Shane Markham Wins Poster Competition at National Welding Fabrication Convention

2015 Dec 10

Shane Markham, of North Pekin, IL, won the American Welding Society (AWS) Poster Session at FABTECH, the largest national welding fabrication convention and conference in the world, during the AWS Professional Program held in November in Chicago.

Markham's submission was chosen from more than 40 entries from students grouped into high school, community college, trade school, university and graduate school, as well as professional categories. Industry professionals judged participants' submissions for technical merit, research methods, analysis and display of data and generalizations made about the research.

Markham's poster, which was titled "Spray Transfer versus Advanced GMAW-P", outlined a comparison between the two different welding processes. The gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process is the most common process used for production welding of construction and agriculture equipment. The analysis presented on the poster included a study of the metal deposit efficiency, heat input, and the metallurgical effect of welding on the base metal.

"Although this is the first year a student from ICC competed, the quality of Shane's poster submission was equal to that of students submitting posters from major universities," said Dr. Rick Polanin, professor and program chair of ICC's Welding Program. "With a minimum of advisement, Shane was able to complete the research, organize the data, analyze the data, and develop the graphics for a high quality poster."

Congratulations, Shane!