Awarding Materials Design

ASM International, formerly known as the American Society for Metals, is a professional organization for materials scientists and engineers. In 1952, the society established the ASM Materials Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3), nonprofit supporting organization, to encourage education and scholarships. The organization has been devoted to promoting applied science careers for students and teachers for 65 years.

The ASM Materials Education Foundation provides advancement of scientific and engineering knowledge through its support of education and research. Each year, the foundation sponsors an undergraduate design competition that centers on the use of materials and metallurgical design and engineering applications in a competitive forum. The submissions are judged and winners are selected and awarded with monetary sums for each prize level.

Carrie Wilson is the executive director of the ASM Materials Education Foundation. We spoke to her to gain insight into their competition.

Digital Engineering: Can you provide an overview of the ASM Materials Education Foundation Undergraduate Design Competition, how it came to be and the intent of the program? Who will be participating or who has participated? How many participants have you had or are you expecting? Any demographics on participants?

Carrie Wilson: The program was started in 2007 by the ASM Action in Education Committee, which acknowledged that design is the most critical component in materials engineering education. The competition was developed to encourage strengthening of design curricula in materials science engineering departments. Recognizing the diversity of these curricula, they allowed for projects that address the design of a material, design of a process or the selection of materials in product design. The awards are selected by a subcommittee of industry and national laboratory representatives.

Each year the foundation receives up to eight team entries and selects three winners. Participant teams are undergraduate students, usually completing the entry as part of a capstone project in their department, and can be from any undergraduate university engineering program (e.g., materials science and engineering, metallurgy, metallurgical engineering, ceramic engineering, polymer engineering and manufacturing engineering or related programs, including but not limited to mechanical, chemical, electrical or bioengineering). Interdisciplinary teams with members from various engineering and science disciplines are encouraged to submit entries.