UTSA Research Annual Report 2015-2016

Legend CACP - COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE, CONSTRUCTION, AND PLANNING COB - COLLEGE BUSINESS COE - COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING COEHD - COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT COLFA - COLLEGE OF LIBERAL AND FINE ARTS COPP - COLLEGE OF PUBLIC POLICY COS - COLLEGE OF SCIENCE OTHER UNIVERSITY COLLEGE VPCS - VICE PRESIDENT FOR COMMUNITY SERVICES

Annual Report of Sponsored Program Activities for the fiscal year ending August 31, 2015.

The University of Texas at San Antonio Ricardo Romo, Ph.D. C. Mauli Agrawal, Ph.D., P.E. President Vice President for Research Bernard Arulanandam, Ph.D., M.B.A., Assistant Vice President for Research Support Cory R. A. Hallam, Ph.D., Assistant Vice President for Commercialization and Innovation Can Saygin, Ph.D., Assistant Vice President for Sponsored Project Administration Michelle (Mickey) Stevenson, Ph.D., CCEP, Assistant Vice President for Research Integrity Prepared by the Office of the Vice President for Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio Austin Gutierrez Sarah Hada Revised 2016. Data sources include: Office of Sponsored Programs Administration, Office of Research Support, Office of Commercialization and Innovation, and Office of Research Integrity. All financial data has been rounded to the nearest dollar.

Contributors Include: Shannyn Adkins, Christine Burke, Diego Capeletti, Mark Gallyoun, Neal Guentzel, Beth Manning, Jaclyn Shaw, UTSA Today, and more. © 2016 The University of Texas at San Antonio One UTSA Circle San Antonio, TX 78249 (210) 458-4452

MESSAGE FROM RESEARCH The University of Texas at San Antonio continues to make significant progress in achieving our vision of becoming a premier research institution. We have shaped our strategic approach for research by identifying five areas of research excellence at UTSA: cloud, cyber, computing and analytics; advanced materials; integrative biomedicine; social and educational transformation; and sustainable communities and critical infrastructure. While within these areas UTSA is breaking new ground, we continue to support and mentor researchers across all disciplines on campus. We also believe that student participation in university research is an important part of a well-rounded education. Our office is committed to promoting and facilitating undergraduate research.

After some challenging years, this year we turned it around in regards to our research expenditures.

We reversed the trend. In fiscal year 2015, UTSA had expenditures of $51.8 million, which is a 14 percent increase over the previous year. This is a key indicator of performance as research productivity is measured in terms of expenditures. Expenditures also play a significant role in determining national rankings.

The combined efforts of our research community have contributed to the upward trend. To facilitate the tracking of these expenditures, we have built an online system to track the dollar amount of new grants awarded to UTSA on a weekly basis.

The information captured is helping colleges and departments track efforts in applying and securing grants, and improving the administration of awards for faculty members.

Meanwhile, the Office of Commercialization and Innovation (OCI) is expanding. Their on-campus incubator welcomed two new companies, working alongside UTSA researchers. One of OCI’s earliest protégé companies, Invictus Medical —a company started by a group of undergraduate engineering students— just received FDA clearance to begin the marketing of its GELShield device. More significantly, the National Science Foundation awarded UTSA its first I-Corps™ Innovations grant.

C. Mauli Agrawal, Ph.D., P.E. Vice President for Research Peter T. Flawn Professor

The Office of Research Support (ORS) continues to assist our faculty with finding funding opportunities, and with help guiding them through the application process. With the complementary VPR internal grant funding programs, the ORS awards research ideas and projects from UTSA faculty that have a better chance to be selected for outside funding from federals agencies and foundations. In the past year, ORS has awarded over a million dollars to 45 UTSA recipients to further develop their research and strengthen their grant applications. That return on investment was fourfold: UTSA subsequently received over four million dollars in federal and philanthropic funding. Our focus is paying dividends!

You can see our successes: a $2.6 million Department of Education grant focusing on Hispanic student retention; the $400,000* award from the Department of Homeland Security to fund analysis and training for biological and digital threats; a $1.8 million National Institutes of Health grant to help determine when aortic aneurysm surgery is required; a $6.6 million NSF grant to build a cloud-based computing system; and a Office of Naval Research $500,000 grant to study polar ice.

Research activity is robust and growing at UTSA.

UTSA RESEARCH | A N N U A L R E P O R T 2

UTSA GAINS RECOGNITION

UTSA ranked among world’s top 400 universities by Times Higher Education.

The University of Texas at San Antonio has been ranked one of the top 400 universities in the world, according to the 2015-2016 Times Higher Education World University Ranking. The ranking measures the core mission of world-class universities including teaching, research, international outlook and contribution to industry.

