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Texas Tech Research Office of Research & Innovation facilitates excellent research, scholarship, and creative activity.

💡 Advancing the Future of Printed ElectronicsDr. Minxiang Zeng received $530,000 for a five-year CAREER Award from from ...
06/04/2026

💡 Advancing the Future of Printed Electronics

Dr. Minxiang Zeng received $530,000 for a five-year CAREER Award from from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (ENG/CMMI). His research aims to improve electronics through innovating semiconductor connectivity.

Dr. Zeng's project focuses on advancing ink-based manufacturing of semiconductor chalcogenide films for flexible electronics, sensors, and energy devices. Although printing offers scalable, low-cost fabrication, uncontrolled porosity and unclear interfacial interactions often reduce electrical performance and reliability.

This research will develop ink design strategies that guide material assembly during printing, using nanoparticle additives and colloidal components to tune interfacial structure and produce uniform, low-porosity films under mild conditions. The project will also establish structure–property relationships linking printed film morphology to charge transport and mechanical durability.

Texas Tech University - Whitacre College of Engineering
Texas Tech Chemical Engineering

Addressing Critical Gaps in Women's Health and Aging Research 🧠 Dr. Jaehoon Lee was awarded $49,912 for a five-year proj...
06/03/2026

Addressing Critical Gaps in Women's Health and Aging Research 🧠

Dr. Jaehoon Lee was awarded $49,912 for a five-year project from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-National Institute on Aging - NIH and the University of Kansas Medical Center. The project seeks to address critical gaps in our understanding of how criminal legal system involvement (CLSI) influences health across the life course and shapes women's experiences of aging.

Through this research, Dr. Lee aims to better understand how women with CLSI define health in later life, what they need to age well and how CLSI functions as a social determinant of health. It requires collaboration, support, resources, and connection. Findings from the study will help inform strategies to promote healthier aging and advance health quality for women.

Texas Tech University College of Education

Congratulations to Dr. Lenka Halamkova on presenting her research at Pittcon, one of the world's premier conferences for...
06/03/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Lenka Halamkova on presenting her research at Pittcon, one of the world's premier conferences for analytical chemistry and laboratory science.

In her presentation, Dr. Halamkova presented a multi-modal approach to fentanyl detection combining nail analysis with mechanistic protein studies. She demonstrated that ATR-FTIR and Raman spectroscopy with machine learning can detect fentanyl exposure in human nail clippings with 85-96% accuracy, offering a non-invasive forensic tool.

To understand why detection works, she investigated fentanyl's interaction with butyrylcholinesterase as a model protein. Enzyme kinetics revealed mixed inhibition, while Raman spectroscopy with machine learning (92% accuracy) confirmed structural changes in aromatic residues and protein backbone. This demonstrates that fentanyl causes detectable structural changes in susceptible proteins, including the keratin-based changes in nails that enable their detection method.

College of Arts and Sciences, Texas Tech University
TTU Environmental Toxicology

TTU Plant Geneticist Named Royal Society Fellow Dr. Luis Herrera-Estrella, the director of Institute of Genomics for Cro...
06/01/2026

TTU Plant Geneticist Named Royal Society Fellow

Dr. Luis Herrera-Estrella, the director of Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance and the President's Distinguished Professor of Plant Genomics, has been chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society, the oldest scientific academy in existence, which consists of some of the world's most esteemed researchers.

Dr. Herrera-Estrella's innovative approach looks at using genomics to enhance the resilience of crops in extreme conditions. His work with Agrobacterium-mediated plant genetic transformation is well known, which utilizes Gram-negative bacteria to transfer genes in plants. His lab developed a phenotyping machine that better identifies traits in crops and speeds up the process of breeding and validating plant seeds.

His institute has received more than $10 million in research funding from various sources, including National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dr. Herrera-Estrella is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, in addition to his affiliation with Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology (TAMEST).

Read more: https://www.ttu.edu/now/posts/2026/05/herrera-estrella-elected-to-fellowship-of-the-uks-royal-society.php

Texas Tech Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources
Igcast

🦟 Determining Epidemiological Risk for Mosquito-Borne IllnessThe Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is one of the ...
05/29/2026

🦟 Determining Epidemiological Risk for Mosquito-Borne Illness

The Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is one of the deadliest viruses transmitted by mosquitoes in the United States, yet epidemics of the virus in mosquitoes and humans are unpredictable. While infection in humans is rare, it has a very high mortality rate, and survivors are often left with permanent neurological damage.

