The ASME Adaptive Structures and Material Systems Technical Committee is organizing the Best Student Hardware Paper Competition as part of the ASME 2011 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems (SMASIS). The event will give students (and their advisors) an opportunity to demonstrate adaptive/intelligent structures hardware or experiment developed as a part of educational and research projects or university design courses. Entrees in the competition will be judged by a committee of smart materials and structures experts and a list of finalists will be determined based upon the technical paper. Finalists are required to present their papers at a regular conference session and must participate in a special exhibit session (Monday, September 19) to demonstrate hardware operation and a present a poster explaining the nature of the project. The overall SMASIS conference best student hardware will be selected from the finalist based on the project presentation in the hardware demonstration session. The finalists will be honored during the Pioneer Banquet. It is expected that several monetary awards will be presented to the selected finalists and overall conference winner.

Eligibility for the contest: (1) Student participants are required to submit via web a regular technical paper based upon their hardware, which will undergo the normal conference review process and deadlines. (2) Authors of accepted papers must e-mail by July 12th, 2011 a paper PDF file to the contest chairperson, Prof. Andrei Zagrai at azagrai@nmt.edu. Please include the paper tracking number in the subject line of the e-mail. (3) The student author must commit to attending the conference and presenting his or her paper at the special hardware exhibit session in addition to their regular assigned session. (4) While other authors may be listed on the paper, the student must have contributed the majority of the hardware efforts presented, writing of the paper and poster presentation.

Evaluation criteria:

The papers and presentations submitted to the contest will each need to explicitly demonstrate a connection to smart materials, adaptive structures, and/or integrated systems, and represent advancement to the state-of-the-art. Finalists for the hardware exhibit session will be judged on the submitted paper, and will include criteria such as:

• Relevance to conference topic


• Significance and impact of work


• Creativity and innovation in design and development


• Completeness and quality of work presented.

In addition to the criteria listed above, student hardware and the associated poster in the exhibit session will be evaluated based on the following factors.

• Relevant performance characteristics of the system


• Integration and concert operation of mechanical, electrical and computer engineering elements of the system


• Reliability and robustness of operation

The overall conference best hardware paper will selected based on quality and effectiveness of the oral poster presentation and hardware demonstration during the hardware exhibit session.

Questions about the SMASIS Best Student Hardware Paper Competition can be addressed to:

Andrei Zagrai
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
E-mail: azagrai@nmt.edu
Phone: 575-835-5636