Each year, the Oregon Chapter of the ASM International (the materials information society) hosts a Student Night as a venue for students from Portland State, Oregon State, and the University of Oregon to present their materials research, with cash awards going to the top three presenters. This year’s competition was on April 23, and the winners were all from the OSU School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.

First place: Nitish Kumar (PhD student working with Dr. Dave Cann) for his presentation on bismuth-based perovskite compounds for high-strain fatigue-free lead-free actuator materials.

Second place: Laura Oliveira (MS/PhD student working with Dr. Alex Greaney) for her presentation on the effects of nanostructure and defects on thermal transport in graphite.

Third place: Austin Fox (PhD student working with Dr. Brady Gibbons) for his presentation on control of crystallographic texture and surface morphology of platinum on titanium dioxide templates for enhanced PZT thin-film performance.