Center for Polymers and Advanced Composites Summer Seminar Series kicks off June 10
Published: May 30, 2024 3:35 PM
By Joe McAdory
Want to learn more about mineral precipitation on 3D printed reactive porous media? How about the effect of process parameters on producing flexible fibrous structures or recycling consumer plastics? These research topics, and more, will be shared when Auburn University’s Center for Polymers and Advanced Composites kicks off its 7th annual Graduate Summer Seminar Series, beginning Monday, June 10.
In this setting, 13 graduate students will share their respective research and foster interdisciplinary collaboration. The seminar will feature one-slide lightning talks in Three-Minute Thesis format in addition to 10-minute oral presentations.
“This series gives students an opportunity to practice their presentation skills before peers and faculty,” said Bryan Beckingham, Center for Polymers and Advanced Composites director and Mary and John H. Sanders Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. “These are similar to either conference presentations or the similar pitch students would give for a poster presentation at a conference or to a potential employer. They have the opportunity to summarize their work — and showcase the importance of their work — in a limited amount of time. Doing this successfully is an invaluable skill.”
Students scheduled to participate include:
- Lucila Carilas, polymer and fiber engineering
- Leyton Janowsky, materials engineering
- Tofayel Ahammad Ovee, chemical engineering
- Yi-Hung Lin, chemical engineering
- Pravin Parasakthi Aravindham, chemical engineering
- Abdullah Al Nahian, civil and environmental engineering
- Glogina Boakye, chemical engineering
- Sarah Gaston, polymer and fiber engineering
- Ashok Sapkota, mechanical engineering
- Armin Seyedesfahani, chemical engineering
- Nithinkumar Manoharan, aerospace engineering
- Matthew Garnett, chemical engineering
- Harrish Kumar Senthil Kumar, chemical engineering
The series is open annually to Auburn students whose research topics are impacted by polymer composites.
“It’s an excellent opportunity, specifically, for newer graduate students in their first or second years to learn more about what’s going on in our research while also getting practice giving presentations to an active audience outside their research groups,” said Beckingham, who noted that all presenters will be asked to participate in peer evaluations following the series.
“My hope for the series has been that students meet other graduate students working in polymers and composites. Some of the biggest takeaways are… students see what peers are doing, testing-wise or characterization-wise, and they might find something useful for their respective project. Frequently, people find others doing similar work, which has led to new proposals and projects across interdisciplinary groups in the past.”
Each scheduled session will begin at 1 p.m. in Ross Hall’s room 136. Additional sessions are scheduled for June 24, July 8 and July 22.
Media Contact: , jem0040@auburn.edu, 334.844.3447
Thirteen Auburn Engineering graduate students, including chemical engineering's Glogina Boakye, are scheduled to participate in the Summer Series.
