Fall wouldn’t be complete without the Orediggers heading to the Materials Science & Technology conference. This year’s addition was held in Columbus, OH from Oct 1st-4th. While several faculty members from MME attended or gave talks, the undergraduates in CSMMAC and Keramos were busy competing in several competitions. Keramos, the ceramic engineering fraternity, hosts two competitions at the conference: mug drop and disc golf. Universities competing to see who can produce the strongest ceramic or glass mug or disc take turns dropping or throwing their submissions until one is left standing as the winner. The mug drop team was led by seniors Scott Dahl, Jack Burnham, and junior Jack Dorsey. While a crack flaw may have stunted a repeat win in the mug drop competition, the team had a great experience and can’t wait to start working on next year’s submission. The disc golf team although met with several challenges along the way, surprised themselves and finished tied for third place. The team was led by juniors Greg Zavala-Carney, Nathan Woodward, Dominic Piccone and Lydia Marshall. An aesthetic mug and disc golf were also submitted for the artistic competitions. Submissions were made by juniors Allie Ezell and Lydia Marshall, respectively. Sophomore Xavier Fross also competed in the undergraduate speaking competition where students from different universities test their presentation skills on topics of interest. Fross outperformed most of his upperclassmen competitors finishing with a respectful 4thplace finish.
Our CerE Seniors, Liz Pritchett, Akhil Gupta, and Aidan Manjarrez also got to share some of their work at the conference presenting posters in the undergraduate poster competition. Pritchett’s poster, “Carbon Sequestration Through Olivine Glass Bricks” focused on her current senior design project which is advised by Dr. Brian Gorman. “Exploring Thermochromism and Bandgap Tunability in Layered Metal Halides” spotlighted Gupta’s current undergraduate research with Dr. Annalise Maughan. And finally, Manjarrez highlighted some of his independent study work with Dr. Kim Scott on “Windows into STEM – The Discovery of Glass Science Through STEM Outreach.”
During the national convocation for Keramos, the CSM Chapter was awarded the Diamond Chapter Award for exemplary performance and leadership in activities over the past year.
Finally, MS&T also plays host to several of the professional materials societies including ACerS, The American Ceramic Society. During this year’s banquet, Dr. Brian Gorman was awarded the 2023 Outstanding Educator Award.