Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
 | |
| Formed | August 25, 1914 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | College Station, TX |
| Academic Partners | 19 |
| Specialized Research Centers | 30 |
| Research Projects | 4,838 |
| 2015 Research Expenditures | $208 Million |
| Collaborations | 874 |
| Industrial Sponsors | 3,045 |
| [1] | |
The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES, pronounced “tease”) is an engineering research agency within The Texas A&M University System and is governed by the Board of Regents. TEES partners with industries, communities and academic institutions to solve problems that help improve the quality of life, promote economic development and enhance the educational systems of Texas.
TEES’s mission is to produce and transfer the highest quality, relevant engineering and technology-oriented research by leveraging capabilities statewide in order to improve economic development and quality of life in Texas and the nation; enhance educational systems; support interdisciplinary fundamental and applied research; transfer technology from research and development activities to useful applications; and commercialize promising technologies.
Headquartered in College Station,[2] TEES has a close relationship with Texas A&M University, as well as regional divisions at 17 other institutions of higher education in Texas and affiliations with community colleges. Through this statewide network, the agency brings resources together to improve the lives of Texans, while also working together to enhance science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education within the state. Educational partnerships across the state work to ensure Texas develops the engineers and scientists that drive the state’s technological and economic competitiveness.
TEES also operates research centers across the state of Texas. Focus areas include sustainable advanced energy systems, health care, informatics and the knowledge economy, research challenges for national security and infrastructure and transportation. TEES currently administers more than 4,600 research projects and more than 2,800 industry partnerships. The majority of external research dollars generated by the agency continues to come from federal sponsors, while research funding from the private sector has remained strong through research centers and consortia that serve a broad range of industries. TEES also offers certificate programs as well as outreach to industry to help with workforce training and development. TEES develops workforce for many industries including therapeutics manufacturing, corrosion and nuclear industries.
Leadership
Dr. M. Katherine Banks, Director
Dr. Dimitris Lagoudas, Deputy Director
Dr. N.K. Anand, Associate Agency Director
Dr. Narasimha Reddy, Associate Agency Director for Strategic Initiatives and Centers
Dr. Cindy Lawley, Assistant Agency Director for Workforce Development
Dr. Balakrishna Haridas, Executive Director for Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship
John Crawford, Chief Financial Officer
Cindy Wall, Assistant Agency Director for Regional Divisions
Dr. Mark Weichold, Executive Director for National and Global Initiatives
History & Milestones
One of nine agencies within The Texas A&M University System, TEES was established on August 25, 1914, by the board of directors of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas as part of the Texas land-grant university system. The Board Order read simply: “the recommendation concerning the establishment of an engineering experiment station, submitted by Dean Spruce of the school of engineering were adopted.”
During the early part of the 20th century, as the automotive industry was taking off in the United States, early TEES publications detailed best practices for building highways, culverts and bridges. These booklets were widely used by the Texas Highway Department, which was established in 1917. After World War I, millions of automobiles were in use, but only 10 percent of the United States’ 2.6 million miles of road were surfaced. TEES continued its highway research, while starting research on gasoline, rural electricity needs and urban sewage disposal.
TEES received its first state funding in 1921, taking in $6,000. Although staffed entirely by volunteers, the agency began to establish relationships with industry while continuing its highway research, investigations into rural electricity needs and urban sewage disposal. During the 1930s, due to the effects of the Great Depression, TEES’ budget shrunk from $15,600 in 1932 to $1,900 the following year. But research continued, and by the end of the decade, TEES’ budget reached $40,000, and it established a fully equipped Cotton Fiber Testing Lab, Fan Testing Lab and Energy Systems Lab.
With the U.S.’s entry into World War II, many TEES projects were put on hold due in part to the fact that many researchers were involved in the war effort. Following the end of the war, TEES began research into petroleum refining and school architecture, and in 1945 built a low-speed wind tunnel used for aircraft design and instruction. TEES and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service worked together to create the Ag-1, an aircraft prototype with agriculture applications. A later model of the prototype went into production and that design is still used in crop dusting aircraft today.
In 1948, TEES was incorporated into the Texas A&M College System, and the next decade proved pivotal to the agency. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), which is now an independent agency, was established in 1950 as part of TEES. TEES began to turn its research focus to new technologies, acquiring an IBM 650 digital computer in 1956 and an IBM 709 in 1958, which led to the creation of the Data Processing Center. TEES also began plans for a nuclear reactor for training, and laid the groundwork for the creation of the Texas A&M Nuclear Science Center (which began operations in 1962) to house a 1-megawatt TRIGA (Testing, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) reactor.
