utep display screens factory

In August 2015, UTEP was selected as the first satellite center of America Makes. The goal of America Makes is to expand its current regional, industrial, and technological footprint while further maximizing the reach and capabilities of this satellite center through enhanced collaboration. A ribbon cutting ceremony hosted The Honorable Penny Pritzker, U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

Lupo also will introduce UTEP’s Ryan Wicker, Ph.D., as the editor-in-chief, and Eric MacDonald, Ph.D., as the deputy editor of the new journal. Wicker holds the Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh Murchison Endowed Chair in Engineering and is professor of mechanical engineering and director and founder of the W.M. Keck Center for 3-D Innovation. MacDonald is an associate professor in electrical and computer engineering and the center’s associate director.

“We at Elsevier are truly honored to be working with professors Wicker and MacDonald and associated with their world-class facility at UTEP,” she said.

MacDonald said Elsevier officials initially brought the idea to the UTEP duo in fall 2013. The organization wanted to create another, more timely publication that would cover the rapidly evolving advances in 3-D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, since the industry exploded in 2008. Wicker and MacDonald were on the company’s radar because of the 14-year-old W.M. Keck Center’s successes. Since 2009, UTEP is one of the top in the nation for 3-D printing and has ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 3 in the world in the number of research articles appearing in additive manufacturing peer-reviewed journals.

The grant funds the project "Characterizations of 3D printed artificial bone for biomedical applications". It will enable UTEP researchers and students in the Printing Nano Engineering Lab to work with 3D printing technology and biotechnology in order to generate fundamental data on printable biomaterials, the processes used to create the materials, and the strength of artificial bone.

"UTEP will use this project to cultivate the talents of our students, which will provide the means for future recognition in various fields with this program as the springboard," said Namsoo Peter Kim, Ph.D., associate professor of MMBME and principal investigator of the project. "Due to this project"s combination of the biomedical and engineering fields, students will not only have the opportunity to research within their own major, they will also have the opportunity to gain experience working in a field they otherwise would not have access to."

The grant will also serve to expand the 3D bio-printing research and education relationship between UTEP and South Korea"s Seokyeong University. South Korea is known for its top tier electronics, including touch screen panels, mobile devices, and solar technology. International collaboration will enable the sharing of cutting-edge technology between UTEP and Seokyeong and, over time, lead to the development of a faculty and student exchange program.

The new data provided by this research, alongside the gained ability to successfully 3D print biomaterials, will create opportunities for advancement in the medical field by providing the means to develop and apply the bio-implant of cells, artificial bones, and artificial skin among other medical aid and prostheses. It will also open the doors for UTEP to receive new funding towards global printing nano engineering research and education.

Welcome to the seventh issue of the UTEP Research Newsletter. You will find highlights of new research awards; research stories recently published by University Communications; upcoming events; new Expertise Connector personal profiles and list of enhancements to the system; updates on research administration; as well as patents received by UTEP researchers in the last four months. Also included in this issue is an article on this semester’s Research Forum. Enjoy the read and best wishes to you this holiday season!

On Sept. 25, faculty, staff, and students from across the University gathered in the Tomás Rivera Conference Center for the Fall 2019 Research Forum. In traditional fashion, the event was hosted by Vice President for Research Roberto Osegueda. In his opening remarks, Dr. Osegueda reflected on how much the culture of grantsmanship has progressed at UTEP. As Dr. Osegueda noted, since 2008, when research spending first surpassed the $50 million mark, total annual research expenditures have more than doubled.

Though every UTEP Research Forum serves the same fundamental function – to provide an opportunity to bring campus wide visibility to all grants received by UTEP staff and faculty members – the Fall 2019 Research Forum was unique in multiple ways. The occasion marked the fifth anniversary of the event, and it was the also the first Research Forum with Dr. Heather Wilson, who began her tenure as UTEP President just before the start of the fall semester.

In her remarks, Dr. Wilson expressed gratitude to the faculty for their role in elevating UTEP to its current prominence. “UTEP is as good as it has ever been,” she told the audience. “Now, together, we have to figure out how we’re going to make it even better.”

Dr. Wilson also took a moment to credit Dr. Osegueda and the rest of the ORSP team for creating a culture that places exceptional value on both research and teaching. The President then touched briefly on what it will take to maintain UTEP’s momentum. The strategy to double research expenditures will be different, Dr. Wilson said, by focusing on research centers based on clusters of expertise that leverage connections among the faculty.

