Engineering Students Take Home Top Prize at Denman Undergraduate Research Forum
Three students from the College of Engineering have won top honors at the 15th annual Richard J. and Martha D. Denman Undergraduate Research Forum.
Justin Bennett and Adam Hope, both materials science and engineering students, won first place in the engineering category for their research. Dominic Labanowski, an electrical and computer engineering student, tied for first place in the mathematical and physical sciences category.
Bennett’s research examines improvements in materials for sensors that could help detect noxious gases in homes and could even be used for homeland security. His project, "Nanofiber Growth on Metal Oxide Particles for Applications in Gas Sensing,” aimed at growing nanofibers on individual nanoparticles of tin dioxide. Bennett’s ultimate goal is to create a new type of tin dioxide sensor that could detect toxic gases like carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide more efficiently and faster. Bennett was advised by Professor Sheikh Akbar and Associate Professor Patricia Morris.
Hope’s project, “High Temperature Carbon Behavior in Dissimilar Metal Welds,” examined the way carbon behaves in certain welding applications. With help from advisors Boian Alexandrov, a research scientist, and John Lippold, a material science and engineering professor, Bennett examined how carbon, in dissimilar materials under elevated temperatures, diffuses from steel to the nickel alloy, which could lead to a brittle zone and thus a weld failure. Through software modeling and eventual experimenting, Hope was able to show the carbon diffusion; he aspires to apply this knowledge to other dissimilar materials.
Labanowski’s project, “Diffusion of Spins in a Strongly Spatially Varying Local Magnetic Field,” examines electron spin behavior at the local level to understand how local magnetic fields affect spin diffusion, precession, and relaxation. These electron spins, which allow new electronic devices to move more data at reduced voltages, could replace the typical method of encoding data that involves turning electrical signals on and off.
In addition, seven other students landed in the top three in engineering: Benjamin Sutton, welding engineering; Zachary Webster, aeronautical and astronautical engineering; and Daniel Saltzmann, welding engineering, tied for second place, while Gregory Chernov, mechanical engineering; Aakrit Prasad, materials science and engineering; and John Larison, chemical engineering, with project partner, Alex Hissong, biomedical engineering, tied for third place.
The winners were recognized for their outstanding achievements in research and helped make this year’s Denman, held May 12, the largest ever, with 540 participating students and 498 projects presented.
Get a good overview of the Denman Forum by checking out this video.