UTSA is one of just 66 U.S. public universities to make the top 400 list.

There are more than 20,000 universities worldwide. The Times Higher Education list includes universities in 70 countries.

METHODOLOGY The World University Ranking assesses globally competitive research-intensive universities using 13 performance indicators in five categories: •

Teaching (30 percent), which includes a university's perceived reputation in teaching by academics around the world, staff-to-student ratio, doctorateto-bachelor’s ratio, doctorates awardedto-academic staff ratio, and institutional income-to-staff ratio.

“The top-tier research and scholarly work underway by our faculty was critical to our inclusion on this year’s list,” said UTSA President Ricardo Romo. “Those citations are a key indicator that the work underway at UTSA is relevant and transformational, and is leading us to Tier One designation.”

•

Research (30 percent), which includes a university's perceived reputation in research by academics around the world as well as its research income and research productivity.

The views of more than 11,000 academics across the world were factored into the results.

UTSA is one of six Texas universities to be included on this year’s top 400 list.

•

Citations (30 percent), which includes the number of times a university's scholars are cited in publications around the world.

•

International outlook (7.5 percent), which includes the international-to-domestic student ratio, international-to-domestic staff ratio and international collaboration.

•

Industry income (2.5 percent), which quantifies a university’s commercialization and consultancy activity.

In 2015, UTSA scored particularly strong in the citations category, an assessment that quantifies the number of times UTSA’s scholarly work is cited in global publications. Citations accounted for 30 percent of the ranking’s overall assessment.

3 A N N U A L R E P O R T | UTSA RESEARCH

Source: UTSA Today

EXPENDITURE SUMMARY | FY 2015 TOTAL EXPENDITURES RESEARCH EXPENDITURES $51,822,086 Restricted Research

$31,836,612

Federal

$23,515,477

Non-Federal Unrestricted Research

$19,985,474

General

$13,752,924

Designated

$6,232,550

EDUCATIONAL, OUTREACH, AND SUPPORT EXPENDITURES

$13,576,749

Federal

$11,944,029

Non-Federal

$1,632,720

Unrestricted Research

$7,633,397

General

$6,923,244

TOTAL

71%

$21,240,146

Restricted

Designated

29%

$8,321,135

RESEARCH EXPENDITURES

$740,153

EDUCATIONAL, OUTREACH, AND SUPPORT EXPENDITURES

$73,062,232

10 YEAR EXPENDITURE COMPARISON FY 2005

FY 2015

10 YEAR % CHANGE

Research Expenditures

$23,605,844

$51,822,086

120%+

Edcuational, Outreach, Support Expenditures

$15,858,027

$21,240,146

34%+

$39,463,871

$73,062,232

85%+

TOTAL

Educational, Outreach, and Support expenditures include all sponsored programs that are classified under NACUBO codes as Instruction, Public Service, Institutional Support, Scholarships (excluding Financial Aid), and Academic Support.

UTSA RESEARCH | A N N U A L R E P O R T 4

UTSA Microbiologists Discover Regulatory Thermometer that Controls Cholera Karl Klose, professor of biology and a researcher in UTSA's South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, has teamed up with researchers at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, to understand how humans get infected with cholera. Their findings were released this week in an article published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Cholera is an acute infection caused by ingestion of food or water that is contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. An estimated three to five million cases are reported annually and 100,000-120,000 people die from cholera infections every year. Cholera patients suffer from dramatic fluid loss and can lose up to 40 liters of fluid from their body in just a few days.

5 A N N U A L R E P O R T | UTSA RESEARCH

Klose and his collaborators discovered that Vibrio cholerae, which normally lives in oceans and rivers, senses a shift in temperature as it enters the human body through a mechanism called a Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) thermometer.

The thermometer detects the higher body temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and then turns on the virulence factors that lead to cholera.

Klose's laboratory showed that interfering with the thermometer prevents the bacteria from causing disease, suggesting possible therapeutic outcomes from this research. The research collaboration stemmed from a long friendship between Klose and Franz Narberhaus, who trained as microbiologists together at U.C. Berkeley 25 years ago.

"The temperature shift is one of the signals that the bacterium uses to turn on the virulence factors, such as the cholera toxin, that cause the disease," said Klose. "We have shown that the bacteria's thermometer controls temperature-dependent expression of the virulence factors. They only express them when they are at body temperature and not at ocean temperature."

"We found that if the RNA thermometer is prevented from working correctly and detecting the right temperature, the bacteria won't cause any disease at all. The organisms will just pass right through the body," explained Klose. "If you can figure out how to disrupt the RNA thermometer in some manner, then you may have a therapy against this disease."

