2026 WINNERS & SUBMISSIONS
Winners in the seven categories were announced in August 2026.
STUDENTS IN HIGH SCHOOL WELDING PROGRAMS
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN SPONSORED UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS
Signal-Process Relationships Using LDD Monitoring in Laser Beam Welding of 304L Stainless Steel
Daniel Barnes - Bexley High School
Richard Li and Dr. Boyd Panton (OSU)
Simulating Weld Pool Dynamics Toward Ultrasonic-Assisted Laser Welding of Ti-64
Ilse Williams - Bishop Watterson High School
Jindong Huang and Dr. Xun Liu
Development of Grain Refinement Technologies using Compressive Loading and Advanced Pulse Gas Tungsten Arc Welding
Jiaqi Li - Columbus Academy
Garrett Anders and Dr. Boian Alexandrov
Parameter development with LPBF
Shailen Patel - Olentangy Orange High School
Advisors: Rakhi Bawa, Dr. Antonio Ramirez
Dissimilar Resistance Spot Welding Optimization
Shailen Patel - Olentangy Orange High School
Advisors: Rakhi Bawa, Dr. Antonio J. Ramirez
Mechanisms of Gamma Prime Cracking in LPBF
Jay Patton - The Olentangy High School
Austin Tiley, Dr. Antonio Ramirez
Plasma Arc Welding on GRX-810
Bryson Lanker - Worthington Christian
Charles Kravitz, Antonio Ramirez
Hydrogen Embrittlement in Pressure VesselSteel Welds
Samuel Kuch - Worthington Christian High School
Fernando Romero Consuegra, Dr. Boian Alexandrov
Comparison of Hot Cracking Susceptibility Between Cast, Wrought, and 3D Printed Copper-Based Materials
Nevan Mahadanaarachchi - New Albany High School
Mentor: Justin Nock, Advisor: Professor Boian Alexandrov
Welding Process Comparison for Thin-Sheet Aluminum: Distortion, Heat Input, and Gap Tolerance
Kassidy Shimek
Paul Blackhurst, Dr. Panton
Weld Characterization of Electron Beam Pipe Welds on Niobium for Superconducting Radio-Frequency (SRF) Cavities
Madeleine Rubel
Mentor: Richard Li, Supervisor: Dr. Boyd Panton
Laser welding under vacuum and varying atmospheric pressures
Kojo Antwi- Columbus Alternative High School
Aaron Brimmer and Antonio Ramirez
Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing of High Strength Steels
Nicolas Gonzalez - Upper Arlington High School
Ruslan Kim and Dr. Antonio Ramirez
STUDENTS IN TWO-YEAR COLLEGE OR CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS
Weldability of Higher Grades of Reinforcing Steel
Jonathan Guijosa - Columbus State Community College
Graduate supervisor: Jesse Porter, Faculty mentor: Dr. Carolin Fink
Proper Bead Sequencing for GMAW Additive Manufacturing
Savanna Lebrun and Wade Gorder - North Dakota State College of Science
Joel Johnson - Faculty Advisor
GTAW: The Effects of Polarity on Penetration and Cleaning
Bianca Llamas - Cerritos College
Forging the future: PROJECT-BASED WELDING EDUCATION SUPPORTING MARITIME WORKFORCE
Will Kennemore
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN B.S. TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE PROGRAMS
Development of a GMAW Process for Leak Reduction in Sheet Steel - Plate
Carlos Buenrostro Nuñez
Professor, Dr. René de Luna
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN B.S. ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS
Measurement of Flux Mass in Flux-CoredWelding Wires by Two Methods
Samson Nellickappillil, Makarand Rele, Daniele Calista, Patricio F. Mendez
Heat Input and Shielding Gas Effects on Super Duplex Stainless Steel 2594 Microstructure
Julian Teofilo Prieto
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tao Dai
Experimental Process Characterization for Laser Cladding
Makarand Rele, Xinrui Liu, Nitheesh Kumar R, Patricio F. Mendez
Simulations of Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing with Inter-Pass Temperature
Kathryn Craig, Mia Abdulla, Carter Trautmann, Patricio F. Mendez
GTAW Contaminated Titanium Filler Wire Efficacy
Gavin Krock, Cole Wecker, & Graham Gardner
Dr. Antonio Ramirez, Josh Bolin, Brian Galliers, & Kaushalya Putta
A Viability Study for the Adoption of 90/10 Shielding Gas at the Honda East Liberty Plant
Arthur Smith, Gabe Pascoal, Dustin Lansing
Advisor: Dr. David H. Phillips
Alloy 800 HTExtruded-Pipe Cracking
Hanna Lebamoff, Morgan McGraw, and Georgia Wiswesser
Mentors: Dr. Carolin Fink (OSU) and Jorge Penso (Shell)
In-Air Brazing of Titanium Joints: Ti-copper and Ti-304 Stainless brazed joints in air
Ben Wright, Gus Barnes, Angelina Hsu
Alexander Shapiro
2D AI Weld Defect Detection Project
Noah Gombas, Jackson Connor, Michael Nichols
Menacham Kimchi, David Phillips and Adrian Alba
Comparison of Three GMAW Transfer Modes in WAAM of Duplex Stainless-Steel Walls
Andrew Merry, Julian Teofilo Prieto, Rex Case, Aidan Hynes, Seth Barker, John Hall
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tao Dai
Effects of gravity on track integrity during collaborative robot-assisted wire arc deposition
Quang Ngo, Mohammad Arjomandi, Tuhin Mukherjee
