A new competition added this year to the SAMPE conference was the pickleball paddle contest. The goal of this competition was for the paddles to show a 1/16th inch of deflection when loaded with 42-45 pound force in a three point bend test to receive full points. All three paddles were tested and points were awarded based on the paddles’ ability to fall within the force specification as well the variation between the paddles. Competitors were also required to create a poster to show their design and novelty of their paddles and the completed manufacturing process. The paddles were then inspected by judges who graded each team based on the manufacturing quality, novelty, and aesthetics of the paddles.

University of Massachusetts Lowell was one of 15 universities who competed and created one of the a total of 20 paddle entries. We are extremely proud to say that our student chapter placed third overall and we’re the second place university overall!!

For this design competition, student teams worked to manufacture three identical pickleball paddles which were tested in a regulation three point bend test. Pickle Pro Labs completed all of the three point bend tests and we were so excited to see fellow University of Massachusetts Lowell student Kayla Krantz who was completing the testing!

Congratulations to our student team Kevin Cloherty, Drupad Kadiyala Bhavani, Matthew Drew, Anthony Mosto, Jagadeesh Reddy, and Kay Wojtowicz who worked tirelessly to create the Hawk-tronaut Paddle V1 to represent our student chapter.

We would like to thank you to the Francis College of Engineering at UMass Lowell for their support during the manufacturing process of these paddles. We would also like to thank Sandi Miller for her help in getting us donated carbon fiber from NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration to utilize for our designs!

Six of our student members competed in the additive manufacturing student competition in category A against students from six other universities. For this competition, students were required to build buckling columns designed to be 3D printed. These columns were required to stand at a maximum height of 34 inches prior to loading. Then, while maintaining a minimum load of 30 pound force, the column had to “crumple” 6 inches to a total standing height of 28 inches. Additionally, the columns had a limited size of a 6 inch diameter and had to fit within a 6 inch cube for manufacturing. For category A, all competitors columns were printed by Stratsys using ASA (Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate). Winners were then determined based on a normalized scale of column mass compared to maximum applied load during competition as well as the accuracy of the participants’ predictions in a preliminary repot.

We are incredibly proud to say that four of our students were among the eight competitors who were able to successfully have their columns crumple the total 6 inches! Congratulations to Drupad Kadiyala Bhavani for coming in first place and to Kevin Cloherty for coming second place in this competition!!

Three of our Francis College of Engineering at UMass Lowell PhD student members competed in the student research poster competition along with a total of forty students from around the world. We are incredibly proud of these students for their efforts in their research and for representing University of Massachusetts Lowell and our chapter in this competition!

Kevin Cloherty presented his work “Experimental Methods for Characterizing Interfaces in Multi-Material Adhesive Joints”

Drupad Kadiyala Bhavani presented his work “Integrated Experimental Approach for Characterization of Elastomers under Varying Confinement Conditions”

Kay Wojtowicz presented their work “Additive Manufacturing of Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics for Dynamic Response”