Klose says the long-term goal is to come up with intervention strategies against cholera. Understanding exactly how the bacterium controls the expression of the virulence factors is one step forward in trying to intervene during cholera epidemics.

Source: UTSA Today | SEPTEMBER 2014

EXPENDITURE BREAKDOWN BY TYPE | FY 2015 RESTRICTED RESEARCH EXPENDITURES FY 2005

FY 2015

10 YEAR % CHANGE

Federal

$16,174,944

$23,515,477

31%+

Non-Federal

$2,871,575

$8,321,135

65%+

$19,046,519

$31,836,612

40%+

RESTRICTED RESEARCH

TOTAL

FEDERAL NON-FEDERAL

UTSA RESEARCH | A N N U A L R E P O R T 6

RESEARCH EXPENDITURE BREAKDOWN

BY COLLEGE | FY 2015 COLLEGE Architecture, Construction, and Planning (CACP)

$374,892 Public Policy (COPP)

$1,370,144

Business (COB)

$3,386,028 Sciences (COS)

$29,356,957

Education & Human Development (COEHD)

$2,483,646 Honors College

$10,221

Engineering (COE)

$11,681,084 Vice President for Community Services (VPCS)

$76,133

Liberal & Fine Arts (COLFA)

$3,082,981

TOTAL

57% COS 22% COE 6% COB 6% COLFA 5% COEHD 3% COPP 1% CACP

7 A N N U A L R E P O R T | UTSA RESEARCH

$51,822,086

EXPENDITURE PERCENTAGE

BY COLLEGE

EDUCATIONAL, OUTREACH, AND SUPPORT EXPENDITURE BREAKDOWN BY COLLEGE | FY 2015 COLLEGE Architecture, Construction, and Planning (CACP) Business (COB) Education & Human Development (COEHD) Engineering (COE)

Liberal & Fine Arts (COLFA) TOTAL

79% VPCS 9% COS 6% COEHD 2% COPP 1% OTHER 1% COLFA 1% COB 0.6% CACP 0.4% COE

$41,906 Public Policy (COPP)

$391,650

$190,024 Sciences (COS)

$1,958,115

$1,283,444 Honors College

$0

$66,819 Vice President for Community Services (VPCS) $240,533 Other

$16,840,544

$227,741

$21,240,146

EXPENDITURE BREAKDOWN

BY COLLEGE

UTSA RESEARCH | A N N U A L R E P O R T 8

PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS | FY 2015 SUBMISSION BY COLLEGE COLLEGE

SUBMITTED

AMOUNT REQUESTED

CACP

30

$813,701

COB

31

$3,971,900

COEHD

94

$42,586,138

195

$78,997,293

COLFA

84

$11,660,378

COPP

38

$6,188,741

256

$127,585,841

76

$25,748,460

804

$297,525,450

COE

COS Other

TOTAL

24% COE 32% COS 12% COEHD 10% COLFA 4% CACP 4% COB 5% COPP 9% OTHER 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T | UTSA RESEARCH

SUBMISSION PERCENTAGE

BY COLLEGE

PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS | FY 2015 SUBMISSION BY SPONSOR TYPE SPONSOR TYPE

REQUEST AMT.

Federal Government

352

State Government

169

Foundation

72

Federal Pass Through

64

Private

102

Local Government

16

Other Government

12

Business

17

TOTAL

804

44% FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

BY SPONSOR TYPE

21% STATE GOVERNMENT 13% PRIVATE 9% FOUNDATION 8% FEDERAL PASS THROUGH 2% LOCAL GOVERNMENT 2% BUSINESS 1% OTHER GOVERNMENT UTSA RESEARCH | A N N U A L R E P O R T 1 0

UTSA was Awarded *$400,000 DHS Grant to Fund Analysis, Training for Biological, Digital Threats Source: UTSA Today | OCTOBER 2014 The University of Texas at San Antonio was awarded a two-year, $400,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in October 2014 to develop a DHS Scholars program, aimed toward building a future workforce for federal and private organizations addressing biological and digital threats.

Biological threats include bacterial and viral pathogens and are categorized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as Class A, B or C biothreat agents. Digital threats include malware, computer viruses, trojanized software and botnets. Both threat types can be weaponized for delivery to produce mass causalities, widespread panic and compromise U.S. command infrastructure.

Most of the funding focused on building a competitive DHS-based scholarship program and associated research training. The program selected a cohort of exceptional students for participation in the program. The overall research objective developed a common threat assessment metric for biological and digital threats that can be applied by the DHS. Funding supported tuition, fees and stipends for DHS Scholars in the areas of infection genomics, cloud computing and digital forensics.

