Recognition & Honors
Accolades & Acknowledgements
Jeremy May (Chemistry), associate dean for graduate affairs and professor of chemistry, received a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to advance heavy metal-free approaches to synthetic chemistry. His project, Electrophilic Deboronations in Synthesis, transforms a long-standing challenge in organic chemistry into a powerful tool for building complex, carbon-based molecules essential to pharmaceuticals, catalysts and advanced materials.
May’s research reimagines deborylation – once considered an undesirable side reaction – as a constructive process for forming carbon-carbon bonds, enabling faster, cleaner and more sustainable molecular synthesis. The work also supports hands-on training for graduate and undergraduate students while opening new pathways for drug discovery and materials innovation.
Martín A. Núñez (Biology & Biochemistry), associate professor in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry, has been appointed executive editor of the Journal of Applied Ecology, one of the most influential journals in environmental science. His term begins in January 2026.
A leading expert in biological invasions, Núñez studies how invasive species reshape ecosystems and what these changes reveal about ecological and evolutionary processes, with applications to biodiversity conservation, land management and climate change. He has served as a senior editor for the journal for nine years and, in his new role, will guide its strategic vision, editorial direction and global impact within the applied ecology community.
Mini Das and Jingcheng Yuan (Physics) led a University of Houston research team that developed a groundbreaking X-ray imaging system capable of capturing three types of image contrast—attenuation, differential phase and dark field—in a single exposure. The motion-free, single-shot method could significantly improve early detection of cancers, lung disease and hidden material defects while reducing radiation dose and imaging time.
The work, soon to be published in Optica, introduces a cost-effective design that can be integrated into existing X-ray and CT systems with minimal modification. Beyond medical imaging, the technology has potential applications in materials science, energy research and industrial inspection, offering new ways to visualize microstructures and internal changes previously difficult to detect.
Mini Das (Physics), Moores professor in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, has been elected a 2026 Optica Fellow, one of the highest honors in the global optics and photonics community. The distinction recognizes her pioneering contributions to advanced X-ray and optical imaging, as well as her cross-disciplinary impact spanning physics, engineering, image science ,and computational imaging.
An international leader in imaging innovation, Das is known for developing methods that reveal previously hidden contrast in tissues and materials without increasing radiation dose—advances with major implications for cancer detection, lung imaging and pediatric care. Her work also bridges imaging physics and human perception, strengthening how diagnostic images are interpreted in real-world clinical settings. The Optica Fellow designation places Das among an elite group of researchers whose work is shaping the future of optics, photonics and applied imaging science.
Volodymyr Vovchenko (Physics), assistant professor of physics, has received an $875,000 Early Career Research Program Award from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science to advance theoretical nuclear physics research.
The award supports Vovchenko’s work exploring the properties of nuclear matter under extreme temperatures and densities, conditions that mirror those of the early universe shortly after the Big Bang. His research focuses on understanding the transition between ordinary matter and quark-gluon plasma and identifying the long-sought quantum chromodynamics critical point. The funding will allow him to expand his research group, integrate advanced simulations with international experimental data, and train the next generation of physicists for careers in academia, national laboratories, and industry.
Zhifeng Ren (Physics) has again been named to Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers list, recognizing the broad and lasting global impact of their work from 2014–24. The distinction places them among the top 1% of most-cited scientists worldwide.
Ren leads the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston, the nation’s leading center for superconductivity and energy research. Ren, recognized for the eighth time, was cited for influential contributions spanning superconductivity, thermoelectric materials, hydrogen production and next-generation energy-storage technologies—work that continues to shape research, innovation and industry worldwide.
Judy Wu (Chemistry), professor of chemistry, has been awarded a $1.96 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how light transforms molecular structure and reactivity. The four-year project will develop computational “blueprints” that help chemists design molecules capable of converting light into stored chemical energy.
Wu’s research focuses on decoding the short-lived, high-energy states molecules enter after absorbing light—insights that could accelerate advances in light-controlled drug delivery, molecular photoswitches, medical imaging and next-generation photochemical materials. Her work uses quantum chemistry modeling to uncover predictive rules that guide how molecules behave when activated by light, opening new possibilities for energy storage and smart, light-responsive technologies.
