The Additive Manufacturing, Performance and Tribology (AMPT) Center at Rice has presented its first Resiliency Awards to five graduate students in AMPT-related fields.
The awards were given to students who have “demonstrated exceptional resilience in research in the face of challenges posed by COVID-19.”
Four of the five recipients of the awards, which come with $1,500, are students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering:
Nidish Narayanaa Balaji, mechanical engineering (MECH); nominated by Matthew Brake, assistant professor of MECH. Balaji helped create a new research practicum for undergraduates and wrote or co-wrote four accepted journal papers during the pandemic on new techniques for nonlinear system identification and quasi-static analysis of structures.
Victoria Granja, MECH; nominated by Fred Higgs, vice provost for academic affairs, director of the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership, and the John and Ann Doerr Professor of MECH. Granja responded to COVID-imposed limitations on lab activities by finding innovative ways to keep experimental work going and developed an artificial intelligence tool that is the subject of a forthcoming paper.
Barclay Jumet, MECH; nominated by Daniel Preston, assistant professor of MECH. As a first-year graduate student researching additive-manufacturing approaches to creating advanced textile structures for wearable devices, Jumet devoted time and resources to designing, testing and building a low-cost classroom partition system that enabled a local elementary school to continue teaching safely during the pandemic.
Faye Yap, MECH; nominated by Preston, who highlighted Yap’s adaptability in shifting her thermodynamics research to focus on thermal decontamination of personal protective equipment, leading to a highly cited paper and collaboration with the University of Texas Medical Branch.
The members of the selection committee are:
Carlo De Benardi, additive manufacturing industry lead with ConocoPhillips and chair of the American Petroleum Institute’s 20S Task Force
Sergio Kapusta, professor in the practice of engineering leadership, RCEL; executive director of the Rice Energy and Natural Resources Initiative
Joanna Nathan (BIOE ’11), manager of New Ventures at the Johnson and Johnson Center for Device Innovation; president-elect of Rice Engineering Alumni (REA)
The winners will be formally recognized at the second annual AMPT Symposium on Jan. 22. The awards are supported by AMPT Center corporate member ConocoPhillips and the REA.