Michael Sutton International Student Paper Competition

Sponsored by Correlated Solutions, Inc. and held Every Year at the SEM Annual Conference and Exposition

The Student Paper Competitions were originated to encourage excellence in technical communication in the experimental mechanics field. A regional paper competition was initiated in 1984 in a joint effort by SEM’s Milwaukee Local Section and SEM’s Student Chapter of Michigan Technological University. Since that time, students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Michigan Technological University have participated in the regional competition held each spring in Milwaukee at one of the regular local section meetings.

The first national competition was held during the 1991 SEM Spring Conference. The competition was sponsored by SEM’s Milwaukee Local Section along with the Education and Local Sections Committees of SEM. Twelve students from nine different schools participated in the competition. The SEM Education Foundation supplied Financial Sponsorship for the Competition in the mid 1990’s through 2008. In 2009, Correlated Solutions, Inc. became the Financial Sponsor of the competition.

If you are a full time student and are working on a project, thesis or dissertation that is at a point that some phase of it can be presented at the Annual Conference held in June, you are encouraged to enter.

If your paper is selected for the competition, you receive free conference registration and a ticket to the Awards Luncheon. Transportation, lodging and other expenses to attend the conference should be provided by you or your university.

In 2008 a Student Poster Session was developed since the response to the Student Competition Call for Papers was far larger than it had been in any of the 15 years since the Competition’s inception. Only 16 entries can be accepted into the Competition, and since 2008, the total number of entries has been much higher than 16. The Poster Session was developed for those students whose papers were judged to be of superior quality, but did not make the top 16.

Award Details

1st Place

$300 Cash
Handbook of Experimental Solid Mechanics (Hardbound)
SEM Student Membership

2nd Place

$200 Cash
SEM Student Membership

3rd Place

$100 Cash
SEM Student Membership

2024 Recipients

1st Place: Larissa Kopf—University of Waikato
Larissa Kopf is a PhD student in the School of Engineering at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. Her research focuses on automating defect detection and quantification using thermography, a non-destructive evaluation technique. She is developing an experimental setup that enables more efficient inspection of large structures, aiming to optimize...
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2nd Place: Barry Lawlor—California Institute of Technology
Barry Lawlor is currently a fifth year PhD candidate in the MCE department at Caltech. He is working to understand the dynamic response of heterogeneous materials at the mesoscale. His research interests center on the study of dynamic behavior of materials via full-field imaging with ultrahigh-speed photography, in conjunction with numerical simulations...
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3rd Place: Ellen van Wijngaarden—Cornell University
Ellen van Wijngaarden is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace engineering at Cornell University. Her research focuses on characterizing the material properties of biopolymers for biomanufacturing to identify alternatives to conventional materials and understand how processing techniques alter...
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The Society acknowledges the past winners of the Michael Sutton Student Paper Competition.

2024
1st Place: Larissa Kopf—University of Waikato
2nd Place: Barry Lawlor—California Institute of Technology
3rd Place: Ellen van Wijngaarden—Cornell University

2023
1st Place: Abhishek Gupta—University of Wisconsin-Madison
2nd Place: Chi Yang—University of Texas at Austin
3rd Place: Piyush Wanchoo—University of Rhode Island

2022
1st Place: Vatsa Gandhi—California Institute of Technology
2nd Place: Vijendra Gupta—University of South Carolina
3rd Place: Tyler Chu—University of Rhode Island

2021
1st Place: Chelsea Fox—University of Rhode Island
2nd Place: Robin Martens—Technical University Eindhoven
3rd Place: Hadi Mirmohammad—University of Utah

2020
1st Place: Juuso Heikkinen—The University of British Columbia
2nd Place: Kaitlynn Conway—Clemson University
3rd Place: Shyamal Kishore—University of Rhode Island

2019
1st Place: Kshitiz Upadhyay—University of Florida
2nd Place: Tijmen Vermeij—Eindhoven University of Technology
3rd Place: Niels Vonk—Eindhoven University of Technology

2018
1st Place: William LePage—University of Michigan
2nd Place: Aleksander Marek—University of Southampton
3rd Place: Jared Van Blitterswyk—University of Southampton

2017
1st Place: Claire Teresi—University of Minnesota
2nd Place: Mohak Patel—Brown University
3rd Place: Simone Sternini—University of California, San Diego

2016
1st Place: Logan Shannahan—Drexel University
2nd Place: Elise Chevallier—University of Southampton
3rd Place: Daniel Stewart—University of Florida

2015
1st Place: Elizabeth Jones—University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2nd Place: Helio Matos—University of Rhode Island
3rd Place: Ehsan Hosseinian—Georgia Institute of Technology