Development of Automated Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing Capability Using Slicer, RoboDK, and Welding Robots
Samuele Fredella, Andrew Merry, Grayson Pedde, David Nygaard, John Hall
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tao Dai
Microstructure and Deposition Integrity in Multi-Pass COBOT-Assisted WAAM: An Experimental Investigation
Yoosuf Anees, Mohammad Arjomandi, Tuhin Mukherjee
Impact of Hand-hel laser tack welding. onfillet welds for shipbuilding applications
James Mielke , Ben Schneiderman, Jonathan Roberts, Kevin Roossinck, Zhenzhen Yu1
Thermal and Electrical Profiling of Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) Processes
Micah Sellers, Jasmine A. Mah, Ivan O. Pigozzo, Patricio F. Mendez
MICROSTRUCTURE, MECHANICAL, & CORROSION CHARACTERIZATION OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURED TZM-TI64 BIMETALLIC STRUCTURES
Ashley Smith
Assessment of Joint Clearance Sensitivity for a New Brazing Filler Alloy
Sammy Buk, Dr. Schneiderman, Dr. Yu
Investigating oscillation techniques during collaborative robot-assisted wire arc additive manufacturing
Jackson Motley, Mohammad Arjomandi, Tuhin Mukherjee
Comparative Assessment of Flux-Cored Arc Welding (FCAW), Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW), and Laser Beam Welding (LBW) for Butt-Welded Joints
Rithwick Lakshmanan, Mohammad Arjomandi, Tuhin Mukherjee
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Modelling Weld Point Location in High-frequency Electric Resistance Welding
Daniele D. G. Calista, Greg. R. Lehnhoff, Prof. Patricio F. Mendez
Mechanistic Modeling and Machine Learning for Humping Control in Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing
Mohammad Arjomandi, Rakshith Reddy Sanvelly, Tuhin Mukherjee
Influences of wobble frequency, wobble length and power compensation in Handheld Laser Beam Welding (HLBW)
Jose Eduardo Alvarez-Rocha (UofA), Ivan O. Pigozzo (UofA), Exequiel Zornetta, and Patricio F. Mendez (UofA)
Fusion Geometry for Engineering Alloys Using The Dual-Laser Adjustable Mode Beam Welding
Dewan Wardy Hasan, Md Zisanul Haque Bhuiyan, Micah Vemu, Owen Hewitson, Yang Du
Effects of Cooling Media on Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of Friction Stir Welded AA6061-T6 in a CNC Machine
Austin Clark and Ihab Ragai
Deep Learning-Based Analysis of Spatter and Melt Pool Stability in LDED
Md Sakibul Hasan Nahid, Deepak Gadde, Jakob D. Hamilton, Shan Jiang, Yang Du
Impact of Weld Microstructures on Fracture Toughness in Gaseous Hydrogen for X-Series Pipeline Steels
Lydia Hines, Jackson McCloskey, Chen Ni | Colorado School of Mines | Zhenzhen Yu
Application of GMAW to the welding of thick Super Duplex materials
Rachana Bhagavath, Ayden Greene, Umar Faruque, Jude Odanmhen & Pasuchar Eaksongkiat
No Backing Gas (NBG) Welding of Austenitic Stainless Steels
Richard Li, The Ohio State University
Carolin Fink (OSU), Jorge Penso (Shell), Dustin Wagner (Miller), Atsushi Takahashi (JGC), Brandon Rollins (DNV)
Effects of notch location and orientation in WAAM qualification
Mia Abdulla, J. Eduardo Alvarez Rocha, Prof Felipe Castro Cerda, and Prof. Patricio F. Mendez
Dual-Laser Adjustable Mode Beam (DLAMB) Welding for Large-Scale Defect-Free Stainless-Steel Parts
Varshavarthini Sekar, Dewan Wardy Hasan, Yang Du
Heat transfer and fluid flow during laser micro spot melting
Farhan Haidary, Rakshith Reddy Sanvelly, Luke Niederheitmann, Tuhin Mukherjee
Heat and Fluid Flow during Laser Beam Welding in Space
Noshin Tasnim Tuli, Dr. Tuhin Mukherjee
Development of Signal-to-Process Relationships In Laser Beam Welding Of Stainless Steel
Richard Li, The Ohio State University
Carolin Fink (OSU), Boyd Panton (OSU)
AN INVERSE MODELING FRAMEWORK FOR LPBF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
Satyaki Sinha, Tuhin Mukherjee
Bridging Aerosol Science and Welding: Profiling of Weld Fumes Across GMAW Metal Transfer Modes
Ivan Pigozzo (UofA), Daniele Calista (UofA), Franklin Wang (UofA), Kerry Chen (UofA),
Samantha Skiba (UofA), Jason Olfert (UofA), Patricio F. Mendez (UofA)
Development of Grain Refinement Technologies using Compressive Loading and Advanced Pulse GTAW in Wire-Arc Direct Energy Deposition Ti-6Al-4V
Garrett Anders, Dr. Boian Alexandrov
High-speed video analysis of metal transfer in GMAW using a vision transformer with temporal memory
Lucas Taipe Ramos (UofA), Gabriela Pinheiro (USP), J. Eduardo Alvarez-Rocha (UofA), Xingyu Li (UofA), Patricio F. Mendez (UofA)
Predicting Temperature Distribution and Track Integrity in Oscillatory and Conventional WAAM
Muhammad Ayaan Afzal, Mohammad Arjomandi, Tuhin Mukherjee
PROFESSIONALS
Microstructure–Property Linkage in Hybrid Laser–Arc Welded AHSS Plate
Su Nayak, Troy Miller, Jeff Sparks
Real-Time In-Process Monitoring of Laser Welding Using Novelty Detection
Derek Shaffer, PH.D.
