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All Shook Up
He’s been shaking things up, in the name of science, for more than
two decades. Thomas Hsu, the John and Rebecca Moores Professor
of Civil Engineering in the Cullen College of Engineering, has
numerous awards in the field of reinforced concrete research. The
main tool in Hsu’s current earthshaking pursuits is the Universal
Element Tester (UET). Developed and housed at UH, the two story
UET—the only device like it in the world—stands more than
fifteen-feet tall weighs nearly 40 tons, and contains more than a mile
of pipes to transport oil pressure to its forty jacks. Designed and
built by Hsu and fellow colleagues at a cost of more than $1 million,
the UET is used to test large panel elements under varied controlled
forces. The data from these tests is integrated using computer
techniques to predict the behavior of whole structures made from
such elements when threatened by real-life destructive forces, such as
earthquakes.
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Econo Meld
Predicting financial markets is more of a gamble than traditional
economists will admit, and making sense of such numbers is more like
trying to decipher noise blasting from a loudspeaker.
UH’s Econophysics Group, one of the world’s
most preeminent groups of its kind, couldn’t agree
more. Physics professor John McCauley, who holds a dual
appointment as a senior fellow in the economics department
at the National University of Ireland, Galway, leads
the team. The group’s main discovery, which is
backed by empirically based market dynamics modeling,
is simple—financial markets are unstable. Associate
Professor Kevin Bassler, Professor Gemunu Gunaratne,
and Professor George Reiter—all of the UH Department
of Physics—round out the group. Their newly discovered
models and methods will be applied to solve problems
in economics. McCauley and his colleagues also contend
that a “market” is made up of “noise,”
in the strictest mathematical sense, of a random and
persistent disturbance that obscures clarity. Using
techniques developed in physics such as entropy—the
study of randomness or disorder—challenges the
common belief in economics that market statistics have
structure and move toward equilibrium.
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A Course For Meeting Demand
This fall, new classes at UH will answer Houston’s
growing demand for clinical research experts. The College
of Technology offers graduate training in clinical research
within the Project Management Program. Students in the
program receive a combination of lectures and hands-on
clinical research internships in the Texas Medical Center.
The two-year master’s program allows students
to acquire project management skills applicable to clinical
research. In addition, certification will be provided
to professionals who want to enhance their training
and knowledge. “These classes target a very important
need in medical research right now,” says Amalia
Issa, director of graduate studies for the management
clinical research programs. “We are uniquely positioned
to address this need because we’re integrating
the strengths of the Texas Medical Center with those
of the university.”
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