UA Engineering Student Wins Award for Research Paper

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Larry Summerville, a senior in metallurgical and material engineering from Columbus, Miss., won first place for his research poster presentation at a November regional meeting of the National Society of Black Engineers in Montgomery.

He now has the opportunity to compete nationally.

NSBE was founded in 1975 with the intention “to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.” The group hosts over 29,900 members and is among the largest student-governed organizations in the United States.

Summerville conducted research for his poster, “Morphological evolution and surface migration of gold films,” in 2010 under the mentorship of Dr. Nitin Chopra, assistant professor in the department of metallurgical and materials engineering.

“We thank everyone for the support and infrastructure,” Chopra said. “I am glad I could be Larry’s mentor for his summer research and look forward to working with him for the National Level.”

In 2010 Summerville received a third-place prize and a $300 award at the Tuskegee Research Experience for Undergraduates regional conference for his research in Chopra’s lab. He is completing a research paper and plans to submit it for journal publication.

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 3,900 students and more than 110 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.

Contact

Judah Martin, engineering student writer, jmmartin5@crimson.ua.edu; Adam Jones, engineering public relations, 205/348-6444, acjones12@eng.ua.edu