Dr. Uday Vaidya awarded SPE Composites Person of the Year

IACMI Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Uday Vaidya was honored during a special ceremony at the 2016 SPE ACCE as he received the SPE Composites Division’s 2016 Composites Person of the Year award. The award publicly acknowledges a contributor who has provided significant aid to the SPE Composites Division, particularly during the prior year, as well as made broader contributions to the composites industry as a whole. Nominations are reviewed by the board and one recipient is selected by the current division chair in consultation with the current division awards chair.

IACMI had a strong presence at the conference this year. In addition to Dr. Vaidya’s award honors, IACMI Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Craig Blue, delivered the keynote presenting IACMI progress and opportunities and Chief Commercialization Officer, Dale Brosius, led a panel session with IACMI partners from Dassault Systèmes, Plasan, Cincinnati Inc., and Lockheed Martin. Rani Richardson, IACMI Board of Directors Member and Dassault Systèmes CATIA Business Experience Consultant served as the 2016 SPE ACCE Chair. Numerous IACMI members attended, exhibited and presented at the conference.  

A poster session led by Dr. Vaidya provided students with an opportunity to demonstrate current project work with potential industry impact. Sarah Edrington, a graduate student at University of Kentucky's Mechanical Engineering department placed second in the graduate category for her poster titled PAN Precursor Draw During Spinning: Effects on Mechanical Properties and Morphology of Resultant Carbon Fiber.  Sarah plans to continue her work with PAN carbon fiber precursor spinning as part of her thesis and work with the IACMI Composite Materials and Process Technology group. Dr. Mathew Weisenberger, an integral part of IACMI’s Composite Materials and Processing team in Tennessee and Kentucky, has provided numerous hands-on opportunities at the world-class spinning line at the Center for Applied Energy Research at the University of Kentucky. Most recently, he worked with Dr. Nisa Salim, a researcher from Deakin University’s carbon fiber research facility, on a breakthrough project resulting in enhanced structure and properties for carbon fiber precursor polymers.

SPE ACCE (Society of Plastics Engineers Automotive Composites Conference and Exhibition) is held annually to educate and update automotive design and production engineers, sales personnel, and management from transportation OEMs and Tier suppliers about the benefits and expanding importance of thermoset and thermoplastic composites in passenger vehicles, light trucks, and other ground transportation applications.Learn more at www.SPEAutomotive.com

Read more about Dr. Vaidya's work at the University of Tennessee.