Celebrating Faculty Achievements
Highlights of the achievements and accomplishments of women and under-represented populations in STEM at Oakland University will be posted on this webpage. More information coming soon.
- Assistant Professor Lan Jiang has been awarded a $324,338 grant from the National Institutes of Health. The 3-year project, titled The Drosophila Expansion Gene Controls Tracheal Tube Diameter, began April 1. Her specific aims are to identify the cellular processes that are regulated by the protein Expansion, and to determine how Expansion regulates Epithelial Growth Factor signaling to control tube size. (April 2013)
- Assistant Professor Zijuan Liu received a grant from the National Institutes of Health, which supported her research on how arsenic can be transported into cells and exert toxicity. Professor Liu's study determined the uptake pathway of arsenate in aquatic animals and through examination of Zebrafish tissue, revealed that NaPi-LLb1 is the most likely transport protein responsible for arsenic accumulation in vivo. (September 2011)
- Assistant Professor Amy Banes-Berceli received a grant from the National Institutes of Health. Her research focused on the physiological role of activation of the JAK/STAT pathway in hypertension. (July 2011)
- Assistant Professor Lan Jiang published a video in the Journal of Visualized Experiements (JoVE) to show how her experiment involving branched tubular networks was prepared. Her study focused on the development of these networks in many organisms, such as airways in the lungs or blood vessels. Click here to see the video (must be subscribed to JoVE to see the video). (May 2011)
- Professor Xiangqun Zeng received a grant from the Michigan Initiative for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MIIE). The proposed project will demonstrate that the sensor technology developed in her lab is ready and can achieve specifications heretofore unavailable in the current markets for the next generation of gas sensors for health, EPA, and transportation applications. (July 2012)
- Professor Maria Bryant received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (Division of Chemistry) for a project entitled, "Intermolecular Forces from Interacting Densities." This project aims at developing new methods based on density functional theory for computing forces between large molecules. These forces are relevant to macromolecular chemistry, materials, and in drug design. (April 2012)
- Professor Xiangqun Zeng received a U.S. patent for a Portable Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor. Click here to read more about it. (May 2011)
Computer Science and Engineering
- Associate Professsor Huirong Fu received the SECS Outstanding Faculty award for Research. (May 2012)
- Associate Professor Huirong Fu received a grant from the National Science Foundation, which helped focus her efforts to promote graduate studies in Computer and Information Science and Engineering to undergraduate students with little exposure to research. (April 2011)
Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Professor Hoda Abdel-Aty-Zohdy received the OU URC Research Excellence Award. (April 2013)
- Assistant Professor Jing Tang has been awarded a 2-year grant from the National Science Foundation. She will be studying Magnetic Resonance Imaging Assisted Dynamic Positron Emission Topography Imaging. The award is part of the NSF's BRIGE program (Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grants in Engineering). This research will integrate anatomical information (MRI) with functional image formation (PET), and will provide a technique to noninvasively quantify myocardial blood flow, contributing to the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease. Click here for a related paper on her work with PET from the Journal of Physics in Medicine and Biology. (August 2012)
- Professor Hoda Abdel-Aty-Zohdy received a Dodge Chair of Engineering award. (May 2012)
- Associate Professor Qian Beth Zou received the Distinguished Associate Professor award. (May 2012)
- Associate Professor Jia Li received a grant from Chrysler Group, LLC for her project entitled, "Wireless Location Awareness of Portable Pendant." She also received funding from the Hughes Research Lab for the project entitled, "Evaluation of UWB Antennas." (March 2012)
- Associate Professor Jia Li received the 2011 SECS Outstanding Faculty award for Research. (May 2011)
Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Associate Professor Barbara Oakley is the author/editor of 5 books.
- Her edited works include Pathological Altruism and Career Development in Bioengineering and Biotechnology.
- Her nonfiction works include:
- Cold-Blooded Kindness: Neuroquirks of a Codependent Killer, or Just Give Me a Shot at Loving You, Dear, and Other Reflections on Helping That Hurts.
- Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend.
- Hair of the Dog: Tales from Aboard a Russian Trawler.
- She has been invited to speak to the National Academy of the Sciences at its annual Sackler Colloquium in January 2013. Her talk will focus on "Cold-Blooded Kindness - Insights into Pathological Altruism."
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Mathematics and Statistics
- Assistant Professor Xiaoli Gao published a paper on the topic of DNA copy number variation (CNV). The analysis of DNA CNV is an important aspect in understanding the genetic basis of diseases such as Crohn's disease, psoriasis, and several forms of cancer. Click here to read her paper. (September 2010)
- Associate Professor Anna Spagnuolo published a mathematical model describing cholera dynamics in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. This model may help improve therapies to combat this vicious disease. Her project was supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. (November 2011)
- Associate Professor Xia Wang received a fellowship award from the OU Research Committee for the project entitled, "Through-Plane Temperature Measurement in a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell using Phosphor Thermometry." (March 2012)
- Associate Professor Laila Guessous received the Phyllis Law Googasian Award. This award recognizes distinguished leadership and sustained service on behalf of women at Oakland University. Professor Guessous' research and teaching interests lie in the areas of computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer, and include a balance of fundamental and applied research. She also received the 2011 SECS Outstanding Faculty award for Teaching. (March 2012)
- Associate Professor Laila Guessous was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant supports a 3-year REU site for undergraduate students during the summer, focusing on automotive and energy related problems that have a direct impact on U.S. energy consumption, climate change, and related national security issues. (April 2010)
- Talia Sebastian (Chemistry) received a highly competitive scholarship from the Department of Defense, under the National Defense Education Program, entitled SMART - Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation. Her Ph.D. research project, to which the award will be applied, is entitled, "Fate of the nano-tungsten lubricant oil in a calcareous roadside soil environment". The scholarship will fund 3.5 years of study. The research project will be conducted under Dr. Edith Chopin, Assistant Professor of Chemistry. (August 2012)