During their senior year, Luke Graham and Avianna Alvarez, Walla Walla University engineering alumni, were two of 16 student finalists chosen for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Pressure Vessel Piping Conference student paper competition.

PVP Conference offers a platform for students and engineers to keep up with new technologies and network with experts. It is a recognized international forum with participants from more than 40 countries. At the 2024 conference in July, Graham and Alvarez presented their work to a group of 40 engineers from around the world.

Graham’s interest was directed to the competition when Qin Ma, a professor of engineering and Graham’s senior project technical advisor, encouraged him to submit a paper. Together, Graham and Ma decided to research short-fiber composites, which Graham was unfamiliar with but excited to learn about. “Ma has been very encouraging,” said Graham. “He’s the most willing professor to help.”

Short-fiber composites are a type of thermoplastic composites made of resin and fiber. Composite materials are a mix of at least two types of original materials that offer properties each individual material might not have on its own. Graham’s paper aimed to test the integrity of the short-fiber composites using the ANSYS Material Designer program and see if the program could predict the properties. During the process, Graham ran roughly 100 simulations and authored a nine-page paper documenting his work.

Alvarez’s paper explored how different recycling methods impacted mechanical properties such as tensile strength and yield point. At the conference, she was able to share her results and their exciting applications within the medical industry. Alvarez interacted with several field professionals during the conference, including a nuclear technology team manager, a researcher working on piping technology, and Susan Ipri-Brown, president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

In recognition of her work, Alvarez earned the Outstanding Student Paper Award (first prize) in the Bachelor of Science and Master of Science category. As the lead author of the winning paper, Alvarez earned a $2,500 prize as part of her award. “It was an excellent experience, and I look forward to growing my connections with the engineering community,” said Alvarez.

~Hailey Werner is a sophomore business major at Walla Walla University.