Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax: 713.743.8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2006

Contact: Lisa Merkl
713.743.8192 (office)
713.605.1757 (pager)
lkmerkl@uh.edu

HOUSTON, March 28, 2006 – From hard sciences and engineering to psychology and literature, a treasure trove of projects will be showcased at an event to focus on cutting-edge research and scholarly programs at the University of Houston.

UH’s sixth biennial Research and Scholarship Day will take place from 9 a.m. to noon, Friday, March 31 in the Conrad Hilton Ballroom at the UH Hilton Hotel. Exhibits describing various projects and research programs will be on public display with UH researchers and scholars on hand to give demonstrations and to discuss their research. Held every two years, this event celebrates research and scholarship activities happening on campus and showcases the university’s outstanding research efforts and potential for intra- and interdisciplinary collaborations. In addition to being open to the public, Houston-area educators, members of business and industry, Texas Medical Center personnel and others from the area’s academic community will be in attendance.

“Research is an integral part of our educational mission,” said Arthur C. Vailas, vice chancellor and vice president for research and intellectual property management at UH. “We have many exciting research programs taking place on our campus, and we support an atmosphere that enhances scientific and creative activities.”

Featured at this year’s event are projects ranging from recovering lost Latino writings that date back from the American colonial period by way of the Arte Público Press to highlighting the growing partnership between academia, industry and the law enforcement community in fighting crime with special high-tech police cars courtesy of the “Smart Police Car Test and Evaluation Project.” Other projects on display will include exhibits and demonstrations from the Texas Learning and Computational Center from its state-of-the-art computation, visualization and educational facilities for environmental studies, biological, biomedical and energy research, as well as from the Abramson Family Center for the Future of Health, which is dedicated to accomplishing the research, prescribing the action and training the people who provide Houston and its surrounding areas with the finest health care available in the world.

Preceding and overlapping with the grand faculty event is a showcase of the best student research at UH during the annual Sigma Xi Research Day, sponsored by the UH chapter of the scientific research society Sigma Xi. This sister student event to Research and Scholarship Day will begin at 9:15 a.m., March 30 and last until 12:30 p.m., March 31 in the Waldorf-Astoria room of the UH Hilton Hotel. During the Sigma Xi event, 76 undergraduate and graduate poster presentations, representing scientific and social sciences research, will be on display.

Judging for the Sigma Xi student event will take place from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., March 30, with a 4 p.m. reception announcing the student winners, along with the Sigma Xi Faculty Research Award recipient, who will give a public lecture in the fall.

“We’ve worked very hard over the last few years to create a Sigma Xi Research Day that mirrors a real scientific meeting so that students get a sense of what that entails,” said Kelly M. Standifer, associate professor of pharmacology and president of the UH Sigma Xi chapter. “The time and effort that goes into the poster presentations is impressive. The students do an outstanding job, and their work is a great advertisement for UH. I hope everyone takes some time to walk through the posters and appreciate this for themselves.”

About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 35,000 students.

For more information on the UH Division of Research, visit http://www.research.uh.edu/.

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For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.