The UTSA Office of Undergraduate Research helped recruit highperforming students and assisted with related coursework.

1 1 A N N U A L R E P O R T | UTSA RESEARCH

"This was an incredible opportunity to engage undergraduate students in research to develop skills that provide a clear pathway for future employment in national securitybased organizations," said Donovan Fogt, director of the Office for Undergraduate Research.

DHS Scholars engaged in experiential learning within UTSA, led by Early Career Awardees Palden Lama and Xiaoyin Wang, assistant professors in the Department of Computer Science, and Darrell Carpenter, assistant professor in the Department of Information Systems and Cybersecurity.

First-year grant funding supported nine DHS Scholars enrolled in undergraduate courses, which introduced students to crossdisciplinary teaching and research on biological and digital pathogens, informatics techniques and procedures useful for pathogenic outbreak investigations. Subsequent UTSA coursework addresses biothreat agents and food defense, malware agents, cloud computing and big data analytics.

Early Career Awardees collaborated with experts at two DHS Centers of Excellence, the National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD) at the University of Minnesota, and the Command, Control and Interoperability for Advanced Data Analysis (CCIADA) at Rutgers University. The DHS grant also

allowed leading faculty in these areas, Rajendra Boppana, professor in the Department of Computer Science; Nicole Beebe, associate professor in the Department of Information Systems and Cybersecurity; and Mark Eppinger, assistant professor in the Department of Biology, to provide mentoring to Early Career Awardees for support and promotion of scientific research.

"This program is an excellent example of faculty across colleges working together on innovative interdisciplinary research in digital forensics, infection genomics and cloud computing that will really excite our students," said Bernard Arulanandam, principal investigator, Jane and Roland Blumberg Professor in Biology and assistant vice president for research support.

"This has broadened UTSA's profile so that these and other faculty will be competitive for future funding in areas of interest to DHS and other federal agencies such as biological and digital defense."

In addition to the completed coursework and experiential research experience, DHS student scholars will have opportunities to enhance their skills with paid internships at the DHS, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, the San Antonio Vaccine Center and at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. *Awarded an additional $500,000 from the DHS the following year.

COLLEGE AWARDS | FY 2015 NUMBER OF AWARDS

BY COLLEGE COLLEGE

AMOUNT AWARDED

BY COLLEGE FY 2015

COLLEGE

FY 2015

CACP

15

CACP

COB

20

COB

$1,435,707

COE

54

COE

$10,643,810

COEHD

28

COEHD

$2,965,441

COLFA

42

COLFA

$3,600,789

COPP

15

COPP

$2,462,862

COS

78

COS

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE VPCS OTHER

TOTAL

1 34 7

294

$414,810

$18,703,978

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE VPCS OTHER

TOTAL

$14,470 $8,379,802 $534,336

$49,156,005

AWARD PERCENTAGE BY COLLEGE

39% COS 22% COE 17% VPCS 7% COEHD 6% COLFA 5% COB 4% COPP 0.1% OTHER 0.09% CACP 0.01% UNIVERSITY COLLEGE UTSA RESEARCH | A N N U A L R E P O R T 1 2

Office of Commercialization & Innovation The Office of Commercialization and Innovation (OCI) promotes the creation and commercialization of intellectual property at UTSA by faculty, staff, and students. We manage the university's portfolio of intellectual property, engage companies in research and commercialization partnerships, and provide intellectual property education and training. OCI also helps bridge the gap between basic research and applied innovation by operating a proof-of-principle fund, supporting commercialization development programs such as the NSF I-Corps™, and promoting entrepreneurship. Through the UTSA New Venture Incubator, we enable university start-ups and partner companies to grow our commercialization activities on campus.

1 3 A N N U A L R E P O R T | UTSA RESEARCH

Milestones/Successes INVICTUS MEDICAL Invictus Medical, a San Antonio biomedical startup focused on improving the lives of newborns, has its roots at UTSA. In 2010, UTSA engineering undergraduates Daniel Mendez, Israel Cruz and Nicholas Flores invented a device, initially called the aqua bonnet, during an engineering senior design class. It was in response to the needs of one of their wives who worked as a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit. Premature babies were developing cranial deformities due to the pressure on their heads that is a result of prolonged periods of being in a fixed position within the incubator. This issue had been on the rise since the 1990’s. Their GELShield device is intended to prevent a cranial deformity and is easy to affix to the baby’s head without interfering with any life-saving equipment within the incubator. In May 2015, Invictus Medical received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin marketing its GELShield device, and are now selling it to hospital neonatal intensive care units nationwide.

