Matthew Flournoy, senior in meteorology, won first place for his poster "Simulated Thunderstorm Grid Spacing Sensitivities.” He partnered with the Storm Center Prediction Center and the National Severe Storms Laboratory, both in Norman OK, on his simulation experiments.
Jennafer Hakun, freshman in energy engineering, won second place for her poster “OVIRS Primary Mirror Characterization.” OSIRIS-Rex Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS) is an optical instrument on the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-Rex). The instrument is used in NASA’s asteroid studies. A mission slated for a September 2016 launch will carry the instrument. Hakun worked with NASA engineers who calibrated the optical system in preparation to more efficiently and accurately place the mirror in its optics box during integration and testing.
Nathan Kistler, senior in materials science and engineering, won third place for his poster “Mechanical Properties of Ti-6Al-4V AM Samples Using DIC.” Ti-6Al-4V is the most popular titanium alloy in use today and is of particular importance to the aerospace industry because of the alloy’s excellent weight to strength ratio. Kisler’s research used digital image correlation (DIC) to examine the mechanical properties of components produced by additive manufacturing and compared to them to traditionally cast components.
The Freshman Award, sponsored by The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, was awarded to Victoria Christensen and Tanner Mengle for their poster “Providing Access to Clean Water with Materials Science.”