Grad student takes second in rheology poster contest

MechSE graduate student Brendan Blackwell took second place in the student poster competition at the Society of Rheology’s 85th annual conference in October in Montreal, Canada.

Accompanying the poster session of the meeting was a student/post-doctoral poster competition to encourage student and post-doctoral presentations and participation, and to recognize excellence among the presenters. A panel of judges selected eight finalists each from the student and post-doc entries, and decided on the winners at the poster session. The posters were judged according to originality, quality, and scientific impact. The winners were granted monetary prizes.

Blackwell works in the lab of Assistant Professor Randy Ewoldt, and his poster was titled "Distinct signatures of a thixotropic constitutive model in large amplitude oscillatory shear." It showed that a model with which the group is working has demonstrated a signature that is completely unique. The poster featured experimental data that contained this unique signature, highlighting the importance of the result.

"The meeting was incredible," Blackwell said. "It's always fun and inspiring to be around that many great minds and see their work. I came away with a ton of new ideas about how to keep improving my own research, both in the little details and in the bigger picture of where to go next."

The cash prize for second place was $300. Third place was also awarded to an Illinois student, Folarin Latinwo, of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

"It was exciting to see the orange and blue well-represented in the prizes," Blackwell said.