UTSA’S FIRST NSF I-CORPS™ TEAM In June 2015, The National Science Foundation awarded an I-Corps™ Innovation Corps grant to Matthew Gdovin, professor of Biology, College of Sciences; research associate Zachary Jordan; and Becky Cap, Chief Operating Officer of GenCure; through the University of Texas at San Antonio.

The Gdovin lab has developed a new photodynamic cancer therapy that can target cancer growth in triple negative breast cancer without attacking or destroying the healthy cells or the organs that surround it. The business training provided by the NSF I-Corps™ grant helped them focus on the next steps to move this research closer to market.

With 16 students from the lab assisting with the research and expert collaborators in place to move the technology through the next stages of clinical development, the team is hoping the treatment can be ready for Phase 1 clinical trials in the near future.

NEW VENTURE INCUBATOR MEMBERS Mobile Stem Care LLC, a company aimed at helping veterinarians treat their patients with the latest stem cell therapies, took up residency at the UTSA New Venture Incubator in May 2015. It joined Rochal Industries LLC, who specializes in biomedical materials primarily related to the wound care and eye care industries. Bioaffinity Technologies, led by CEO Maria Zannes, also joined the UTSA Incubator. They are a privately held development-stage company advancing proprietary screening and early-stage diagnostic technology applicable to a broad range of cancers.

COMMERCIALIZATION ACTIVITY SUMMARY Technology innovation and commercialization are major focuses of the UT System and other Tier One universities throughout the state and nation. The office establishes UTSA procedures and policies for technology transfer and commercialization, and provides training to faculty, staff, and students. It also spearheads a commercialization council that connects UTSA with regional technology commercialization partners.

ACTIVITY

FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013

FY 2014

FY 2015

Commercial Agreements (Contract, SRA, MOU, NDA, & MTA)

50

49

52

84

105

New Invention Disclosures

47

26

62

56

41

Patents Filed

36

46

76

75

69

Copyrights & Trademarks

0

0

6

3

3

New License/Options Signed

5

1

10

5

7

New Technologies Licensed/Optioned

5

3

10

8

7

Entrepreneurs in UTSA $100K Competition

113

120

128

102

74

Companies in UTSA $100K Competition

20

20

19

16

14

205

215

295

310

329

10

11

13

15

15

Entrepreneurs Trained at Boot Camp Companies Incubated

2015 DISCLOSURES

BY COLLEGE

5-YEAR ('11-'15) INVENTION DISCLOSURES BY COLLEGE

2%

4%

60%

38%

56%

40%

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING COLLEGE OF SCIENCES OTHER (ALL OTHER UTSA COLLEGES/UNITS)

UTSA RESEARCH | A N N U A L R E P O R T 1 4

The Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR) offers a variety of internal awards to encourage faculty to seek out new research ideas and expand scholarly works.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for UTSA faculty to take advantage of internal funds to work out new ideas, unique collaborations or explore further avenues in their research. Additionally, with the newly established PEP program, we are now offering funds to help faculty finesse their research proposals to apply for additional federal funding,” said Bernard Arulanandam, Interim Vice President for Research.

In fiscal year 2015, the VPR awarded 45 seed grant awards totaling $1,117,093 through nine different programs. As of spring 2016, it has resulted in a total of 28 grant submissions, yielding 13 awards, totaling $4,476.912. These awards generated 49 submitted publications; engaged 17 undergraduate students and 50 graduate students engaged. In addition, four patents/copyrights were filed and 33 other scholarly works followed.

FY2015 Award Totals CACP

9 awards

$65,000

COB

5 awards

$30,000

COE

5 awards

$300,000

COEHD

2 awards

$15,000

COLFA

12 awards

$90,000

COPP

1 award

$10,000

11 awards

$607,093

COS

Total: $1,117,093 1 5 A N N U A L R E P O R T | UTSA RESEARCH

These funding opportunities focus on all areas of research. These programs are the conduit to kickstart new ideas and discovery at UTSA.

GREAT

CONNECT

The GREAT program provides seed grants to support new areas of research for faculty at UTSA. The primary goal of these awards is to assemble preliminary data that can be used to seek extramural funding and advance UTSA’s goal of reaching Tier One status. Approximately 6 grants for a maximum of $20,000 each may be awarded annually, based on availability of funds.

The CONNECT Program is a joint effort between The UTSA and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). The program encourages interaction between investigators in support of the acquisitions of established extramural, peerreviewed research funding. This agreement provides unprecedented opportunities for researchers to work together in addressing issues of mutual interest and need.

INTRA

SALSI

GRANT FOR RESEARCH ADVANCEMENT AND TRANSFORMATION

INTERNAL RESEARCH PROGRAM

The INTRA program is part of the VPR’s coordinated effort to promote research and scholarship of the highest quality. This program offers experience in identifying and submitting applications to potential funding sources, provides preliminary data to support applications for extramural funding, and enhances scholarly and creative activities The program is awarding approximately 20 grants of $5,000 each to winning applications.

