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The Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded nearly $2 million to a national research consortium that includes lead institution Ohio State University as well as the University of California-Irvine and the University of Texas at Austin. The grant will create a new Tier 1 University Transportation Center (UTC). According to the DOT, these centers aim to “advance research and education programs that address critical transportation challenges facing our nation.”

Prof. Andrea Alù has been elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society for “seminal contributions to electromagnetic theory and applications, nano optics, plasmonics, and metamaterials.” Election to Fellowship in the American Physical Society is limited to no more than one half of one percent of the membership and is recognition by peers of the person’s outstanding contributions to physics.

In 2013, 32,719 fatalities resulted from traffic crashes, most of which were caused by driver error. Across the globe, people are facing longer commutes and five Texas communities are in the top 26 most congested cities in the United States. Traffic congestion creates about 4.8 billion hours of travel delay and affects the environment through increased carbon footprints and higher fuel consumption.

Prof. Andrea Alù was recognized as an Outstanding Referee by the American Physical Society (APS). This award recognizes scientists who have been exceptionally helpful in assessing manuscripts for publication in APS journals. The highly selective Outstanding Referee program annually recognizes the top 150 of the roughly 60,000 currently active referees.