­­More than 50 graduate students presented their work at the Graduate Research Showcase in the form of a poster or oral presentation on Friday, April 26. Their work was evaluated on overall research by a panel of judges that included S&T faculty and representatives from employers across the state. First-place winners were awarded a cash prize of $500. Second- and third-place finishers received $300 and $150, respectively.

The following students were honored at the ceremony:

Best research oral presentation

• First place: Sarah Fakher, master’s student in biological sciences presented a project titled “Metal-ion Doped Borate Bioactive Glasses- A Novel Direction in Minimizing Nosocomial Infections and Antibiotic Resistance.” The research advisor is Dr. David J. Westenberg, Curators’ Distinguished Professor of biological sciences.
• Second place: Mohsen Mohammadi Beirami, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering, presented a project titled “Exploring Kinematics Contribution to the Arm Stiffness Modulation During Overground Physical Human-robot Interaction.” The research advisor is Dr. Yun Seong Song, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.
• Third place: Kyle Worden, a doctoral student in aerospace engineering, presented a project titled “Effect of Thermal Relaxation Models on Hypersonic Planetary Entry Flows.” The research advisor is Dr. Serhat Hosder, the James A. Drallmeier Centennial Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Best Research Poster

• First place: Gracie Boyer, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering, presented a poster for a project titled “Enabling Advanced Architectures for Thick and Anode-less Electrodes through Advanced Ultra-short Laser Micro-structuring.” The research advisor is Dr. Jonghyun Park, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.
• Second place: Remy Mathenia, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering, presented a poster for a project titled “Laser Defocusing and Directionality in Wire Deposition.” The research advisor is Dr. Frank Liou, professor of mechanical engineering.
• Third place: Christopher Hogan, a doctoral student in mathematics, presented a poster for a project titled “Transmission of Fast Solitons for the NLS with an External Potential.” The research advisor is Dr. Jason Murphy, former assistant professor in mathematics and statistics.

Guest judges included:

• Dillynn Cook from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
• Laura Grubbs from Brewer Science.
• Rachel Jung from Brewer Science.
• Colenan Kirn from the U.S. Navy.
• Kyle Sims from HDR Inc. Engineering.

Judges from the S&T community included:

• Dr. Md Arifuzzaman, assistant professor of computer science.
• Dr. Xiaosong Du, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.
• Dr. Samuel Frimpong, vice provost of graduate education and professor of mining engineering.
• Dr. Taihao Han, assistant professor of materials science and engineering.
• Dr. Matt Insall, associate professor of mathematics and statistics.
• Dr. Irina Ivliyeva, professor of arts, language, and philosophy.
• Dr. Chang-Soo Kim, faculty fellow of graduate education and professor of electrical and computer engineering.
• Dr. Suman Maity, assistant professor of computer science.
• Dr. Gabriel Nicolosi, assistant professor of engineering management and systems engineering.
• Georgette Nicolosi, librarian for Curtis Law Wilson Library.
• Dr. Cheng Wu, professor of electrical and computer engineering.
• Dr. Bohong Zhang, assistant research professor of electrical and computer engineering.