Graduate Student Sunil Bhandari receives Edward T. Bryand Graduate Research Award from the UMaine College of Engineering

On November 17, graduate student Sunil Bhandari was presented with the 2017 Edward T. Bryand Graduate Research Award from the UMaine College of Engineering.

Dr. Roberto Lopez-Anido, Bhandari’s advisor, read the following commentary during the award ceremony:

Last Fall, Sunil Bhandari presented a technical paper on additive manufacturing at the international Composites and Advanced Materials (CAMX) Conference. He was selected as a panelist for the Conference luncheon featuring top students who offered their insights on how advances in composites are changing the world. Sunil’s research has developed a novel combined experimental and numerical mechanics approach for characterizing 3D printed materials by the fused deposition modeling process for molding thermoplastic composites. The implications of this work are manifold: first, a methodology for model-based performance evaluation of 3D printed structural parts, and second, improved design of 3D printed molds for composites manufacturing, which has potential for material innovations and scaled-up structural applications in additive manufacturing.

Sunil established himself as a dedicated researcher in the Advanced Structures and Composites Center (having written one journal paper and one conference paper), and at the same time maintaining a 4.0 GPA in his coursework. Sunil Bhandari completed his Masters degree in Civil Engineering in the past Spring. During his MS graduate studies, Sunil earned the College of Engineering’s Correll Fellowship. He was also recognized with the Composites Center Director’s Award for graduate students, and he received the Harold W. Alfond Graduate Research Assistantship. Currently, Sunil is pursuing his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and he is being co-advised by Prof. Douglas Gardner and myself.

Sunil is an outstanding young researcher, who is well poised to make important contributions in the fields of structural mechanics and additive manufacturing, and has demonstrated outstanding capacity to balance multiple tasks and collaborate with a team in a research laboratory. The Graduate Research Assistant Award recognizes Sunil’s graduate research achievements at the University of Maine.