Yes, they did it again. Iowa State’s Material Advantage chapter won the Most Outstanding Chapter Award from the national Material Advantage organization for the 10th consecutive year.
Material Advantage is the student organization for materials science and engineering in the U.S., and each year they designate one chapter as the nation’s best. Material Advantage is the combined student activity organization of the American Ceramic Society, the Association for Iron and Steel, ASM International (formerly the American Society for Materials), and TMS (the Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society). The award will be presented to the ISU chapter’s officers at the Materials Science and Technology annual meeting in Montreal October 28-31. The award was granted for the chapter’s high level of activity in support of materials education and service. The award nomination for Iowa State cited the following highlights of the chapter’s 2012-13 academic year:
- ISU Material Advantage was selected in April, 2013 by the Iowa State University Student Activities Center to receive the outstanding Commitment to Service Award, naming it the top Iowa State student organization for service to the community among the more than 800 such organizations on campus.
- Iowa State has one of the largest Material Advantage chapters in the U.S. with 50 active members.
- The chapter provides a materials consultation service for other engineering student chapters at Iowa State.
- The Iowa State chapter sent 25 students to the MS & T national conference in 2012.
- The chapter planned and conducted 53 service and outreach events on campus and in various schools in the Midwest. Many of these focused on educating K-12 students about materials and recruiting prospective students for materials careers.
- The chapter members took seven industrial tours, hosted 15 social events, conducted 15 programming and career events, and even fielded 24 intramural teams for campus athletic competitions.
- The students conducted a $25,000 fund raising effort to support student activities and travel.
Chapter officers during the 2012-13 academic year were:
- Lisa Rueschoff, Chair
- Sam Reeve, Vice Chair
- Kelsey Draus, Secretary
- Benjamin Hagarty, Treasurer
- Devon Schuler, Programming Chair
- Trent Borman, Hannah Doyle, Hannah Powell (Outreach Co-Chairs)
- Jake Sporrer and Bradley Pettijohn (Events Chairs)
- Ryan Kirsch, David Puente, and Ryan Walker (Fundraising Co-Chairs)
- YuShen Su (Historian)
- John Graham (Webmaster)
Chapter faculty advisor Prof. Scott Chumbley summarized this 10th consecutive Outstanding Chapter Award by saying, “The achievements of this chapter are entirely due to the character of the students and their willingness to work for the things in which they believe.”
To read more about Material Advantage, see http://news.engineering.iastate.edu/2013/11/04/ten-consecutive-years-isus-material-advantage-continues-streak-as-most-outstanding-chapter/.