Dr. Joseph McMillan received a two-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease for a project examining this sickness. This funding supports research using stochastic modeling techniques in combination with historical records of EEEV infection prevalence in mosquitoes to test various ecological hypotheses related to the epidemic potential of EEEV during a given transmission season. This research will ultimately provide more insight into how EEEV outbreaks occur.

College of Arts and Sciences, Texas Tech University

Researchers from the Texas Tech Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources are advancing a new genome ed...
05/29/2026

Researchers from the Texas Tech Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources are advancing a new genome editing approach that could accelerate the development of stronger, more resilient crops. 🌱

Led by assistant professor Dr. Degao Liu, the project aims to simplify plant biotechnology by developing genome editing methods that eliminate the need for both transgenes and tissue culture, two major challenges in traditional crop editing methods.

Supported by a $468,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, the project tests tomatoes and peppers, crops known for their resistance to conventional transformation and regeneration methods. Target traits include herbicide resistance, salt stress tolerance and improved water-use efficiency, characteristics that are increasingly critical as agriculture faces changing climate conditions and limited resources. This innovative research could help create adaptable solutions for agriculture, climate resilience and water security.

05/28/2026

Developing a relationship with program officers can yield value and insight in the constantly evolving funding process.

Watch this and learn more about how RDC can support you.

https://www.depts.ttu.edu/research/ordc/

🌿 Building a More Sustainable Future with Agricultural Fiber-Based PackagingDr. Laura Fischer was awarded $587,999 from ...
05/27/2026

🌿 Building a More Sustainable Future with Agricultural Fiber-Based Packaging

Dr. Laura Fischer was awarded $587,999 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Cooperative State Research Ed & Extension Service for her interdisciplinary project that examines perspectives across multiple stakeholders to foster communication and promote the acceptance of agricultural fiber-based food packaging.

As efforts continue to reduce plastic use in food waste streams, exploring alternative packaging options, such as agricultural fibers, offers an opportunity to decrease reliance on conventional plastics.

Long-term, Dr. Fischer and her team aim to identify the social dynamics and perspectives surrounding this emerging technology and foster discourse between key stakeholders in the supply chain to promote the acceptance of agricultural fiber-based packaging.

This exploration of perspectives allows their team to better understand how producers, consumers, and retailers interact and shape the evolution of ag-fiber bio-products, creating opportunities for informed discourse and deliberation as ag-fiber packaging is incorporated into the marketplace.

Texas Tech Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources

Vice President Joseph Heppert Begins a New ChapterOur division bids farewell to Dr. Joseph A. Heppert, who retires after...
05/26/2026

Vice President Joseph Heppert Begins a New Chapter

Our division bids farewell to Dr. Joseph A. Heppert, who retires after nearly ten years of service as Vice President for Research and Innovation at Texas Tech University.

Dr. Heppert arrived shortly after we achieved our Carnegie R1 classification, and he progressed that momentum. Under his leadership, annual research expenditures have increased to $290 million as of 2025. The university's innovation ecosystem expanded, sustaining a thriving community of inventors and entrepreneurs. The opening of the Experimental Sciences Building II added more lab space to accommodate our scientific talent. Dr. Heppert oversaw a tremendous effort in bringing the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center, CASFER: Center for Advancing Sustainable & Distributed Fertilizer Production, to Lubbock. More recently, he was instrumental in supporting the Texas Tech University - Critical Infrastructure Security Institute (CISI), a high-priority interdisciplinary initiative combining energy, cybersecurity, and defense innovation.

Under Dr. Heppert's leadership and dedication, Texas Tech's influence within innovation and science has grown and the university's research community is aiming for a higher standard for ourselves, our community, and our world.

TTU Engineers Earn $4.5 Million for Semiconductor DevelopmentThe Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund has awarded a group...
05/26/2026

TTU Engineers Earn $4.5 Million for Semiconductor Development

The Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund has awarded a group of Texas Tech engineers nearly $4.5 million for the research and development of advanced semiconductor materials.

As modern electronics continue to improve in performance, so does the need for semiconductor innovation. Semiconductors are the building blocks of microchips and computer processors that help power our communities, from consumer technology to the aerospace and security industries. This funding will support scientific development and drive economic impact by training the next-generation of technicians in this field.

Led by Dr. Stephen Bayne, executive director of the Texas Tech University - Critical Infrastructure Security Institute (CISI) and vice president of national security for Texas Tech, the team includes Drs. Ayrton Bernussi, Argenis Bilbao, Rui He, Ravi Joshi, Taewoo Kim, Donald Lie, and Hieu P. Nguyen.

Learn more: https://www.ttu.edu/now/posts/2026/05/texas-tech-receives-4-5-million-grant-to-advance-semiconductor-research.php

Texas Tech University - Whitacre College of Engineering

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