University of Houston joins $5M consortium for national defense innovation

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The SMART Hub is a collection of researchers, engineers, and economic and policy experts looking to “enact a paradigm shift in the use and management of the wireless spectrum.” Photo via Getty Images

The University of Houston has signed on to be a part of an organization that is working toward next-gen technology for defense purposes.

UH has announced its partnership with the Department of Defense Spectrum Innovation Center’s Spectrum Management with Adaptive and Reconfigurable Technology (SMART) Hub, which aims to conduct spectrum research to help with national defense needs. SMART Hub will develop next-generation technologies, and the research team will contribute expertise in spectrum security, economics, communication systems, radar, circuits, policy, and more.

The center is led by Baylor University, and is a collection of researchers, engineers, and economic and policy experts looking to “enact a paradigm shift in the use and management of the wireless spectrum” according to SMART Hub. The consortium is worth $5 million, and comes after UH recently awarded its largest grant in history—$63.5 million from the U.S. DoD. The previous DoD contract aims to support the campus in developing analytical modeling and simulation platforms for the U.S. Army.

Growth in use of electronic devices has led to the jamming of the bandwidth available in the wireless spectrum (radio, TV, wireless phone signals). SMART Hub will focus on new approaches of spectrum communication to assist military and corporate organizations that will confront this issue more than before. SMART Hub will combine efforts of 29 researchers at 17 institutions.

“We will be working on groundbreaking technology that will revolutionize how we use the spectrum,” professor of electrical and computer engineering at Baylor and director of the efforts Charles Baylis said in a news release. “Rather than fixed systems that use the same frequency and stay there, we’re designing systems that can adapt to their surroundings and determine how to successfully transmit and receive. It’s a true paradigm shift that requires the type of collaboration we will have in SMART Hub.”

UH’s SMART Hub team, which will be tasked to produce strategies for enhanced communication in challenging spaces like regions having electromagnetic interference, forests, inner city environments, or mountainous terrains, includes:

  • David Jackson, professor of electrical and computer engineering
  • Zhu Han, Moores Professor of electrical engineering
  • Daniel Onofrei, associate professor of mathematics

From left, the UH SMART Hub team includes: Daniel Onofrei, associate professor of mathematics; David Jackson, professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Zhu Han, Moores Professor of electrical engineering.

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Houston company plans lunar mission to test clean energy resource

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Houston-based natural resource and lunar development company Black Moon Energy Corporation (BMEC) announced that it is planning a robotic mission to the surface of the moon within the next five years.

The company has engaged NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Caltech to carry out the mission’s robotic systems, scientific instrumentation, data acquisition and mission operations. Black Moon will lead mission management, resource-assessment strategy and large-scale operations planning.

The goal of the year-long expedition will be to gather data and perform operations to determine the feasibility of a lunar Helium-3 supply chain. Helium-3 is abundant on the surface of the moon, but extremely rare on Earth. BMEC believes it could be a solution to the world's accelerating energy challenges.

Helium-3 fusion releases 4 million times more energy than the combustion of fossil fuels and four times more energy than traditional nuclear fission in a “clean” manner with no primary radioactive products or environmental issues, according to BMEC. Additionally, the company estimates that there is enough lunar Helium-3 to power humanity for thousands of years.

"By combining Black Moon's expertise in resource development with JPL and Caltech's renowned scientific and engineering capabilities, we are building the knowledge base required to power a new era of clean, abundant, and affordable energy for the entire planet," David Warden, CEO of BMEC, said in a news release.

The company says that information gathered from the planned lunar mission will support potential applications in fusion power generation, national security systems, quantum computing, radiation detection, medical imaging and cryogenic technologies.

Black Moon Energy was founded in 2022 by David Warden, Leroy Chiao, Peter Jones and Dan Warden. Chiao served as a NASA astronaut for 15 years. The other founders have held positions at Rice University, Schlumberger, BP and other major energy space organizations.

Houston co. makes breakthrough in clean carbon fiber manufacturing

Future of Fiber

Houston-based Mars Materials has made a breakthrough in turning stored carbon dioxide into everyday products.

In partnership with the Textile Innovation Engine of North Carolina and North Carolina State University, Mars Materials turned its CO2-derived product into a high-quality raw material for producing carbon fiber, according to a news release. According to the company, the product works "exactly like" the traditional chemical used to create carbon fiber that is derived from oil and coal.

Testing showed the end product met the high standards required for high-performance carbon fiber. Carbon fiber finds its way into aircraft, missile components, drones, racecars, golf clubs, snowboards, bridges, X-ray equipment, prosthetics, wind turbine blades and more.

The successful test “keeps a promise we made to our investors and the industry,” Aaron Fitzgerald, co-founder and CEO of Mars Materials, said in the release. “We proved we can make carbon fiber from the air without losing any quality.”

“Just as we did with our water-soluble polymers, getting it right on the first try allows us to move faster,” Fitzgerald adds. “We can now focus on scaling up production to accelerate bringing manufacturing of this critical material back to the U.S.”

Mars Materials, founded in 2019, converts captured carbon into resources, such as carbon fiber and wastewater treatment chemicals. Investors include Untapped Capital, Prithvi Ventures, Climate Capital Collective, Overlap Holdings, BlackTech Capital, Jonathan Azoff, Nate Salpeter and Brian Andrés Helmick.

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This article originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Rice launches 'brain economy' initiative at World Economic Forum

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Rice University has launched an initiative that will position “brain capital” as a key asset in the 21st century.

Rice rolled out the Global Brain Economy Initiative on Jan. 21 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“This initiative positions brain capital, or brain health and brain skills, at the forefront of global economic development, particularly in the age of artificial intelligence,” the university said in a news release.

The Rice-based initiative, whose partners are the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative, aligns with a recent World Economic Forum and McKinsey Health Institute report titled “The Human Advantage: Stronger Brains in the Age of AI,” co-authored by Rice researcher Harris Eyre. Eyre is leading the initiative.

“With an aging population and the rapid transformation of work and society driven by AI, the urgency has never been greater to focus on brain health and build adaptable human skills—both to support people and communities and to ensure long-term economic stability,” says Amy Dittmar, a Rice provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

This initiative works closely with the recently launched Rice Brain Institute.

In its first year, the initiative will establish a global brain research agenda, piloting brain economy strategies in certain regions, and introducing a framework to guide financial backers and leaders. It will also advocate for public policies tied to the brain economy.

The report from the McKinsey Health Institute and World Economic Forum estimates that advancements in brain health could generate $6.2 trillion in economic gains by 2050.

“Stronger brains build stronger societies,” Eyre says. “When we invest in brain health and brain skills, we contribute to long-term growth, resilience, and shared prosperity.”

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