Compelling research stories dominated the news at The University of Texas at Arlington in 2014, a year that saw the University reach record enrollment numbers.

UT Arlington enrollment climbed to nearly 35,000 students during the fall semester, a 65 percent increase since 2001. Gains in engineering, education and nursing primarily fueled the growth.

Total enrollment of all students in UT Arlington programs on campus and online exceeded 41,000 in 2014. UT Arlington's Division of Enterprise Development served an additional 24,000 students through a wide variety of continuing education, professional training and career enhancement programs.

College of Engineering enrollment topped 6,000 students for the first time this fall, increasing by 25 percent compared with fall 2013.

The College of Engineering with 5,817 students and the College of Nursing and Health Innovation with 6,909 students in Texas continue to rank among the University's largest academic programs. Enrollment in the College of Education increased almost 13 percent, reflecting strong partnerships with area school districts.

Leading the stories that received the most page views on the UT Arlington website was a novel micro-windmill technology designed and developed by electrical engineers. A news release about the development received more than 20,000 page views and attracted worldwide broadcast, print and online media coverage throughout the year.

J.-C. Chiao, the Janet and Mike Greene and Jenkins Garrett Professor, and Smitha Rao, a research associate in the Electrical Engineering Department, designed the micro-windmill, which is about 1.8 millimeters at its widest. By generating wind energy, it could become an innovative solution to recharge cellphone batteries and power homes.

Other top UT Arlington news stories in 2014 were:

• An innovative method to cool electrons with very little energy, developed by Seong Jin Koh, an associate professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department. Koh's advancement that could enable electronic devices to function with very little energy.
• UT Arlington student wins prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. Jessica Dawn Stevens, the University's third Goldwater Scholar, studies microorganisms and their role in ecology.
• UT Arlington physicist creates new nanoparticle for cancer therapy. UTA Physicist Wei Chen was working to create a luminescent nanoparticle to use in security-related radiation detection when he may have discovered an advance in photodynamic cancer therapy.
• UT Arlington connecting freshmen and research. The College of Science launched a new program to connect freshmen science majors and authentic research experiences with the goal of igniting a passion for inquiry and charting a path to a career in the STEM fields.
• Youth more likely to be bullied at schools with anti-bullying programs, UT Arlington researcher finds. Seokjin Jeong, an assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice, was lead author of the study, which was published in the Journal of Criminology,
• UT Arlington enrollment exceeds 34,000 for the first time. The Colleges of Engineering and Nursing recorded two of the biggest percentage increases.
• UT Arlington, Texas Health Arlington Memorial researchers looking to create new bone tissue generation technique. Liping Tang, bioengineering chair and professor, and Dr. Joseph Borrelli, chair of orthopedics for Texas Health Arlington Memorial, co-authored the paper, which could greatly reduce the amount of time more traditional bone-grafting techniques take.

- See more at: http://www.uta.edu/news/releases/2014/12/2014-to-stories.php#sthash.7F4zV4YS.dpuf