Students and faculty from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville presented at the Regional Materials and Manufacturing Network (RM2N) symposium on Jan 16. The symposium is an annual networking activity that aims to bring together the UW System campuses and several companies and industry partners from across the state to improve collaborations and increase networking opportunities. UW-Platteville’s faculty and staff led the way with the highest number of presenters at the symposium, and UW-Platteville students took home both first and second place recognitions for poster presentations.
One of the main goals of the symposium is to create a pathway opportunity for industry to work with academia more smoothly and to streamline interactions across the state, both within the various UW campuses as well as with regional companies. This year’s symposium was hosted by the Sustainability Institute for Regional Transformations at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
UW-Platteville had five faculty members presenting on various topics of sustainable materials and processes. The faculty who presented were Dr. Tom Zolper and Dr. John Obielodan, both from the Department of Mechanical Engineering; Dr. Mohammad Rabbani from the Department of Chemistry; Dr. Pamela Tas from the Department of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Systems; and Amy Seeboth-Wilson from UW-Platteville’s Office of Sustainability.
“I think [the number of faculty presenters] speaks to our [UW-Platteville’s] strength in these two areas – materials and sustainability,” assistant professor of engineering physics Dr. Gokul Gopal said. “We have faculty from at least four or five departments that are involved in either research or senior design type projects, or they in some way or other have expertise in areas relating to materials and manufacturing. We also have a large number of faculty and staff who have been working on areas related to sustainability and minimizing environmental impact.”
Along with having the highest number of faculty presenters, UW-Platteville student presenters took home first and second place for their posters. The first-place prize went to Jacob Sina, David Kelm and Max Wirtz, who presented their poster on “Fabrication, Simulation, and Characterization of Silicon Nanomembranes for MEMS Pressure Sensors.” The second-place prize went to Josh Luoma, who presented his poster on “Aligned and Network Carbon Nanotube Transistors for Sensing Applications.”
“The symposium allows participants to interact semi-informally and find out what other campuses are doing that UW-Platteville could be doing,” Gopal said. “One of the more important things we [the symposium committee] hope to make progress on is providing a better connection between industry employers and students who are working in areas of interest to those employers. It is an opportunity for networking, and a chance for people across the state to find out what everyone else is working on in a particular context. It really allows for collaboration to sprout.”
Gopal explained that symposia are a great way for students to develop and build their skills in multiple areas. He added that they get the opportunity to hone their communication and presentation skills while discussing their research projects with other students, professors and industry professionals who are also interested in that particular topic.
“You will find almost unanimously [among employers] that the greatest emerging need from engineering students is soft skills – working in teams, communicating, and especially, presenting to a broad audience that is not specialized in their field. This symposium is a perfect opportunity to advance and develop those skills further. I think [the symposium] is a win for all,” Gopal said.