56th TcSUH Student Symposium

Texas Center For Superconductivity at University of Houston

Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Time: 10:00 am – 7:00 pm

Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102

All members of TcSUH were encouraged to attend the 56^th Student Symposium. The day consisted of a series of 15-minute presentations, with a 5-minute Q&A representing novel lab work by TcSUH graduate students. Additionally, students witness the unveiling of the human levitator.

In addition to the monetary prizes, the winners also received an IEEE Council on Superconductivity-sponsored one-year IEEE student membership.

Of noted Council attendance were IEEE CSC Max Swerdlow Award recipients Prof. Paul Chu (2014), Professor of Physics, T. L. L. Temple Chair of Science, and Founding Director & Chief Scientist, TcSUH, and Susan Butler (2018), associate director for public affairs at the TcSUH.

The following report was contributed by Susan Butler, University of Houston.

Prize Winners Announced at 56th TcSUH Student Research Symposium

Eighteen students present original research in juried competition

Houston, TX. Six students were selected as winners of the 56^th TcSUH Student Research Symposium, held April 30, 2019, in the University of Houston Science Center.

The symposium is a juried competition for students selected from each research group headed by a Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston (TcSUH) principal investigator. Prizes are awarded based on originality of research (25%), quality of research (25%), quality of presentation (25%), and skillful use of visual aids (25%).

“The purpose of the annual symposium is two-fold,” said Zhifeng Ren, M. D. Anderson Chair Professor of Physics and Director of TcSUH. “The annual event gives students an opportunity to practice the preparation of powerpoint slides, hone their presentation skills, and answer questions. It also provides the students with a great opportunity to learn frontiers in research from other disciplines within a brief period of time.” 

The 2019 competition featured 16 graduate students and two undergraduates from the UH Departments of Chemistry, Physics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and the Materials Science and Engineering Program. Professors C. W. Chu, Allan J. Jacobson, and Jae-Hyun Ryou served as judges.

Students presented during three sessions held throughout the day. Session chairs were Dr. Elie Track, CEO of nVizix and Treasurer of the IEEE Council on Superconductivity (CSC), Dr. Bruce P. Strauss, Program Manager, DOE Office of Science (ret.) and President, IEEE CSC, and Anne Delcour, Professor of Biology and Biochemistry and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the UH College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.