Solid Showing for College in EURēCA Awards
The University of Tennessee recently wrapped up the 25th edition of its annual Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement (EURēCA) awards, which recognize research, work, and creativity of students from across campus.
The Tickle College of Engineering (TCE) once again had a good showing at the late April event, with three awards from the Office of Undergraduate Research, six from TCE for research, and another two from TCE for design.
Although, like many things, the conference had to once again be presented virtually, the experience and reward for those participating was a bonus for everyone involved.
“The students that presented at EURēCA this year likely did much of their research work amidst Covid-related restrictions and presented their research in an unfamiliar online environment,” said Associate Professor and Director of the college’s Cook Grand Challenge Honors Program Kevin Kit. “They are to be commended for their dedication to communicating the results of their work. In general, the judges were very impressed with the poster presentations.”
Students can enter projects done either through their research, from senior design or clinical projects, or from their own creative selections for judging in the contest. Each undergraduate college selects and awards their top students, ranging from first place to honorable mention.
“The online environment allowed judges to leave comments for the presenters, and many of the comments seemed very constructive,” said Kit. “I hope these students were able to learn something useful from them. I’d like to thank the students and judges that participated this year.”
Judges from the college were: David Donovan, Jamie Coble, Toby Boulet, David Keffer, Sankar Raghavan, Daniel Yoder, Brett Compton, Sara Hanrahan, Dustin Crouch, Betsy Chesnutt, Terry Hazen, Bryan Good, Devina Sanjaya, Ahmedullah Aziz, Doug Aaron, and Anahita Khojandi.
TCE Design Awards
| Award Name | Student(s) | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| First Place | Kate Eikel Faculty Mentor: Bin Hu |
Investigating Methods for Obtaining Large 2-Dimensional Perovskite Single Crystals |
| Second Place | Kelsey Uselton Faculty Mentor: Gabriel Goenaga |
Parameter Optimization for the Performance of a Reversible Fuel Cell |
| Third Place | Tyler Morris Faculty Mentor: Jeff Reinbolt |
Development and Optimization of a Digital Hearing Aid to Increase Music Perception |
| Award of Merit | Samantha Maness, Madeline Wimmer, Bowen Wagner, Nadim Hmeidat Faculty Mentor: Brett Compton |
Multifunctional Ultralightweight Syntactic Foam for Custom Architecting of Aircraft Radomes |
| Award of Merit | Naydia Peoples, Kassidy Boone, Jenny Patel Faculty Mentor: Elizabeth Barker |
Structural and Rheological Analysis of Hydrogel for Local Pediatric Brain Tumor Drug Delivery |
| Award of Merit | Nicholas Legaux Faculty Mentor: Rigoberto Advincula |
Stereolithography 3D Printing of Copper/Polymer Nanocomposites |
TCE Design Awards
| Award Name | Student(s) | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| First Place | Logan White, Ryan Heldt, James Lee, Winston Wright Faculty Mentor: Phillip Rack |
Using Combinatorial Sputtering to Investigate the Magnetic Properties of Ni-Fe-Cr Thin Films |
| Second Place | Samantha Maness, Kennedy Waring, Jace Pittman, Alexander Richter Faculty Mentor: David Keffer |
Characterization of Lignin-Based Reactive Membranes Suitable for Sustainable Energy Applications |