12/13/2022 McCall Macomber
Written by McCall Macomber
Congratulations to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students Desi Nainar, Tara Reddy, Shiraz Baxamusa and Hayley Kieu, who received the best presentation award at the PURE Research Symposium on December 2.
The semester-long interdisciplinary program aims to enhance college students’ interest in engineering research by pairing freshman and sophomore undergraduates with graduate research mentors.
The students met weekly with their mentors to work on a research project and presented their findings at the end-of-semester symposium.
Illinois Center for Transportation graduate students Javier García Mainieri and Akash Bajaj served as two of the program’s eleven mentors.
Mentors’ area of expertise spanned civil and environmental engineering, food science and human nutrition, aerospace engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and bioengineering, among others.
García Mainieri served as mentor to first-place recipients Desi Nainar (Computer Science), Tara Reddy (Civil Engineering), Shiraz Baxamusa (Civil Engineering) and Hayley Kieu (Civil Engineering).
Their project investigated the measurement of aggregate breakage in asphalt concrete.
For García Mainieri, sharing his knowledge and interests with his mentees was a rewarding experience.
“My favorite part in serving as a mentor was empowering my mentees to take on responsibilities and to see them produce reliable results,” García Mainieri said.
Bajaj mentored UIUC students Colin Macleod (Materials Science and Engineering) and Rohit Choudhary (Mechanical Science and Engineering).
Their project focused on understanding cracking mechanisms in asphalt pavements.
His favorite part of mentoring students?
“Getting to guide undergraduates into the field of research and letting them see the value one can generate while being involved in different research projects,” Bajaj said.
Congratulations to all the hard-working undergraduates and mentors who participated in the program!
Applications for the Spring 2023 program will open at the beginning of 2023.