Light-Bridge 2008 Long Beach, CA
The Ingram School of Engineering was very happy to announce good news regarding this competition. Engineering students Erik Larson and Dmitri Kabakov competed in the SAMPE (Society for Advancement of Materials and Process Engineering) ‘Lightweight Bridge Building Contest’ annual conference in Long Beach, California on May 20, 2008.
The competition hosted different categories, such as ‘Carbon Bridge’, ‘Glass Bridge’ and ‘Natural Fiber Bridge’.
Erik Larson, current President of the SME Student Chapter, built bio-bridge in natural hemp fibers in our ‘Plastics and Composites’ lab. His bio-bridge won 3rd prize in the contest and received $150. Dmitri Kabakov also participated in this contest with his ‘Go Green’ bridge, also in ‘Natural Fibers’ section.
Together they shared $500 travel grant from SAMPE. Also they received opportunity to visit exhibit hall where 300+ companies exhibited their products. SAMPE is the biggest conference devoted to composite materials (advanced, natural, nano-composites etc.).
Texas State University - San Marcos participated for the first time in this contest. This was very remarkable moment for us in the Ingram School of Engineering.
SAMPE is very active in supporting student participation in research. They offer a ‘University Research Program’ where student compete for getting slot for research presentation in regular conference. First 3 papers get cash prizes, certificates, and slot for presenting papers. There are 3 divisions: undergrad, masters, and doctoral.