Rising seniors Ian Greeley (MSE) and Carl Edwards (CBE) were named as 2019–2020 Goldwater Scholars this past May. The most prestigious undergraduate STEM scholarship in the United States, it is awarded to college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Edwards is an honors computer science and honors mathematics major. He has done research at ORNL and through EuroScholars at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and plans to attend graduate school. Greeley also plans to attend graduate school and wants to conduct research in functional materials for energy storage applications. He has worked for two years at UT’s Scintillation Materials Research Center studying novel scintillators (materials that exhibit luminescence triggered by ionizing radiation) for radiation sensors and imaging systems.
UT placed fourth at the 2019 Southeast Regional Steel Bridge Competition, held in March. Student teams from across the southeast were challenged to design, fabricate, construct, and load test a roughly 1:10-scale model steel bridge that must be 20 feet long and be able to withstand a load of 2,500 pounds. Team members from CEE included Andrew Shahan, John Stanford, Peyton Mize, James Hegedus, and Francisco Lemus. CEE Assistant Professors Tim Truster and Mark Denavit served as faculty advisors.
EE students Alex Weber and Makenzie Swicegood, and CBE junior Brad Bennett, combined to earn a second-place prize in last spring’s VolCourt pitch competition for Backdoor, a smartphone application to help pet owners track lost pets. The team received $1,000, office space in the UTRF Business Incubator, legal advice from Morehous Legal Group, and design services from Innovative Design Inc.
NE senior Robert Corrigan wrote about the role the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Student Conference has in shaping the future of nuclear. The piece was published in the April issue of ANS Nuclear Cafe. The article, entitled “VCU Student Conference Empowers Tomorrow’s Leaders,” examines both the 2019 ANS Student Conference and its impact on the industry’s youngest members.
At this year’s American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Region II Student Conference in Cocoa Beach, Florida, UTSI student Alicia Sherrod took second place in the Masters Category on her paper and presentation entitled “Simulation of Langmuir Probe Response to a Non-Maxwellian Plasma.”
Four engineering freshman were named to the 2019–2020 class of Haslam Scholars. The students include Caleb Ellis, Sreya Kumpatla, and Jessie Li from Tennessee along with Leah Gutzwiller from Ohio. Haslam Scholars receive scholarships to cover tuition, fees, and housing as well as funding to support independent research.
A team of MABE students competed at this summer’s NASA Mars Ice Challenge. One of only nine teams chosen for the finals, members included Brian Coulter and Alex Twilla. This year’s iteration of the competition was called Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts—Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Special Edition: Moon to Mars Ice and Prospecting Challenge. It highlights an area of great importance to NASA’s future plans—the ability to make use of lunar or Martian water sources.
MSE junior Logan White recently won the 2019 Robert L. Snyder award, sponsored by the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD). He will give an oral presentation at this year’s Denver X-ray Conference. The title of his talk is “In-Situ Synchrotron X-ray Computed Microtomography and Diffraction Investigation of Deformation and Fracture Behavior in a Laser Powder Bed Fusion Processed 316L Stainless Steel.”