3D printed metal parts photographed in the Additive Manufacturing Lab at UNT Discovery Park

UNT receives $10 million to expand additive
manufacturing capabilities

UNT's Center for Agile and Adaptive Additive Manufacturing was awarded $10 million in funding during the recent 86th Texas legislative session. The center, established in 2018 under the umbrella of the university's existing Materials Research Facility, will help advance the science and application of additive manufacturing across industries — from aeronautics to defense. The center's research will lead to smart materials and environmentally friendly technologies while helping Texas develop a highly skilled workforce of engineers.


Collaboration Spotlight
Rudi Thompson tCity of Dallas awards UNT professor $2.2 million for water conservation program

Water, one of our most valuable resources, faces the high risk of shortages. But Ruthanne "Rudi" Thompson, associate professor of biology, is successfully changing behavior and saving billions of gallons of water each year through the city of Dallas' Environmental Education Initiative, a unique award-winning educational program that's teaching children how to conserve. Over the past 13 years, Thompson has secured more than $7 million in funding from Dallas to study and correlate the effects of education on changing behavior. Water usage data shows the program works, having resulted in a savings of $3 million and more than 22 billion gallons of unused water each year. Learn how the $2.2 million grant renewal from the city will allow Thompson to continue her research momentum through 2024.


Research News
AMS and Goldwater receipents and Ellen Qiangh, Jonathan Lu, Rishi Shridharan and David Yue
UNT Goldwater Scholars lead Texas

Four students from UNT's Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science have been named 2019 Goldwater Scholars, one of the country's most prestigious scholarships awarded to students planning careers in math, science and engineering. UNT leads Texas universities in the number of scholars, with a total of 64 named since 1996. This year, UNT was the only university in Texas — public or private — to have the maximum number of scholars. Learn more about the students (from left) Ellan Qian, Jonathan Lu, Rishi Shridharan and David Yue and their dedicated mentors.


A group of UNT Engineering students are building a CubeSat.
Designing energy efficient controls for solar panels

A team of UNT engineering seniors created an energy efficient system for controlling solar panels on CubeSats, sometimes called micro-satellites that can be as small as a 4-inch cube, using a nickel-titanium shape memory alloy. Their design beat out teams from nine other universities to take first place at the CASMART 3rd Student Design Challenge in Germany, an international engineering competition for undergraduate and graduate students who are asked to create innovative technologies.


A group of College of Engineering students display NASA badges
Reaching for the stars

UNT engineering juniors David Woodward, Tim Stern and Juan Ruiz are reaching for the stars with an augmented reality program that could change the way astronauts communicate in space. Their work is part of the NASA Spacesuit User Interface Technologies (SUITS) Design Challenge, which tasked students to develop a system to provide real-time visual communication via an astronaut's helmet visor.


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