TEES expanded its space research, and created the Space Technology Division in 1962. The agency was involved in a multitude of testing, including the building of a miniature space capsule to simulate the atmospheric pressure in space, and studying impact absorption devices for lunar landings. TEES also used its low-speed wind tunnel to research ground-level turbulence, such that could be experienced by launches into space. In 1969, TEES began its first bioengineering research focused on developing prosthetics and related devices. This research increased over the next decade as researchers studied prosthetics, bone grafts and modified vehicles for quadriplegics. In 1973, researchers develop voice- and breath-controlled wheelchairs. During the 1980s, TEES began expanding its outreach, and created a statewide network of partnerships with other education institutions and expands its cooperative research with industry. In 1989, TEES’s mission was codified by an act of the 71st Texas Legislature, and a joint resolution from the House and Senate is passed congratulating TEES on 75 years of service to the state of Texas.
In the 1990s, a national push started to encourage more women and minorities into the fields of engineering and science. TEES’s proposals on this front resulted in $11 million in funding to encourage women and minorities into engineering, math and science. TEES’s opened more than 20 research centers over the decade, including the Global Petroleum Research Institute, which is the managing partner of a cooperative effort to conduct critical research in the development of petroleum technology. In 2010, construction began on the National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing and TEES was awarded $22.7 million for bio manufacturing workforce training.
University Partners
Texas A&M International University
Texas A&M University at Galveston
Texas A&M University-Central Texas
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Texas A&M University-San Antonio
Texas A&M University-Texarkana
Two-Year College Partners
Research Centers & Institutes
Energy Systems and Services
Energy Systems Laboratory (ESL) | Director: David E. Claridge
The lab focuses on energy-related research, energy efficiency and emissions reduction. Some specialized areas are optimization of commercial and industrial building operations, known as Continuous Commissioning®; enhancing overall energy efficiency in buildings through research, simulation, data analysis and outreach; conducting research and calibrated testing on HVAC systems; measurement and verification of energy savings for commercial buildings; and energy efficiency in industrial facilities. http://esl.tamu.edu/
Smart Grid Center (SGC) | Director: Mladen Kezunovic
SGC brings together several smart grid electric energy efforts already under way in the A&M System and will position the system as a leader in education, research and public service in the modernization of the electricity system. The center will bring together interdisciplinary research teams to develop more innovative and effective smart grid solutions. The SGC aims to transform the electrical grid infrastructure in the United States to meet the demands of the 21st century. http://smartgridcenter.tamu.edu/sgc/web/
Crisman Institute for Petroleum Research | Director: A. Daniel Hill
The Crisman Institute for Petroleum Research identifies and solves significant research problems of major interest to industry and government. The Institute conducts it efforts in four research Centers: the Halliburton Center for Unconventional Resources, the Chevron Center for Well Construction and Production, the Schlumberger Center for Reservoir Description and Dynamics, and the Center for Energy, Environment, and Transportation Innovation. http://tees.tamu.edu/about/rpc/crisman/
Gas and Fuels Research Center (GFRC) | Director: Nimir Elbashir
The Gas and Fuels Research Center (GFRC) is a multidisciplinary research center led by Texas A&M University at Qatar involving 19 professors from Texas A&M’s main campus in College Station and the Qatar campus. The center’s key objective is to lead the integrated research activities and the resources of Texas A&M to support shale gas and natural gas exploration, production and monetization activities both in the United States and in Qatar.
