Nearly 100 submissions to the 2024 Student Research Poster Competition & Experiential Learning Expo

Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 Student Research Poster Competition and their faculty advisors. This year’s event was expanded and its name changed to the Student Research Poster Competition & Experiential Learning Expo to include a poster session for those who had experiential learning opportunities, such as internships, co-ops, study abroad or work with student organizations.

group of people in a large room — The energy was high in both the research poster competition side of the event and also the experiential learning expo side.

one man talking with another — UWM Chancellor Mark Mone stopped by to greet students, alums and judges.

a young woman talks with an African American man — Makayla Lawrence explains her experience as an intern at Rockwell Automation to judge Nicaise Mbunteu, a mechanical engineer from Baxter.

a man and a woman in front of an academic poster — Sarath Chandra Pratapagiri, graduate student in computer science, displays his work with judge and assistant professor Shideh Yavary Mehr.

a group of people — A group including senior Carol Martinez (from left), foundry lab manager Swaroop Kumar Behera, and junior Alec Buhler demonstrated metal-casting for UWM Provost Andrew Daire and Professor Pradeep Rohatgi (far right).

a man explaining a poster to a woman — Seyed Faridedin Rafie, materials science & engineering, explains his work to a judge at the research poster competition. Rafie placed first in the graduate category.

a woman talks with a man — Morgan Suzanne Connaughton, a graduate student in biomedical engineering, banters with one of the judges. Her poster explains her use of computer simulations to understand how malignant breast tissue behaves under normal physiological conditions in the body. The work can help improve medical treatments and diagnoses.

Two men talking — David Marsella, undergraduate in materials science & engineering, talks with one of the judges about his poster. Marsella also competed in the UWM Undergraduate Research Symposium, in which he and four other engineering students won Outstanding Presentation Awards.

older man speaking with female student — Judge Mark Juds talks with Grace Oluwaseun Fasipe, a grad student in biomedical engineering about the student organization REHAB.

three men talking — Chayank Pawar, mechanical engineering, and friends discuss the senior design project Pawar is working on. The team made a working prototype that cleans resin off the 3D printed parts created in figure 4 modular printers. The work was done for sponsor Engman Taylor.

All together, 99 students participated, with 70 research posters backed by 42 faculty advisors, both up from last year. Of the 70 posters, 21 were from undergraduates.

There were 29 new submissions on the experiential learning portion, included 19 co-ops/internships, four senior design projects, five student orgs, and one study abroad experience.

Sixty-eight volunteered as judges, including industry employees, alums, and 14 faculty members from the college. A thank-you also goes out to the eight sponsors and 25 students and staff members who supported or helped to stage this event.

Graduate Awards

First Place: Seyed Faridedin Rafie, Materials Science & Engineering
Advisor: Nidal Abu-Zahra, Associate Professor, Materials Science & Engineering

Second Place: Zayeed Bin Mamun, Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Roshan D’Souza, Associate Professor and Richard and Joanne Grigg Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Third Place: Kada Kada, Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Ryoichi Amano, Professor and Joanne Grigg Faculty Fellow, Mechanical Engineering

Michael Krauski Memorial Award

Hamza Alnawafah, Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Ryoichi Amano, Professor and Joanne Grigg Faculty Fellow, Mechanical Engineering

Undergraduate Awards

First Place: Cameron Lee, Data Science
Advisor: Inga Wang (Associate Professor, School of Rehabilitation Sciences & Technology)

Second Place: Nicholas Birschbach, Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Shuaiqi Shen, Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering

Third Place: Anna Lutz, Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Rani El Hajjar, Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering