Near the end of the spring semester, second-year graduate students Swapnil Morankar and Ted Huang succesfully presented their preliminary exam seminars, securing their candidacies in Purdue's PhD program. Swapnil's presentation, titled "Structure and Mechanical Behavior of Euplectella Aspergillum (Venus Flower Basket)" discussed current studies and his own preliminary research into the structure and mechanical properties of the venus flower basket, a sea sponge which has inspired bio-mimetic designs of low-weight composites. Ted's presentation, titled "Correlative Microstructural Characterization and Mechanical Behavior of Chondrite Meteorites" examined the current understanding of meteorite formation and presented his work on a materials-inspired multiscale examination of the Abu Panu meteorite.

The whole group gives their congratulations to its two newest PhD candidates and looks forward to their continued studies.