(originally posted by Rice Engineering)
With show-biz polish and Tweet-like concision, 26 engineering graduate students at Rice University pitched their research in 90-second bursts at the fourth-annual Screech Competition, sponsored by the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership (RCEL).
Taking first place and awarded the top prize of $500 in the highly competitive event was Sydney M. Gibson, a third-year grad student in bioengineering (BioE). Her pitch was titled “Road to Invasion: Understanding Blood Vessel Formation in Cancer.” Gibson also received the Audience Choice award and an additional $150. Her adviser is Mary Dickinson, a molecular physiologist at the Baylor College of Medicine and adjunct professor of BioE at Rice.
Students from eight departments were represented. BioE, with seven students, had the largest representation and was named Best Department in the overall competition.
Opening the Screech, which drew a crowd of some 200, was Anastasia Novinskaya, a third-year graduate student in computer science (CS), who said, “You must be in love with your research to compete in the Screech. These people have already won their small personal battles.”
The other winners and their prizes were:
Second place: Julia Vidonish, civil and environmental engineering (CEE), “Changing the Way We Clean Oil Spills,” $300.
Third place: Marco Rodrigues, materials science and nanoengineering (MSNE), “Batteries on Fire!” $150.
Best in BioE/Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Jennifer Burnett, BioE, “Using In Vivo Microscopy to Detect Malaria Infection,” $150.
Best in Computational and Applied Mathematics/CS/Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE): Mahdi Assefzadeh, ECE, “One-square-inch, Fast Millimeter-Wave/Terahertz Cameras: No More Airport Lines, with Maximum Security Ensured”; and David Ramirez, ECE, “Service-Centric Networks: The End of Video Buffering,” $150 each.
Best in Mechanical Engineering/MSNE/CEE: Peng (Patrick) Sun, CEE, “Smart Skin for Structures,” $150.
“The whole show was run by the graduate students. We paid the bills and they did all the work,” said Kaz Karwowski, executive director of RCEL and one of the judges for this year’s competition. The other judges were:
Kyung-Hee Bae, associate director of the Center for Written, Oral, and Visual Communication (CWOVC)
Michael Evans, lecturer in management, Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business
Elizabeth Festa, associate director of CWOVC
Jeffrey Jacot, associate professor of BioE
Kiri Kilpatrick, associate director for graduate student development
Tom Kraft, director of technology ventures development for the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship
Amit Pazgal, professor of management and marketing in the Jones School
Isabell Thomann, assistant professor of ECE
Ned Thomas, William and Stephanie Sick Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering
David Van Kleeck, professor in the practice of engineering leadership, RCEL
Sherry Vanderslice, graduate student affairs and projects manager
Sponsors of Screech 2015 were BHP Billiton, ExxonMobil, Rice Engineering Alumni, CWOVC, RCEL, Chuck Newell and Hanadi Rifai, and Rick and Cheryl Mifflin.
To watch Screech 2015, go here: rcelconnect.org/screech2015livestream
To watch previous Screeches, go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbQitO1HlVI
–Patrick Kurp, Engineering Communications