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Department of Mechanical Engineering hosts 2012 Northeast SEM Graduate Student Symposium

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2012 Northeast SEM Graduate Student Symposium Participants

The University of Maryland’s Department of Mechanical Engineering hosted the 2012 Northeast Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM) Graduate Student Symposium in the university’s Jeong H. Kim Building on March 22 and 23, reactivating a regional conference that had been on hiatus since the 1990s.

The symposium was co-sponsored by the Department of Mechanical Engineering and SEM and organized by graduate students Sandip Haldar, Azadeh Keshtgar, Erik Levin, Karak Parmar, and Preeti Chauhun with the help of Professors Hugh Bruck and Bongtae Han and Amarildo DeMata.  Forty participants from the Department of Mechanical Engineering as well as University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Delaware, Brown University, Columbia University, and the University of Rhode Island presented research on a variety of areas involving experimental mechanics, ranging from the characterization of biological tissues to the control of microparticles using laser tweezers.  Many projects focused on the mechanics of advanced composite structures, and the effects of using nanotechnology on the mechanics of materials.  

There were many opportunities for participants to network with future colleagues and to view different methods of research, such as the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s log of research on biological materials, and the University of Rhode Island’s dynamic loading of structures.

The conference’s success inspired Haldar, a third year Ph.D. student, to try to reactivate the SEM student chapter on campus. For more information about SEM visit their website .

Published April 12, 2012