The Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Student Award Program showcases outstanding research, teaching, and service within the College of Technology and to the University and business community.
Through the generosity of Fluor Corporation, the College of Technology awarded a $1,000 honorarium to three recipients. During a morning reception on Monday, April 30, the Dean's Advisory Committee (DAC), faculty, and staff members, gathered to witness the award presentation by Dean William E. Fitzgibbon, III. "Achievements like these truly highlight the excellence fostered in our College, which makes me extremely proud," said Dean Fitzgibbon
The Fluor Award for Faculty Research Excellence recognizes a tenured or tenure-track faculty member for his or her scholarly contributions. This year's recipient, Dr. George Zouridakis joined the Department of Engineering Technology in 2008. He was promoted to full professor in 2009. A noted expert of electro-physiological information processing who has worked at UT Neurosurgery and Memorial Hermann Hospital, Dr. Zouridakis consistently exceeds expectation as a Professor in the Department of Engineering Technology. He is Director of the Biomedical Imaging Lab at UH and has been involved with many clinical procedures. His lab fosters research in the areas of computational biomedicine, neuroengineering, and biomedical imaging, with emphasis on the interplay between biosignals and information processing in the brain. His significant research contributions include the largest major instrumentation grant awarded from the National Science Foundation to UH - $900,000; and the first National Institutes of Health grant awarded to the College - $412,000. One of Dr. Zouridakis' technical breakthroughs includes a handheld device in collaboration with Texas Instruments and iPhone application to implement clinical criteria for skin cancer. Dr. Zouridakis is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering and has authored three books, and an extensive listing of other publications including 13 book chapters, 150 referred conference papers and numerous journal articles. With the interdisciplinary nature of his research, he actively collaborates with clinicians, bioengineers, and computational scientists located within the University of Houston, the Texas Medical Center, and around the world.
The Fluor Award for Faculty Teaching Excellence recognizes non-tenure/non-tenure track faculty for exceptional teaching of students that contributes to the success of the College of Technology, our University and the community at large. The recipient, Bret Detillier, joined the College in Fall 2005 and is Instructional Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator in the Department of Information and Logistics Technology (ILT). Prior to joining the College, Bret gained valuable experience as a director and consultant in the IT industry. He consistently receives the highest ratings relative to student evaluation of teaching even though he teaches different courses each semester in several of the ILT Department's complex courses including information systems design and database management. Detillier has demonstrated unsurpassed technical knowledge, teaching capability and superior principles, values and ethics that challenge and strengthen students as technologists. Through his guidance and direction of best practices, Bret's students have won numerous awards at the Association of Information Technology Professionals Region 3 student competition. One of his former students remarked, "The hands on technical curriculum coupled with the face to face consulting with actual business decision makers prepares you for a successful career in the IT industry and you will immediately become a successful employee. I earned a perfect employee performance review with my company. He was one of my best instructors."
The Fluor Award for Graduate Student Excellence acknowledges contributions of College of Technology graduate students in either teaching or research. A full time graduate student in Network Communications in the Department of Engineering Technology, David Iglesias joined the College in August 2010. At the same time, he became a member of the Biomedical Imaging Lab to work on his master's thesis, A MATLAB Toolbox for Real Time EEG Functional Mapping - software applications that could capture brain activity signals from a wireless EEG recording device, and analyze, display and save the data on-disk in real time. Because of David's ingenuity and persistence, this software tool is now a working reality in the College lab. Adeptly, he balanced research and teaching throughout the past academic year. His schedule required the a minimum of 18 credit hours in courses, work on his thesis, and teaching assistant duties that included long lab hours and homework grading. Still, David's performance excelled, as he achieved a 4.0 overall GPA for his coursework. His research project won second place in a best poster award competition among all graduate students in the College. His research effort, "Real-time Functional Brain Mapping Based on Granger Connectivity Networks" earned second place and exemplary recognition during the 2011 College of Technology Graduate Research Day.