CONNECTING THROUGH RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS

SAN ANTONIO LIFE SCIENCES INSTITUTE'S CLUSTERS IN RESEARCH EXCELLENCE & INNOVATION CHALLENGE

The program will develop sustainable strategic research clusters bridging UTSA and UTHSCSA over a 12 month period through capacity building and collaborative interdisciplinary research. Clusters will be expected to foster cutting-edge research of national and global impact in areas of major significance.

MID-CAREER AWARDS The Mid-Career Faculty Development Support Program was a one-time special funding program offered by the Office of the Vice President for Research in FY2015 to support faculty who demonstrated a commitment to reinvigorate research.

Michael McDonald, Management

College of Business

Suat Gunhan, Construction Science

College of Architecture and Construction Planning

Heather Trepal, Counseling

College of Education and Human Development

Ghezai Musie, Chemistry

College of Sciences

Rebecca Weston, Psychology

College of Education and Human Development

Manual Diaz, Civil Engineering

College of Engineering

Johnelle Sparks, Demography

College of Public Policy

SALSI INNOVATION CHALLENGE The FY2015 SALSI Innovation Challenge was an initiative to fund high risk, high reward studies that have the potential to create ground-breaking research directions in targeted disease areas which impact the south Texas region, such as diabetes and allergies. Proposed research should lead to enabling technologies and innovations targeting public health issues and diseases of global impact.

UTSA RESEARCH | A N N U A L R E P O R T 1 6

Texas Natural Gas Grants Totaling $53 Million Generated $128 Million in Economic Impact The UTSA Institute for Economic Development released a study showing that three State grants to support natural gas programs generated $128 million in economic impact, $79.1 million in gross state product and supported 927 full-time jobs in 2014. The three grants, totaling $52.9 million, generated that impact by supporting the construction of new natural gas fueling stations and the adoption of natural gas vehicles.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) administered the three grants: the Clean Transportation Triangle (CTT), the Alternative Fueling Facilities Program (AFFP) and the Texas Natural Gas Vehicle Program (TNGVP).

The CTT and AFFP encourage the building of natural gas fueling infrastructure to connect Dallas/ Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, and Houston – an area known as the Texas Triangle – and to support fleets and other drivers of alternative fuel vehicles. The Texas Triangle comprises 60,000 square miles and is home to more than 70 percent of the state’s residents.

The Texas Natural Gas Vehicle Program (TNGVP) enables companies that own or operate heavy/medium duty motor vehicles to repower those vehicles with a natural gas engine, or replace those vehicles with natural gas vehicles.

1 7 A N N U A L R E P O R T | UTSA RESEARCH

The CTT and AFFP grants totaled nearly $21 million and supported 54 natural gas station applicants from 2012 to 2014. The TNGVP grants, $32 million, supported 618 natural gas vehicle purchases and four vehicle conversations for 50 applicants from 2012 to 2014.

"Our research shows that public investment in natural gas fueling stations and the vehicles they support is positively and significantly impacting the Texas economy by providing jobs and improving air quality for the state," said Tom Tunstall, director of research at the UTSA Institute of Economic Development.

UTSA's research also found that, in 2013, the three TCEQ grants generated $30.2 million in economic output, $14.7 million in gross state product and 132 full-time jobs.

The UTSA Institute for Economic Development is dedicated to creating jobs, growing businesses and fostering economic development. Its 12 centers and programs provide professional business advising, technical training, research and strategic planning to entrepreneurs, business owners and community leaders.

View the full report at http://bit.ly/ UTSA_CleanEnergyTri_Study Source: UTSA Today | FEBRUARY 2015

UTSA Engineer Looks to Save Lives With $1.8 Million NIH Grant Medically speaking, an aneurysm can be a time bomb. Ender Finol, associate professor of biomedical engineering at UTSA, wants to make them a little more predictable.

“It’s a medical problem,” he said.

“But it’s something I can make a contribution to as an engineer.”

Finol has just received a $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a method to determine whether a patient with an aortic aneurysm needs surgery right away. Although in the mainstream “aneurysm” tends to mean a blood vessel bursting in the brain and causing sudden death, it’s actually more complicated than that.

Firstly, people with aortic aneurysms don’t know they have them unless a doctor discovers one by accident or it ruptures. In the latter case, there’s about an 80 percent fatality rate. If the aneurysm is discovered before it ruptures, the patient is put under observation. Doctors wait until the aneurysm grows to about five cm in diameter, then recommend surgery.

