UA Engineering Graduate Student Wins Best Paper Award

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A research paper written by an engineering graduate student won an award for best paper at a recent academic conference and will be submitted for review in a scholarly journal.

Hamidreza Najafi, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering, presented his paper, “Modeling and Analysis of Combined Photovoltaic-Thermoelectric Power Generation System,” at the Energy Sustainability Conference in July 2012.

The conference was sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, or ASME, and was held in San Diego, Cali., where more than 170 authors presented their research findings.

The Photovoltaic Committee of the Solar Energy Division of ASME selected Najafi’s paper for the “Best Paper Award.” Based on recommendation from the committee, the paper was submitted for further peer review and publication in the ASME Journal of Solar Energy Engineering.

Dr. Keith Woodbury, professor of mechanical engineering, is Najafi’s research supervisor and was co-author of the paper.

“Hamid is an outstanding graduate student and has authored three papers based on his master’s thesis,” Woodbury said. “His work is thorough, and he presents the results well. He is highly deserving of this recognition.”

Najafi is a graduate student assistant in the Alabama Industrial Assessment Center that is housed in the mechanical engineering department and funded by the United States Department of Energy. He completed the requirements for his Master of Science in mechanical engineering degree in Aug. 2012 and entered the mechanical engineering doctoral program this fall.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has more than 3,300 students and more than 100 faculty. In the last eight years, students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater, Hollings, Portz and Truman scholars.