Houchens receives Salgo Award for teaching

An ocean floor and a Rice classroom are vastly different, but they both feel like home for Brent Houchens, assistant professor in mechanical engineering and materials science and the winner of this year’s Salgo Award. An avid scuba diver, Houchens also likes to take on challenges and explore discoveries in the classroom, particularly those involving thermodynamics and fluid mechanics.

“My favorite moments teaching happen when someone asks a really hard question,” Houchens said. “Those questions lead to candid discussions with everyone trying to sort out the answer. Once everyone starts brainstorming and spilling out ideas, we collectively work to the correct solution—that is when real learning happens.”

Houchens works hard to create a learning environment where those discussions and journeys can take place. He said he thinks that is the most important thing he can do as a teacher.

“Rice students have so much creativity and knowledge just waiting to burst out,” he said. “Meeting Rice students solidified my decision to come here, and I have continued to be amazed at all their creativity and the great things they accomplish.”

Their professor no doubt fuels those accomplishments. In addition to winning the Salgo, Rice’s oldest teaching award, Houchens also earned an Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship this year. Members of the junior and senior class selected him for the Salgo, which is funded by the Noren-Salgo Foundation.

Although Houchens has a great time with his students digging into bulk semiconductor crystal growth processing and fundamental fluid flows, he also enjoys getting to know them outside the classroom. Houchens has been a resident associate at Wiess College for the past three years, offering his time and support to college life. He is also the engineering faculty lead for Rice’s Solar Decathlon team, which is building an energy-efficient house, Ze-Row house, for the Department of Energy’s international competition.

Houchens also makes himself available for advising—not just about course schedules and academics. He offers guidance in finding internships, choosing careers and applying for graduate programs or fellowships.

For his own fellowship at Hanscom Air Force Base this summer, he’ll be studying the bulk growth of ternary semiconductor alloys. This fall he’ll be on junior leave at the University of Hawaii at Manoa studying the coupling between continuum flow and particle dynamics with applications to reverse osmosis water filtration. The research is largely inspired by his interest in diving.

“Traveling in Central America and the Caribbean has really opened my eyes to the clean water scarcity in many of these countries and the associated illnesses that the people suffer,” Houchens said. “The ultimate goal of the research is to reduce the energy requirements and maintenance issues of reverse osmosis filtration—to make it more sustainable for developing countries.”

Jessica Stark, Rice News