PROFESSOR PUBLISHES JAPANESE BOOK. English Professor Kenneth Roemer recently published a book titled A Sidewalker’s Japan: Impression Encounters. The book evolved out of essays Dr. Roemer began in 1982 when he taught at the university in Matsue, a city of about 140,000 in western Japan. The book, printed entirely in Japanese, is available from www.amazon.co.jp (ISBN 4882027658) and in Japanese bookstores. Translated, the Japanese title is Michibata de Deatta Nippon.

REGIONAL HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING SYSTEM COMES TO CAMPUS. The Department of Computer Science and Engineering has received a three-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to establish a high-performance computing and high-bandwith storage infrastructure for interdisciplinary research. Professor Sharma Chakravarthy is the principal investigator of the project.

ARRI DIRECTOR RECEIVES GRANTS. Automation & Robotics Research Institute Director of Research Frank L. Lewis has received three National Science Foundation grants totaling $538,000 plus a $200,000 Army Research Office grant to investigate micro-electromechanical systems and advanced manufacturing/industrial controls.

PROFESSORS STUDY PUBLIC HOUSING IN FORT WORTH. School of Urban and Public Affairs professors Edith Barrett and Paul Geisel are leading a five-year study documenting residents’ life changes and use of social services after moving from public housing to a mixed-income environment in Fort Worth. The research team, which includes UTA students, is studying residents of a 268-unit public housing complex who will choose where they will live from housing developments called “New Urbanist” housing.

ARRI CELEBRATES 15 YEARS. The Automation & Robotics Research Institute, UTA’s applied manufacturing assistance and automation research and technology transfer center, celebrated its 15-year anniversary in October.

PROFESSOR RECEIVES TRANSPORTATION GRANTS. Jianling Li, assistant professor in the School of Urban and Public Affairs, has been awarded two grants by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) totaling more than $209,000. Dr. Li’s studies are designed to improve transportation in Texas by helping TxDOT meet the rapidly growing demands on existing transportation systems within the state.

BIOLOGIST DISCOVERS NEW SPECIES OF SNAKE. Biology Department Interim Chairman Jonathan Campbell recently discovered a new species of snake in Guatemala. He named the snake Chapinophis xanthocheilus, which translates to “yellow-lipped Guatemala snake.” Dr. Campbell has researched reptiles and amphibians in Central America, South America and Africa for approximately 30 years. A large part of his collection has been deposited in the University’s scientific collection of reptiles and amphibians, the largest in Texas.

CENTER MAKING NEIGHBORHOODS SAFER. The Center for Economic Development, Research and Service has received a $148,000 grant from the Justice Department to reduce gun violence in high-crime Dallas neighborhoods. The Dallas-based U.S. Attorney’s Office selected CEDRAS as its research partner for crime analysis in implementing the Bush administration’s Project Safe Neighborhood. The project calls for the tracking and analysis of crime statistics in high-crime areas as anti-gun media campaigns are run. Comprising UTA’s research team are criminology and criminal justice Assistant Professor O. Elmer Polk, CEDRAS Executive Director Sherman Wyman, School of Urban and Public Affairs Dean Richard Cole, CEDRAS project coordinator Bob Wilkins and graduate research assistant Susan Au.