However, this isn’t always necessary, and it could be costing lives.

“I believe there’s a good segment of the population that’s getting unnecessary, early surgery,” Finol said. “Most of these people have other diseases, so the complications from surgery could harm them

more, or they might not even survive long enough before the aneurysm ruptures.”

His solution is a portable device, most likely a computer tool on a laptop, with a database that he’s currently developing. Surgeons would upload medical images of the aneurysm, and the computer would respond by determining whether surgery is necessary in the near future.

The tool will be validated with magnetic resonance images of a silicon replica of an aorta that will help Finol mimic the blood flow through a real aorta.

Source: UTSA Today | JUNE 2015

UTSA and Indiana University Partner on $6.6M Grant to Build Advanced Computing System UTSA is partnering with Indiana University on a $6.6 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to build cloud-based advanced computing systems for the science and engineering community.

In 2013, the UTSA Cloud and Big Data Laboratory was established to support cloud computing and big data research and development. The laboratory, supported in large part by industry, helps the international business community improve its computing platforms through open-source hardware and cloud and big data technologies such as Open Compute, OpenStack and Software Defined Network.

With the new grant, thousands of researchers will have easy access to advanced computing tools in a new OpenStack-based cloud environment.

The NSF’s Jetstream project, based at Indiana University’s Pervasive Technology Institute and the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), will add cloud-based computation for a team of the nation’s leading cyberinfrastructure experts, software providers and application scientists. The researchers will create virtual machines with advanced computing capabilities on a remote resource, similar to what is found on a laboratory workstation or home computer.

"The cloud is at the earliest stage of adoption and the phenomenon is going to change the shape of industry, as well as our lives," said Paul Rad, director of the Cloud and Big Data Laboratory in the UTSA Department of Computer Science. "As a leading cloud university in collaboration with industry leaders such as Rackspace,

Mellanox, Seagate, Servergy and others, we are very excited to be working closely with Indiana University and UTAustin to build a SuperCloud like Jetstream. It will provide scientists and engineers with easy access to advanced computing, and it supports our mission of providing worldclass education, outstanding research and economic contributions to the region and the nation."

Jetstream is a response to the needs of the scientific computing community for more high-end, large-scale computing resources.

“Jetstream will be based on OpenStack and as a result will be at the forefront of new cloud technology,” said Craig Stewart, PTI executive director and associate dean for research technologies at Indiana University. “UTSA and the Cloud and Big Data Laboratory are critical partners in Jetstream and will be leaders in testing, evaluating and implementation of new OpenStack capabilities. We are very pleased to have such a fine institution working with the Jetstream team on this project. The fact that UTSA is a Minority Serving Institution (MSI) and has some of the best Hispanic graduate students in the nation is an added bonus as we seek to develop an excellent 21st century workforce for the U.S.” Other partnering institutions include the University of Chicago, the University of Arizona, John’s Hopkins University, Cornell University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, University of Hawaii, the University of North Carolina Odum Institute, the National Snow and Ice Data Center and the National Center for Genome Analysis Support.

Source: UTSA Today | JANUARY 2015

1 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T | UTSA RESEARCH

UTSA Geoscientists Visit the Arctic for Polar Ice Research In October 2015, UTSA College of Sciences faculty members Stephen Ackley and Blake Weissling traveled to the Arctic as a part of a project funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to study the diminishing ice cover.

The pair joined a team of nearly 20 scientists from around the world for the 42-day trip from Nome, Alaska into the Arctic Ocean.

Ackley has conducted research in the polar regions for more than 30 years and has a specific geographic location, “Ackley Point,” named after him. Ackley Point is located on Ross Island, an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea, near Antarctica. This was his 12th trip to study polar sea ice, conducted from either drifting ice camps or aboard a vessel.

An assistant research professor in the UTSA Department of Geological Sciences, Weissling has led UTSA students conducting ice research in the Arctic, the Antarctic and at Pico de Orizaba, a volcano east of Mexico City. Ackley and Weissling traveled on the “Sikuliak,” an icebreaking ship making its maiden voyage into the ice.

Project leaders developed methods to quantify how the ice is changing. Satellite remote sensing captured how the ice surface area has been changing, but accurately measuring the region’s ice thickness from above has been a challenge.

“The Navy was particularly concerned with improving its models for atmospheric sensing and for waves,” said Ackley. “When the ice cover is taken away, then the potential for ocean waves builds up. The waves can be a major factor in any kind of economic development involving oil rigs, shipping, search and rescue efforts, and Navy operations. Large waves can also affect the native residents going out to hunt.”