2014
1st Place: Jason Geathers—University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2nd Place: Cody Kunka—University of Florida
3rd Place: Elizabeth Jones—University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2013
1st Place: Desislava Bacheva—University of Bristol
2nd Place: Gregory Parsard—University of Florida
3rd Place: Phillip Jannotti—University of Florida

2012
1st Place: Matthew Hudspeth—Purdue University
2nd Place: George Crammond—University of Southampton
3rd Place: Adam Kammers—University of Michigan
Best Poster Philip Miller—University of Washington

2011
1st Place: Michael Zervas—Worcester Polytechnic Institute
2nd Place: Jefferson Wright—University of Rhode Island
3rd Place: Aaron Albrecht—University of Texas at Austin
Best Poster Martha Grady—University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2010
1st Place: Emily Huskins—Johns Hopkins University
2nd Place: Nathanael Connesson—LMPF Arts et Métiers ParisTech
3rd Place: Nate Gardner—University of Rhode Island
Best Poster Madhumidha Ramasamy—Auburn University

2009
1st Place: Pin Wu—University of Florida
2nd Place: Cynthia Byer—Johns Hopkins University
3rd Place: (Tie) Jay Carroll—University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
3rd Place: (Tie) Andrew Hamilton—University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Best Poster (Tie) Scott Keller—University of Central Florida
Best Poster (Tie) Mark Hernquist—University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2008
1st Place: Amanda S. Lim—University of Delaware
2nd Place: Francesca Paltera—University of Washington
3rd Place: Devendra Bajaj—University of Maryland, Baltimore County

2007
1st Place: Jorge Jimenez-Rios—Carnegie Mellon University
2nd Place: Bret Stanford—University of Florida
3rd Place: Peter Tavilla—University of Massachusetts, Lowell

2006
1st Place: Kristin Schaaf—University of California, San Diego
2nd Place: Samantha Daly—California Institute of Technology
3rd Place: Srinivasan Arjun Tekalur—University of Rhode Island

2005
1st Place: Christopher Kovalchick—The Johns Hopkins University
2nd Place: Thomas Plaisted—University of California, San Diego
3rd Place: S. A. Tekalur—University of Rhode Island

2004
1st Place: Adam Mulliken—Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2nd Place: Serkan Inceoglu—The Cleveland Clinic Foundation
3rd Place: Lucian Speriatu—University of Florida , Gainesville

2003
1st Place: Gavin Horn—University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2nd Place: Rani F. El-Hajjar—Georgia Institute of Technology
3rd Place: Kaiwen Xia—California Institute of Technolgy

2002
1st Place: Angus M. Morison—Michigan Technological University
2nd Place: K. M. Vernaza-Pena—University of Notre Dame
3rd Place: Anthony Puckett—University of Maine

2001
1st Place: Leishen Chen—University of Florida
2nd Place: Luoyu Roy Xu—California Institute of Technology
3rd Place: Michelle Oyen-Tiesma—University of Minnesota

2000
1st Place: Alexandra Ahlqvist—University of Central Florida
2nd Place: Scott A. Miers—Michigan Technological University
3rd Place: Shawn P. McBride—University of Rhode Island

1999
1st Place: Teresa L. Halverson—The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2nd Place: Salman H. Gharaibeh—University of Utah
3rd Place: Kenneth W. Miller—The University of South Carolina

1998
1st Place: Xiaokai Niu—University of Florida
2nd Place: James T. Grutta—Michigan Technological University
3rd Place: Kevin T. Turner—The Johns Hopkins University

1997
1st Place: David LaVan—The Johns Hopkins University
2nd Place: Francesco Lanza di Scalea—Michigan State University
3rd Place: Kristina Haermanson—University of Wisconsin-Madison

1996
1st Place: B.J. Koeppel—Michigan Technological University
2nd Place: A. West—Iowa State University
3rd Place: B. Yuan—The Johns Hopkins University

1995
1st Place: Jeffrey D. Helm—The University of South Carolina
2nd Place: Theresa M. Ahlborn—University of Minnesota
3rd Place: Anand Rao—Michigan Technological University

1994
1st Place: Robert J. Bonenberger—University of Maryland
2nd Place: Suhas P. Vaze—University of Notre Dame
3rd Place: Hong C. Rhim—Massachusetts Institute of Technology

1993
1st Place: Frank Sienkiewicz—University of Rhode Island
2nd Place: Kin Liao—Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
3rd Place: Kenneth Mally—Michigan Technological University

1992
1st Place: David R. Derkits—Yorktown High School
2nd Place: Bradley R. Patton—Michigan Technological University
3rd Place: Lei Wang—Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

1991
1st Place: Kristin Zimmerman—Michigan State University
2nd Place: Eric F. Little—Michigan Technological University
3rd Place: Rob L. Tregoning—The Johns Hopkins University