Rabimba Karanjai and Weidong Shi (Computer Science) — Rabimba Karanjai and Weidong Shi, along with collaborator Lei Xu, received the ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award for their work on an advanced AI system that detects and repairs software vulnerabilities in real time.
Presented at the ACM/IEEE AIware 2025 conference, the award recognizes their paper introducing Smartify, a multi-agent AI framework that continuously analyzes code as it is written and automatically generates secure fixes for critical vulnerabilities in blockchain smart contracts. The tool provides developers with real-time protection against security flaws, helping strengthen trust, stability and safety across decentralized finance platforms and other AI-driven software systems.
Weiyi Peng (Biology & Biochemistry), associate professor of biology and biochemistry, has received a $999,932 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to investigate new approaches for diagnosing and treating lupus.
The federally funded, four-year study will examine the role of protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5), an enzyme linked to cancer progression that is also overactive in immune cells of lupus patients. Peng’s research aims to determine whether PRMT5 inhibitors – already in clinical trials for cancer – could slow lupus progression and whether PRMT5-related biomarkers could improve diagnosis, disease monitoring and treatment response. The work has the potential to accelerate clinical translation by repurposing existing cancer therapies for lupus patients.
In the News
University of Houston College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics (Mathematics) — The University of Houston will launch a new Ph.D. in Statistics and Data Science next fall, positioning the institution to address rapidly growing demand for experts in data analytics and artificial intelligence. Approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the doctoral program is distinctive in its strong emphasis on data science, combining rigorous statistical theory, computation and research training.
Publications
Karen McIntush, Ramona Mateer and Paige Evans (teachHOUSTON) published new research in the American Journal of STEM Education examining the impact of culturally responsive classroom management in secondary STEM teacher preparation.
Their article, “Secondary Urban STEM Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions of the Impact of a Culturally Responsive Classroom Management Course,” found that integrating culturally responsive management alongside clinical teaching significantly increased candidates’ self-efficacy. Participants reported greater confidence in building strong student-teacher relationships, co-creating classroom norms and fostering equitable, inclusive learning environments. The findings underscore the importance of embedding culturally responsive practices in STEM teacher education to better support and empower diverse student populations.
Wan-fu Wu, Xiao-yu Song, Margaret Warner and Jan-Åke Gustafsson (Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling) published new research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences identifying a critical role for estrogen receptor β (ERβ) in prostate health.
Their study, “The Role of Estrogen Receptor β in Maintaining Basal Cells and Modulating the Immune Environment in the Prostate,” shows that ERβ is essential for maintaining normal basal cell populations and regulating inflammation in prostate tissue. Loss or inhibition of ERβ was associated with abnormal intermediate cell development and increased immune cell infiltration – early events linked to prostate cancer progression. The findings highlight ERβ signaling as a key regulator of tissue homeostasis and a potential therapeutic target for preventing inflammation-driven prostate disease.
Bin Liu (Biology & Biochemistry) published new research as first author in Nature introducing a next-generation platform for targeted cancer therapy.
The study presents antibody-bottlebrush prodrug conjugates (ABCs), an approach that overcomes key limitations of traditional antibody-drug conjugates by enabling tunable and substantially higher drug-to-antibody ratios, incorporation of multiple drug mechanisms with cleavable linkers, and enhanced tumor uptake with improved therapeutic efficacy. The work underscores the University of Houston’s growing impact in molecular medicine and precision oncology.
Jonathan Parra, Roman Poberezhniuk, Claudia Ratti and Volodymyr Vovchenko (Physics) published new research in Physical Review Letters examining charge fluctuations in the quark-gluon plasma.
In “Indications for freeze-out of charge fluctuations in the quark-gluon plasma at the LHC,” the team applied a novel density-correlation framework to analyze net-charge fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions. Their results show strong agreement between experimental data from the Large Hadron Collider and the quark-gluon plasma scenario, providing moderate Bayesian evidence that charge fluctuations freeze out in the QGP rather than in a hadron gas. The findings refine a key experimental signature of QGP formation and lay the groundwork for precision testing with future high-fidelity LHC measurements.