Global Petroleum Research Institute (GPRI) | Director: David Burnett
GPRI is the managing partner of a cooperative effort to conduct critical research in the development of petroleum technology. Research findings will lead to the application of new and innovative technologies in petroleum exploration and production to address the increasing demand for cost-effective production and enhanced recovery. http://www.gpri.org/
Turbomachinery Laboratory (TL) | Director: Dara W. Childs
TL faculty carry out research related to the reliability and performance of turbomachinery (pumps, compressors, and turbines). Reliability research areas include rotordynamics, materials, structures, and controls. Performance issues include heat transfer, computational and experimental fluid mechanics, and combustion. http://turbolab.tamu.edu/
Texas A&M Energy Institute | Associate Director: Stratos Pistikopoulos
The Texas A&M Energy Institute pursues and supports new approaches for multi-disciplinary energy research, education, and external partnerships. These approaches cross departmental and college boundaries and address all facets of the energy landscape that naturally connect engineering, sciences, technologies, economics, law, and policy decisions. http://energy.tamu.edu/
Healthcare
National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing (NCTM) | Director: William J. Treat
NCTM is a first-of-its-kind, multi-disciplinary workforce education institution and biopharmaceutical manufacturing center, located at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. The NCTM's workforce development mission is to provide education, training, and outreach programs to produce a highly skilled workforce for the vital U.S. and global pharmaceutical industry. http://nctm.tamu.edu/
Center for Remote Healthcare Technology (CRHT) | Director: Gerard L. Cote
CRHT’s mission is to serve the state, nation and global community by addressing critical needs in healthcare, and in particular, in emergency and other situations where there is no doctor in close proximity but it is essential that timely care can be provided remotely. http://tees.tamu.edu/about/rpc/center-for-remote-healthcare-technology/
Center for Bioinformatics and Genomic Systems Engineering (CBGSE) | Director: Anirudha Datta
CBGSE functions in the general areas of bioinformatics, computational biology, and systems biology, serving communities both internal and external to Texas A&M University. As a cooperative effort between Texas A&M AgriLife and TEES, it serves as an active research group and a cross-institution graduate student-training program. http://cbgse.tamu.edu/
Information Systems and Sensors
AeroSpace Technology Research & Operations (ASTRO) | Director: Gregory E. Chamitoff
ASTRO’s mission is to advance research ideas and concepts to practical application and space flight. It does this by helping to advance researcher concepts to Technology Readiness Levels suitable for adoption by government and industry users, while infusing industry and government needs into the research and education process at one of the top universities in the world. http://serc.tamu.edu/
Center for Emergency Informatics (CEI) | Director: Robin R. Murphy
CEI brings together 30 engineering faculty members at Texas A&M University and TEES researchers who have been working together since 2008 to create unmanned systems, new sensors, wireless networks, data mining, simulation and visualization, social networking, and other technologies that can revolutionize response and recovery. The center is unlike any other in the United States, because it focuses on how new and evolving information technologies can be improved, integrated, and put to use for disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. http://tees.tamu.edu/about/rpc/cei/
Center for Autonomous Vehicles and Sensor Systems (CANVASS) | Director: John Valasek
The mission of the Center for Autonomous Vehicles and Sensor Systems (CANVASS) is to unify research and development of autonomous vehicles and systems for the purpose of better serving the state and nation. CANVASS is joint venture of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station and the Texas A&M University Dwight Look College of Engineering. CANVASS is a multi-laboratory center with investigators in various departments within the college administered through the aerospace engineering department. CANVASS facilitates engineering education and is a major conduit for the autonomous-systems engineering workforce of Texas. Its primary research interest is unmanned aircraft systems.
Texas Center for Applied Technology (TCAT) | Director: Jim Wall
TCAT pursues enterprising research projects that fulfill client needs while inserting new technologies into society that promote economic growth and an improved quality of life. The TCAT team consists of employees with experience in academia, military, and industry, which gives TCAT the ability to cross interdisciplinary academic boundaries and to couple research strengths with experiences and successes of private industry, military, and other governmental agencies. http://tcat.tamu.edu/
National Security and Safety
Center for Large-Scale Scientific Simulations (CLASS) | Director: Jim Morel
The purpose of CLASS is to stimulate and facilitate the development of multidisciplinary teams for performing research in massively-parallel multiphysics computation; acquire and develop software infrastructure required for such research; and stimulate and facilitate the development of multidisciplinary educational programs that will prepare students for a career in modern computational engineering and physics. http://class.tamu.edu/
Institute for National Security Education and Research (INSER) | Director: Marvin L. Adams
INSER develops and implements graduate-level education programs targeted at national security professionals. INSER also organizes and implements multidisciplinary research and development programs that are relevant to national security. http://tees.tamu.edu/about/rpc/inser/
Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence and Innovation | Executive Director: Jerry Hendrix
The Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence and Innovation is a joint TEES/Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi center. The center conducts research, development, testing and evaluation of technologies enabling commercial use of remotely-piloted aircraft in the national airspace system of the United States. The mission of the center is to bring unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to America’s skies. The center collaborates on state and federally funded research programs that address key FAA UAS research areas and provides services to the civil UAS aviation sector, including the use of 11 test ranges across Texas. http://lsuasc.tamucc.edu/
Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center | Director: M. Sam Mannan
The Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center focuses on research to enhance safety in the chemical process industry. The center conducts research and develops undergraduate, graduate and continuing education programs. Its services to government and industry include independent accident investigation and analysis services, particularly for accidents suggesting new phenomena or complex technologies. http://process-safety.tamu.edu/
Nuclear Power Institute (NPI) | Director: Kenneth L. Peddicord
The objective of NPI is to develop the necessary workforce for the new nuclear power plants that will be developed in Texas and to sustain a vibrant new, clean industry in the state. NPI is a statewide partnership led by TEES and headquartered at Texas A&M University. The partnership includes universities, community colleges, the nuclear power industry, state agencies and local organizations. http://nuclearpowerinstitute.org/
Nuclear Science Center | Director: Sean McDeavitt
The goal of the Nuclear Science Center is to improve the health, wellbeing and environment of mankind through the application of nuclear technology. The center provides services to researchers and/or faculty from Texas A&M University, other colleges and universities, government agencies and private industry. The center is recognized primarily for providing radioisotopes and other nuclear irradiation services for research, academic, medical and industrial applications and as a teaching and nuclear training facility. http://nsc.tamu.edu/
Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI) | Director: William S. Charlton
The mission of NSSPI is to work collaboratively with national laboratories and other partners to develop and apply science and technology to detect, prevent, and reverse the proliferation of nuclear and radiological weapons and guard against nuclear terrorism; educate the next generation of leaders in the field of nuclear security sciences; and to study the policy implications of deploying new technologies. http://nsspi.tamu.edu/
Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center | Director: Daniel Ragsdale
The Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center is dedicated to combating adversaries who desire to harm American citizens, government entities or corporate America through cyber attacks. The center seeks to advance the collective cybersecurity knowledge, capabilities and practices through groundbreaking research, innovation and education. Working with researchers, faculty and industry leaders, the center prepares a corps of well-educated cybersecurity professionals to pave the way to a cybersecure future. http://cybersecurity.tamu.edu/
Infrastructure
Offshore Technology Research Center (OTRC) | Director: Richard Mercier
The OTRC is a graduated National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center, and is a joint venture between Texas A&M University and The University of Texas at Austin. Headquartered at Texas A&M, the center brings together engineering and science faculty and students from both institutions with benefits from strong industry input. The major research areas are deepwater platforms, slender and large body hydrodynamics, non-traditional materials and deep ocean seafloor engineering. http://otrc.tamu.edu/
Thomas and Joan Read Center for Distribution Research and Education | Program Coordinator: F. Barry Lawrence
The center brings distributors, manufacturers, professional associations, trade publications, faculty and students together to solve distribution problems and to discover new ways of productively and profitably servicing the needs of the market place. http://id.tamu.edu/professional-development/thomas-joan-read-center/who-we-are/
Materials and Manufacturing
Center for Intelligent Multifunctional Materials and Structures | Director: Amine Benzerga
The Center for Intelligent Multifunctional Materials and Structures consists of some of the top researchers in Texas and the world, including a Nobel laureate and several members of the National Academies, in biotechnology, nanotechnology, biomaterials and aerospace engineering to develop the next generation of bio-nano materials and structures for aerospace vehicles. CiMMS is a collaborative effort of professors and researchers from six universities: Prairie View A&M University, Rice University, Texas A&M University, Texas Southern University, University of Houston, and The University of Texas at Arlington.
Institute for Manufacturing Systems | Director: Satish Bukkapatnam
The Institute for Manufacturing Systems was formed to provide coordination of research and education in the broad area of manufacturing systems. The institute serves as a focus for manufacturing research. The term “manufacturing” is used in its most broad sense and encompasses all aspects related to the production and distribution of goods, including product and process design and engineering, operations, marketing and sales and product life cycle management.http://texasmakes.org/#/home
National Corrosion and Materials Reliability Center (NCC) | Executive Director: Homero Castaneda (interim)
The National Corrosion and Materials Reliability Center focuses on corrosion science research and technology. Corrosion is the natural deterioration that occurs with all materials because of a reaction of the material with its environment. This degradation process affects the assets of nearly every industrial sector and government agency and has direct impact on the economy, health, safety, infrastructure, environment and national security. http://corrosioncenter.tamu.edu/
Polymer Technology Center (PTC) | Director: Hung-Jue Sue
PTC encompasses faculty members from chemistry, chemical engineering, civil engineering, engineering technology and industrial distribution, and mechanical engineering whose research topics are in the area of polymers and plastics. Two industrial consortia support operations of the PTC. Members of the consortia sponsor research projects both individually and jointly. http://ptc.tamu.edu/
Process Engineering R&D | Director: Mian N. Riaz
The Process Engineering R&D Center develops processes for converting agricultural crops and biological materials into functional food, feed and industrial ingredients, and for using these materials in industrial and consumer products. The center also conducts research in recovering valuable components from by-products and in the treatment of processing waters and wastes. http://foodprotein.tamu.edu/
Education and Training
Institute for Engineering Education and Innovation (IEEI) | Director: Bonnie Dunbar
IEEI engages in engineering education research to advance the practice in pre-kindergarten through professional education. The Institute creates, synthesizes and disseminates research leading to development of engineering learning environments that are transformative and inclusive. The institute catalyzes activities across the Texas A&M System engineering entities. http://tees.tamu.edu/about/rpc/ieei/
References
- ↑ "TEES by The Numbers". TEES. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
- ↑ "Contact Us". TEES. Retrieved August 21, 2014.