Joseph Casper, a junior mechanical engineering student at Alfred University, won first place in the Materials Science & Technology (MS&T) Conference’s Mug Drop Contest, held Tuesday at the annual MS&T conference in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Casper’s win is believed to be Alfred University’s first for the annual contest, in which students design and produce ceramic mugs that are dropped from increasing heights until only one mug is left standing.
Casper’s first-place win was one of three honors captured by AU. Avery Sledesky, a junior majoring in both ceramic engineering and ceramic art, won third place in the Most Aesthetic Mug Contest, while PhD student Sarah Loucks took third place in the Poster Contest.
Additionally, Alfred University’s chapter of Keramos, the professional ceramic engineering fraternity, won the MS&T Sapphire Award, which recognizes outstanding graduate students in materials science and engineering who give oral presentations at the MS&T conference.
Casper’s first-place mug achieved its resilience through its composition of a castable refractory material similar to Portland cement, according to Mario Caccia, assistant professor of ceramic engineering in the Inamori School of Engineering, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, who accompanied the students to the conference.
Mixed with water and shaped into a particular form, then baked at high temperatures, the material hardens into a stone-like mass. Caccio noted the hardened material tends to crumble in tiny portions, instead of cracking.
Casper worked on his prize-winning mug with fellow student Adrian McGuire, an Alfred University junior studying ceramic engineering. McGuire’s own coffee mug, Caccio noted, turned out to be the second strongest mug submitted to the Mug Drop Contest by the eight AU students participating in the competition.
About 35 undergraduate and graduate students from Alfred University attended the conference in all, together with faculty and administrators that included Gabrielle Gaustad ’04, dean of the Inamori School; Scott Misture, ’90, ’94 PhD, Inamori professor of materials science and engineering; David Gottfried, CACT director/government relations representative; and Hyojin Lee, CACT research director.
Caio Bragatto, assistant professor of ceramic engineering, joined Caccia as a student advisor. Bragatto serves also as advisor for Alfred University’s Keramos chapter and Materials Advantage Club, while Caccio serves as advisor to the university’s Mud Drop Club.
Gaustad, who serves also as associate provost of research at Alfred University and vice president of statutory affairs of the New York State College of Ceramics, said the AU students’ success at the conference “filled me with pride.”
Alfred University students were competing against students from some of the largest engineering programs in the United States, including Virginia Tech and the University of Iowa, Gaustad noted.
“Our Mug Drop Club is an amazing opportunity for our students to practice their design, processing, and characterization skill sets,” Gaustad said. “And bringing home the number one honor is a testament to both their hard work and the mentoring they receive, both curricular and extracurricular.”