Paige Evans, Donna Stokes and Mariam Manuel (teachHOUSTON) published new research in Teachers and Teaching examining the impact of chain mentoring in secondary STEM teacher education.
Their article, “Chain mentoring in a U.S. secondary STEM teacher education programme,” uses a narrative inquiry approach to map multi-layered mentoring relationships among faculty, preservice teachers and in-service teachers within an Innovative STEM Teacher Education Program. Findings show that chain mentoring – alongside inquiry-based instruction, culturally responsive pedagogy and disciplinary rigor – has helped sustain an 80% teacher retention rate, far exceeding the national average, while preparing educators who continue serving high-need, urban schools.
William Struble (Earth & Atmospheric Sciences) published new research in Geophysical Research Letters examining how mountain-front facet slopes record long-term fault behavior.
In “Dip Angles of Mountain-Front Facets Encode Long-Term Slip Rates Along the Wasatch Normal Fault, USA,” Struble shows that facet dip angles closely track slip rates along Utah’s Wasatch Fault Zone, enabling reconstruction of 100,000-year average slip rates that are lower than those observed in the Holocene. The findings provide evidence for slip-rate acceleration on the Wasatch Fault and establish facet-angle analysis as a promising tool for estimating slip rates on normal faults in mountain ranges worldwide.
Reginald Mills, Kavita Choudhary and Bhaswati Paul (Chemistry) published new research in ACS Catalysis introducing a novel cobalt(II) catalytic system for C(sp²)-C(sp³) cross-coupling reactions.
Their study, “C(sp2)-C(sp3) Cross-Coupling Enabled by Alkyl Radical Capture at Isolable, Low-Spin (S = 1/2) Cobalt(II)-Monoaryl Catalysts,” demonstrates how bench-stable alkyl sulfones can be used to drive cross-coupling through alkyl radical capture. Using freeze-quench EPR spectroscopy, the team identified a rare cobalt(II)-aryl resting state, providing direct mechanistic insight into the catalytic cycle. The findings expand synthetic strategies relevant to pharmaceutical development and advanced materials chemistry.
Liangzi Deng, Daniel J. Schulze, Melissa Gooch, Ting-Wei Kuo, Xin Shi, Shaowei Song, Zhifeng Ren and Ching-Wu Chu (Physics) - Researchers from the University of Houston Department of Physics and the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston published new findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrating a breakthrough approach to stabilizing pressure-induced superconductivity at ambient pressure.
The team’s study, “Creation, stabilization, and investigation at ambient pressure of pressure-induced superconductivity in Bi₀.₅Sb₁.₅Te₃,” introduces an innovative pressure-quench protocol that preserves multiple superconducting phases outside high-pressure environments. The research reports superconductivity up to 10.2 K – the highest critical temperature achieved for this compound series – and identifies a phase with potential topological characteristics. The advance represents a significant step toward making superconductors more stable and scalable for future technological applications.
Zhi-Hao Chen, Feng Chen, Olafs Daugulis and Maurice Brookhart (Chemistry) published new research in the Journal of the American Chemical Society introducing a palladium-diimine-catalyzed approach for the direct, single-step synthesis of heterotelechelic polyethylene.
Their study, “Vinylsilanes as Chain-Transfer Agents in Ethylene Polymerization: Direct Synthesis of Heterotelechelic Polyolefins,” demonstrates precise control of polymer molecular weight while producing alkenyl- and silyl-terminated end groups that can be efficiently transformed into a broad range of functionalized polyolefins. The advance expands the toolkit of modern polymer synthesis and provides a versatile platform for producing precision polymers.
Tai-Yen Chen and the Chen Research Group (Chemistry) published new research highlighting innovative work at the intersection of neuroscience and molecular biology. The study examines how metal homeostasis influences healthy and diseased neurons using advanced single-molecule techniques, advancing understanding of molecular processes critical to brain health.
Co-authors include Meng-Hsuan Wen, postdoctoral associate; Huanhuan Chen; Guangjie Yan, postdoctoral associate; Yuteng Zhang; and Wenkai Chen, Ph.D. student. The work underscores the University of Houston Department of Chemistry’s contributions to interdisciplinary research bridging chemistry and neuroscience.