For the second year in a row, a UWM engineering undergraduate earned first prize at a national competition showcasing original metal-casting research. Carol Martinez, a senior in materials science & engineering, took the top prize at the International Journal of Metal-Casting’s Foundry Education Foundation Student Research Competition, part of the American Foundry Society’s Metal-Casting Congress, held in Milwaukee on April 24.
The conference brought together professionals from around the world to explore the latest trends and advancements shaping the metal-casting industry.
Martinez’s research poster described a project in which she modified the surface of brass, using sand casting with a mixture of alloys that improved the brass’ corrosion resistance in water distribution systems.
She received a cash prize of about $2,500 and her paper on the work will be published in the International Journal of Metal-Casting.
Martinez began working on this project in last summer with support from the Support for Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF). Additional funding came from UWM’s Water, Equipment and Policy research center. The research was conducted under the supervision of graduate research assistants Swaroop Behera, Kaustubh Rane, Omid Ghaderi, Mehran Zare, and faculty members Pradeep Rohatgi and Benjamin Church.
Last year, Jenna Van Hoogstraten, mechanical engineering, took home the top prize when the competition was held in Cleveland, Ohio.