SAMPE Bestows 2011 Jerry Bauer Award on Andrew Becnel

Mr. Andrew Becnel (MS ’10) of the Composites Research (CoRe) Laboratory, competed in the Society for the Advancement of Materials Processing and Engineering (SAMPE) National Student Research Symposium held in Long Beach, CA in May, 2011. Becnel placed first in the Regional Student Symposium held at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in February, 2011. As a result, Becnel represented the SAMPE Baltimore-Washington Chapter at, as well as supported his travel to, the SAMPE National Student Research Symposium. His presentation, entitled Magnetorheological Fluid Composites for Crashworthiness Applications, was selected for the 2011 Jerry Bauer Award from among seven competing presentations by Ph.D. students, who were representing their SAMPE regions, from the University of Nevada, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, University of Washington, and Wright State University. Becnel placed second overall in the paper/presentation competition.

The Bauer Award is sponsored by the SAMPE Los Angeles Chapter, which is the professional chapter where Mr. Jerry Bauer was an active member and Director for many years. Mr. Bauer served as the SAMPE International President in 1989, and was a very active member of the SAMPE Past Presidents Committee. The Jerry Bauer Award will support Mr. Becnel’s travel to Tokyo, Japan in November 2011, where he will present his research at the 12th Japan International SAMPE Symposium and Exhibition (JISSE-12). Accommodations while in Japan will be provided by SAMPE Japan.

Mr. Becnel is currently a doctoral student and National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellow, and is interested in developing crew protection strategies for manned spacecraft using adaptive energy absorbers. His research advisor is Prof. Norman M. Wereley, Associate Chair and Director of the Composites Research Laboratory.

Published September 9, 2011