of $1500 for their senior design project.
CAMEE Spring Research Showcase Featured in UTSA Today
March — Five undergraduate and 13 graduate students participated in the event that took place via Zoom. See "Students present research findings in CAMEE showcase competition."
Winners of the CAMEE Student Research Spring Showcase
March — The Showcase was hosted by CAMEE postdocs Drs. Chang Hsin Chen and Grant Macdonald. The winners are:
Undergraduate: 1st Joshua Le • 2nd Zach Riddle • 3rd Elizabeth Hebel
Graduate: 1st Young Koo • 2nd Matt Garcia • 3rd Mansi Joshi
Hypersonic-Related Research Featured in UTSA Today Article
February — How Hypersonics Research at UTSA Will Propel Mars Missions and More. Under the direction of Dr. Chris Combs, UTSA is nearing the completion of a state-of-the-art, multi-million-dollar wind tunnel funded by the university.
Dr. Chris Combs' Hypersonics Lab Featured in San Antonio Express-News
February — Dr. Combs hopes to contribute to the study of hypersonics at UTSA, and the university is putting the final touches on a multimillion-dollar wind tunnel that can generate speeds up to seven times that of sound. Read "Accelerator: NASA’s Perseverance lands, San Antonio hypersonics lab rises."
Texas Scientists: Power Outages Show Why Texas Must Prepare for Climate Change
February — Stephen Ackley, Dr. Alberto Mestas-Nunez, and Dr. Hongjie Xie among those who signed the open letter from Texas climate scientists. See Dallas Morning News article.
CAMEE PhD Student YoungHyun Koo Participated in an IPCC Group Review
February — YoungHyun Koo took an active part in the Early Career Scientists associations group review of the Second Order Draft of the Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report Climate Change 2021: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. This group review took place from December 2020 to January 2021.
KSAT Video Featuring Dr. Saugata Datta
January — Dr. Saugata Datta talks about environmental regulation changes and studying the impacts to our ecosystem. Watch the video "Constant changes to environmental laws can have a negative impact on environment, UTSA professor says."
Dr. Neil Debbage Elected to Serve on the City of San Antonio's Technical & Community Advisory Committee
January — Dr. Debbage will help guide the implementation of the city's climate action and adaptation plan (CAAP). Read more in UTSA Today's "UTSA climatologist to fight greenhouse gases in San Antonio."