Weissling added, “We looked for storm events so we can measure the oceanographic, meteorological, and ice parameters associated with waves. We looked at how the waves are interacting with the ice edge, because the ice edge dampens wave fields dramatically.”

The UTSA researchers are supported by an ONR research grant as well as a $500,000 Department of Defense instrumentation grant. They used the instrumentation grant to purchase sophisticated equipment including radars, a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system and two electromagnetic induction meters. LIDAR systems incorporate a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure variable distances to the Earth. The electromagnetic induction instruments enables researchers to measure sea ice thickness within a few centimeters of accuracy, either on the surface or from the vessel.

Once the researchers returned, another two years of data analysis will follow. Much of the equipment purchased has additional applications and has been used in the geosciences, civil engineering, architecture and archaeology.

Source: UTSA Today | OCTOBER 2014

UTSA Received $2.6 Million Grant to Research Hispanic Student Retention UTSA President Ricardo Romo, along with Congressman Joaquin Castro, announced a five-year $2.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education awarded to the UTSA Academy for Teacher Excellence (ATE). The Sustainable Support System for Student Success (S5) grant is used to support research on Hispanic student retention.

More than 70 percent of students at UTSA are minority and more than 50 percent are first-generation students, giving the university the unique opportunity to provide educational experiences that help these groups succeed academically.

The grant allows ATE to work with community colleges and high schools in the surrounding area to ensure Hispanic students are college ready upon graduation. The new research supports work the academy already is doing, including developing culturally responsive support systems for underserved students.

ATE has several goals. The grant increases the number of Hispanic students who major in critical teaching shortage areas, as well as help at least 75 percent of students graduating from the program find employment or enroll in graduate school. Research and best practices in Hispanic retention found is being disseminated. Other goals include developing a task force to align the ATE vision with the UTSA Graduation Rate Improvement Rate (GRIP).

Lorena Claeys, executive director and research associate for the Academy for Teacher Excellence; Margarita Machado-Casas, associate professor in the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies; and Guadalupe Carmona, associate professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching, developed the proposal on the university’s behalf and will conduct the research.

Source: UTSA Today | SEPTEMBER 2014 UTSA RESEARCH | A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0

Top 10 Largest Grants COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

$3,490,339 SAMER DESSOUKY, Civil Engineering (48%) RUYAN GUO, Electrical Engineering (24%) ATHANASSIOS PAPAGIANNAKIS, Civil Engineering (12%) ARTURO MONTOYA RODRIGUEZ, Civil Engineering (10%) AMAR BHALLA, Electrical Engineering (6%) "Harvesting Energy from Roadways using Piezoelectric-Based Systems" TX Dept of Transportation 601

SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER

$2,572,632 ALBERT SALGADO "South West TX SBDC FY 14-15 Renewal 3rd YR" US Small Business Administration

COLLEGE OF PUBLIC POLICY

$1,856,889

ROGER ENRIQUEZ, Center for Policy Studies "The San Antonio Pathway to the Health Professions" US Dept of Health and Human Services

COLLEGE OF SCIENCES

$1,837,500 JOSE LOPEZ-RIBOT, South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases | STCEID (50%) STANTON MCHARDY, Chemistry (50%) "Development of novel chemical series of Candida albicans biofilm inhibitors" National Institutes of Health

COLLEGE OF SCIENCES

$1,740,137

ANDREW TSIN, Center for Research and Training in the Sciences | CRTS (50%) GEORGE PERRY, College of Sciences (50%) "RCMI Center for Interdisciplinary Health Research" National Institutes of Health 2 1 A N N U A L R E P O R T | UTSA RESEARCH

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL AND FINE ARTS

$1,419,375

THANKAM SUNIL, Sociology "Project SHAPE: Substance Abuse and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education" US Dept of Health and Human Services

VP COMMUNITY SERVICE

$1,100,000

JOSEPH KULHANEK, P-20 Initiatives Student Support Services Program - Traditional Support (Regular) US Dept of Education

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL AND FINE ARTS

$998,350

ROBERT HARD, Center for Archeological Research (50%) JACOB FREEMAN, Center for Archeological Research (25%) RAYMOND MAULDIN, Center for Archeological Research (25%) "The Evolution of Social Networks and the Robustness of Human Societies to Population Growth and Climate Change: A deep time perspective" National Science Foundation

COLLEGE OF SCIENCES

$928,129

BERNARD ARULANANDAM, South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases | STCEID "Center of Excellence in Infection Genomics" US Dept. of Defense

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

$900,000 X 2

LORENA CLAEYS, Academy for Teacher Excellence San Antonio ISD - TTIPS Douglass ES Proposal San Antonio Independent School District

UTSA RESEARCH | A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 2