On March 26, 2013, the Colleges of Science, Agriculture, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Technology and Honors hosted The Undergraduate Research Symposium. This symposium sought to spotlight undergraduate research programs at Purdue University, and was open to any undergraduate student currently conducting research.

The School of Materials Engineering (MSE) had 12 students participate with a total of 9 projects. Three students received special recognition:

Mitch Adducci (Junior in MSE) (Advisor: Prof. Trice), First Place in the Physical Science Category
Research project title: “Development of Characterization Techniques Using an Oxyacetylene Torch for Ablative Resistant Properties of Plasma Sprayed Ultra-High Temperature Coatings”

Brooke Elliott (Junior in ChemE) and Kathleen Steckbeck (Junior in BME) (Advisor: Prof. Erk), Best Abstract in the Physical Science Category

Research project title: “Designing experimental protocols to evaluate in-vitro mechanical properties of Gaviscon alginate rafts with rheology”

Marah Brenneman & Jenna Ling

 “Replicating and Analyzing Ancient Metallurgy Using Experimental Archaeology and Materials Science” (Dr. Kory Cooper), Received the Honors College Award for the Humanities/Social Science Category

Currently, MSE has the highest percentage of undergraduate students within the College of Engineering conducting research.

List of projects from the event.

John Epling, “The Effects of Thermal Annealing and Nano-Particles on the Phase Morphology of Thermoplastic Thin Film Polymers” (Prof. Erk)

Anthony Hill and Ananth Raman, “Sliding Friction Testing of Model Shoe Treads Fabricated by 3D Printing” (Prof. Erk)

Munkyo Suh, “The effect of molecular surface modification on the selectivity and permeability of nanoporous membranes” (Prof. Howarter)

Michael Brant, “Cross-linked Polyamide Thin Film Isolation of Reverse Osmosis Membranes” (Prof. Howarter)

Hamsini Gopalakrishna, “Electrospinning of composite nanofibers of cellulose nanofibrils” (Prof. Youngblood)

Hongqian Wang, “Impact of Inkjet Media Design on Metallic Printing with Metal Oxide Ink” (Industrial project with Hewlett-Packard Co.)

Marah Brenneman & Jenna Ling, “Replicating and Analyzing Ancient Metallurgy Using Experimental Archaeology and Materials Science” (Dr. Kory Cooper)

Details of the event: http://science.purdue.edu/Current_Students/urps/

The award winners: http://science.purdue.edu/Current_Students/urps/urps2013awardwinners.pdf

The collection of abstracts: http://science.purdue.edu/Current_Students/urps/AbstractBook2013.pdf