Though only representing a portion of the research activity occurring at UTEP, the Fall 2019 Research Forum highlighted 78 new extramurally funded grants obtained by UTEP faculty and staff between April and August of this year. The list of sponsored projects ranged in scope and subject area — from an investment by a Texas-based education nonprofit to stage a festival that aims to celebrate the stories and voices of Latinx artists, to a more than $19 million award from the National Institutes of Health to continue the mission of UTEP’s Border Biomedical Research Center (BBRC) to understand and identify the reasons for Hispanic cancer health disparities.

These awards from the NRC and the NIH are only a couple of examples from a constantly growing portfolio of grants received by UTEP faculty and staff aimed at supporting students directly by helping them attend conferences or participate in internships, fellowships and other scholarly endeavors.

A keynote speech from Juliette Caire concluded the afternoon’s program. Caire is the Executive Director of GEAR UP! at UTEP. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the goal of GEAR UP! is to expand educational opportunities and to assist students in becoming college eligible and then academically successful in higher education. It does this through a number of initiatives for middle and high school students such as STEM activities, AP and dual-credit summer camps, and college road trips. GEAR UP! staff members also organize resume workshops, etiquette dinners, internships and campus resources information sessions.

Under Caire’s direction, UTEP’s GEAR UP! unit has received approximately $50 million since the program’s inception nearly 20 years ago. As she told audience members, GEAR UP’s growth in funding over the years also came inevitably with expectations of significant growth in the number of students the program would serve. With approximately 3,000 students from the three largest school districts now participating in GEAR UP!, Caire’s presentation was an enlightening case study in how to manage the upscaling that often accompanies a program’s success.

While certainly outstanding, the program highlighted in the keynote speech is only one example of how UTEP is making good on its commitment to positively impact the economy and the well-being of the community it serves. As shown during the Fall 2019 Research Forum, other UTEP research and sponsored projects across campus are also making important contributions to the mission of the University by advancing research of high public value and, by involving an increasing number of students in these endeavors, helping to cement the institution’s status as a national higher education leader.

UTEP is striving to increase its number of US patents issued each year. Five patents were issued in fiscal year 2015, seven in 2016, four in 2017, nineteen in 2018, and eighteen in 2019. This fiscal year, since September 1, 2019, four US patents have been issued. This impressive and consistent increase represents UTEP’s commitment to research, discovery and creativity, and innovation and invention.

Research published by a UTEP economics professor shows the effects that the depreciation of the peso has had on the region’s economy as it braces for the holiday shopping season.

Leading the research is Raymond C. Rumpf, Ph.D., the Schellenger Professor in Electrical Research and director of UTEP’s EM Lab, who says the overarching goal of the project is to develop a massively parallelized electromagnetic simulation code that runs very fast. UTEP’s contribution to the project will be identifying and implementing the fastest and most efficient way of handling curved dielectric boundaries.

The National Science Foundation recently announced that it awarded a nearly $312,000 grant to a team from The University of Texas at El Paso and the El Paso Independent School District led by UTEP’s Katherine Mortimer, Ph.D., associate professor of teacher education, and EPISD’s Scott Gray, director of New Tech Network Programs.

UTEP President Heather Wilson has been named a recipient of the Eisenhower Award, a recognition of prominent leadership given by the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress (CSPC).

Inspired by the response of The University of Texas at El Paso community and the city to the Aug. 3, 2019, shooting in El Paso, The University of Texas System Board of Regents presented the UTEP Student Government Association with $10,000 to assist with relief efforts.

Nina Marie Beltran made several key discoveries while working in a UTEP research laboratory. Chief among them was an epiphany — a desire to pursue a doctoral degree after completing her bachelor’s degree in psychology.

An interdisciplinary cohort of faculty members from The University of Texas at El Paso will work with select UTEP staff from fall 2019 through fall 2020 to develop Open Educational Resources (OER) or other affordable instructional materials that eventually could save students millions of dollars.

Ivonne Santiago, Ph.D., clinical professor of civil engineering at The University of Texas at El Paso, has continually sought ways to help her home state of Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria barreled through the Caribbean in September 2017. Her latest effort was showcased on the UTEP campus this week.

We are delighted to welcome each of our new tenured and tenure-track faculty members to the UTEP community. Many of our new colleagues have moved to El Paso from places across the globe—from California to Florida, and the Caribbean to India—while some have already been here at UTEP and are settling into new roles. We are grateful for their presence and look forward to the many contributions they will make as teachers, scholars, and leaders on campus and in the community. Welcome to UTEP!

