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ME Graduate Research Symposium Sees Strong Start

First annual event provides experience for students, recruiting showcase for College of Engineering

Release Date: 4/20/2007

The initial success of last week’s graduate research symposium in mechanical engineering should provide momentum as a recruiting tool and a showcase of the range and quality of student research, says the department head. “It was a big success. It gives us a foundation for growth and improvement,” Joseph J. Rencis, professor and head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, said.

Friday’s 1st Annual Arkansas Academy of Mechanical Engineering (AAME) Graduate Student Research Symposium featured poster presentations of 22 research projects – 11 by master’s students and 11 by doctoral students. The event coincided with last week’s annual AAME banquet and business meeting.

“It gives our graduate research some visibility, and provides some very good experience for the students to present their work,” said Professor Ing-Chang Jong, coordinator of the symposium.

Rencis said the department looked forward to seeing the annual event turn into a key recruiting tool for future students, as well as a way to show off more of the current students’ high level of research.

The AAME is an organization of eminent Arkansas mechanical engineers that provides support and encouragement to the department and works to recognize outstanding mechanical engineers. The AAME members provided money and services to produce and print the poster presentations, served as judges of the posters, and provided small cash awards for prizes in two divisions – master’s and doctoral.

Arpana Verma, an ME doctoral candidate, has spent three years researching in the field of synthesized additives for lubricants using nano-mechanical technology. She spent two days making her poster.

“This has been a very good experience, and it has been a good way for the students to see more of each other’s work, too,” Verma said.

The awards were:

Ph.D. Division

1st Prize – Balaji Srinivasan for a project titled “A Microfluidic Impedance Biosensor for Detection of E.coli O157:H7 and Avian Influenza Virus H5N1.” Advisor: Steve Tung.

Honorable Mention – Samuel L. Mensah for a project titled “Emission Studies of Sputtering and Etching Plasmas.” Advisor: Matt Gordon and Deepak Bhat.

Master’s Division

1st Prize – Aditya Aryasomayajula for a project titled “Alpha alumina thin film coatings for cutting tool application.” Advisor: Matt Gordon and Deepak Bhat.

Honorable Mention – Ying Song for a project titled “Superhydrophobic Surfaces Produced by Aluminum-induced Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon and Self-assembled Monolayers.” Advisor: Min Zou.

Leslie Lannutti, Director of Communications
College of Engineering
4180 Bell Engineering Center
Phone: (479) 575-5697
llannutt@uark.edu
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