DOCUMENTED RESEARCH. Better health care. A cleaner planet. A more robust economy. All emerge as life-enhancing outcomes of the explorations featured in the second issue of Research magazine. Available at www.uta.edu/researchmagazine, the publication features stories on UT Arlington's genome biology team, the next generation of semiconductors and work by chemists to remove unhealthy gases from the environment. The content reflects the University's commitment to achieving premier research status. Research and sponsored activities funding has increased by 80 percent since 2001. In the same period, the number of start-up companies derived from UT Arlington technologies has increased four-fold, and patents filed have surged more than 800 percent.

WINGS OF TECHNOLOGY. The Office of Naval Research has awarded a 12-month, $800,000 grant to the Automation & Robotics Research Institute. ARRI researchers will investigate methods leading to the design and manufacture of sensor arrays for health monitoring of rocket motors and other equipment, as well as packaging microelectromechanical arrays on canards and fins for the steering of projectiles. Electrical engineering Assistant Professor Dan Popa is the principal investigator. ARRI, a unit of the College of Engineering, stimulates economic growth through leading-edge research and comprehensive manufacturing extension services.

TUNED IN. History Associate Professor Sam Haynes was the key script consultant for The Mexican American War, a two-hour special that aired in September on the History Channel. Dr. Haynes, who appears on the show as an interviewee, was instrumental in shaping the program in which modern-day scholars and authors from both sides of the border share the facts and opinions on a war that Ulysses S. Grant called "one of the most unjust ever waged." Full-color dramatic recreations of key battles are based on the battle notes and memoirs of combatants. Haynes, who joined the UT Arlington faculty in 1993, previously advised the History Channel for its The Presidents series.

WASTE NOT. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, sanitary sewer overflows caused by blocked or broken pipes release 10 billion gallons of raw sewage yearly. These aging wastewater management systems will be one focus of the Center for Underground Infrastructure Research and Education (CUIRE). Recently re-established within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the center promotes research, development and training in underground infrastructure construction and renewal technologies. CUIRE was established in 2002 at Michigan State University by Mohammad Najafi, who joined the UT Arlington civil engineering faculty in August and is the center's director.

LAND OF PLENTY. Landscape Architecture Program Director Pat Taylor has received the Merit Award for achieving "remarkable works" for CIGR, the International Commission of Agricultural Engineers. The award was given in October at the 2006 CIGR World Congress in Germany. Taylor was recognized for his contributions to the organization's land, water and environment section. He also received the Award of Distinction from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture for his long-standing support for research in landscape architecture.

PIONEER IN PAIN. Psychology Department Chair Robert Gatchel has received the 2007 Wilbert E. Fordyce Award from the American Pain Society. The honor, which includes a $10,000 cash award, recognizes excellence and achievement in clinical pain scholarship and goes to a professional who has made outstanding contributions to the clinical pain research field and/or practice. Dr. Gatchel also directs the Clinical Research Program of the Eugene McDermott Center for Pain Management at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.