The Expertise Connector (EC) Working Group meets weekly to discuss system functionality and grow compatibility. Below are brief summaries of the most recent enhancements to expertise.utep.edu:

This grant supports visits to the UTEP campus by 1000+ El Paso County high school students, which includes the Rubin Center and the studios in the Department of Art.

This project provides targeted topic training for excavation and trenching hazards prevention to non-English speaking and vulnerable construction workers in the greater El Paso area with a safe workplace campaign with support from UTEP, EPCC, and the Consulate General of Mexico.

This grant supports the UTEP Health-Focused Interprofessional Education Community of Practice to enable interprofessional collaborative practice throughout the Paso del Norte community in order to promote health and wellness.

In order to utilize art as a catalyst for understanding our world, this grant supports high school student visits to the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts and other UTEP sites, such as the Centennial Museum, the Chihuahuan Desert Gardens, and the Lhakhang Temple.

This high-school-to-higher-education grant supports UTEP and EPCC efforts in increasing the percentage of Region 19 high school graduates who directly enroll in postsecondary programs.

Dr. Chalil Madathil comes to UTEP with a research background in operations research, data analysis, simulation, and process improvement in healthcare, energy, and supply chain management. He is interested in evidence-based research, improving healthcare patient experience, and the design of...

Dr. Md Mahamudur Rahman is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Prior to joining UTEP, he held Postdoctoral Associate appointment in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) and Department of...

Dr. Gibson comes to UTEP with a background in macroeconomic modeling, computational methods, and financial and monetary economics. His research interests include measuring the economic and social impact of public policies such as infrastructure investment and public debt issuance, and investigating...

Dr. DeBlasio comes to UTEP with a background in computational biology and machine learning, specifically in the areas of algorithm configuration, high-throughput genomics, and string hashing schemes. Prior to UTEP, he was at Carnegie Mellon University, where he was a Lane Fellow in the School of...

Dr. Greig joins UTEP from the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, where she served as assistant professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department. She has a research background in micro-propulsion and micro-satellites, and a teaching background in spacecraft...

Dr. Nurunnabi is a translational scientist, obtained training in both academic and industrial research alone with founding biomedical and biotechnology start-ups. He started his tenure track faculty position at UTEP from fall 2019. He brings to UTEP a research and teaching background in...

Dr. Al-Hilal comes to UTEP from the Massachusetts General Hospital, the original teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. He is interested in cardiopulmonary diseases, cancer angiogenesis, drug transport barriers, and the progression of vascular disease, particularly in the differences between...

Dr. Eppie Rael is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree at The University of Albuquerque, his Master’s Degree from New Mexico Highlands University, and his Doctor of Philosophy Degree from the University of Arizona. He came to UTEP in 1975 as an Assistant Professor, where he progressed to the rank of Associate Professor and then to Professor. At UTEP he served as Director of the Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) Program from 1982 through 1990, served as Director of the MBRS – SCORE Program from 1998 to 2005, and served as Director of the Border Biomedical Research Center from 1999 to 2005. He was the Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences from 1999 to 2005. He received numerous research grants while at UTEP from the NIH and NSF, and from other granting institutions. He is one of the Founding Fathers of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). Fifteen of his master’s students went on to receive the Ph.D. degree from various universities in the U.S.; twenty of his master’s students received M.D. degrees; and thirty-five additional students completed the requirements for the M.S. degree at UTEP. He authored or co-authored sixty-two journal articles with topics ranging from drug-drug interaction, immune cell function, venom distribution in rattlesnake populations, development of immunotoxins, and molecular models of metalloproteinases and their potential drug use.

Research Forums provide an opportunity to recognize the recent achievement of researchers on campus as well as feature a distinguished UTEP researcher discussing his/her research experiences and findings with the university community. The Vice President for Research invites you to join the faculty, students, alumni, and staff in discussing important and timely research topics to stimulate further investigation in advancing our collective knowledge.

For any questions regarding the Verification/Certification process please contact Belinda Gonzalez at bgonzalez18@utep.edu. To view the updated policies visit the ORSP website at After the Fact Payroll Policy and IBS policy.

Many NIH guidelines make mention of a Letter of Intent due 30 days before the proposal deadline. However, it is not a requirement for submitting a full proposal and is only used by NIH to gauge the number of applications they may receive. If you decide to submit the optional Letter of Intent, you usually need to include the funding opportunity number (FOA), a project title, UTEP as the applicant institution, contact information for the PI and any other key personnel and partnering institutions. Any of the PIs can submit this to NIH email included in the guidelines.