★ Awards & Recognition

Best of MDS-Rely

Celebrating outstanding research presentations and papers from our semi-annual meetings, as voted by our industry members and IAB.

Filter by year:
MDS-Rely Industry Members, Researchers, Faculty, and Directors thank and congratulate all award recipients for their outstanding contributions to the science of materials reliability.
Spring 2026
MDS-Rely's Best: Spring 2026 Awards Announced
Spring Meeting 2026  ·  Mill 19, Pittsburgh, PA
🏛️ Faculty Awards
🏛️
Distinguished Professorship
Laura Bruckman
Case Western Reserve University
Climo Professorship
🏛️
Distinguished Professorship
John Kitchin
Carnegie Mellon University
John E. Swearingen Professorship
🔬
NSF CAREER Award
Prof. Xiayun Zhao
University of Pittsburgh
LBPF Printing
🔬
NSF CAREER Award
Dvita Mathur
Case Western Reserve University
Predictive Framework to Indicate the Age of Plastics for Proper Recycling
🎓 Student Awards
🏅
Aerosol Jet Printing
Sylvie Crowell
Case Western Reserve University
  • MSNO Student Award
  • 2024 AIME Henry DeWitt Smith Scholarship
  • Best Undergraduate Poster — 65th Annual May Conference, MSNO
🏅
Aerosol Jet Printing
Lexi Miskey
Case Western Reserve University
Best Physical Sciences Poster
🏅
Aerosol Jet Printing
Daniel Rakowsky
Case Western Reserve University
Best Student Paper — 65th Annual May Conference, Microscopy Society of Northeastern Ohio
🏅
LBPF Printing
Haolin Zhang
University of Pittsburgh
Best MEMS Research Assistant Award
🏅
EMI Shielding
Mingxuan Li
University of Pittsburgh
Outstanding PhD Paper of Summer 2023 — Chemical Engineering Department
🏅
Binder Jet Printing
Pierangelie Rodriguez
University of Pittsburgh
2024 AIME Henry DeWitt Smith Scholarship
MDS-Rely proudly congratulates all Spring 2026 award recipients! We recognize outstanding achievements across student research and faculty excellence from our Spring 2026 meeting at Mill 19, Pittsburgh.
Full Announcement →
Fall 2025
MDS-Rely's Best: Fall 2025 Awards Announced
August 26, 2025  ·  Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
🏛️ Faculty Awards
🏛️
Distinguished Professorship
Laura Bruckman
Case Western Reserve University
Climo Professorship
🏛️
Distinguished Professorship
John Kitchin
Carnegie Mellon University
John E. Swearingen Professorship
🔬
NSF CAREER Award
Dvita Mathur
Case Western Reserve University
  • For synthesizing programmable nanoparticles for gene therapy
  • Predictive Framework to Indicate the Age of Plastics for Proper Recycling
🎓 Student Awards
🏅
Senior Design Project
Lunar Intelligence & Reconnaissance Initiative
University of Pittsburgh
  • 🏆 1st Place — Industrial Engineering Department
  • Advisors: Oliver Hinder (Pitt) & Shawn Higbee (LLNL)
🏅
Senior Design Project
Vibration Durability of Printed Electronics for UAVs
University of Pittsburgh
  • 🏆 1st Place — Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science Department
  • Advisors: Paul Leu (Pitt) & David Sabonash (US Armaments DEVCOM Center)
Congratulations to the Fall 2025 award recipients! MDS-Rely recognizes outstanding faculty achievements and senior design project excellence from our Fall 2025 meeting at Case Western Reserve University.
Full Announcement →
Spring 2025
MDS-Rely's Best: Spring 2025 Awards Announced
April 8, 2025  ·  University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
🏛️ Faculty Awards
🔬
NSF CAREER Award — LBPF Printing
Prof. Xiayun Zhao
University of Pittsburgh
🎓 Student Awards
🏅
Aerosol Jet Printing
Sylvie Crowell
Case Western Reserve University
  • MSNO Student Award
  • 2024 AIME Henry DeWitt Smith Scholarship
  • Best Undergraduate Poster — 65th Annual May Conference, MSNO
🏅
Aerosol Jet Printing
Lexi Miskey
Case Western Reserve University
Best Physical Sciences Poster
🏅
Aerosol Jet Printing
Daniel Rakowsky
Case Western Reserve University
Best Student Paper — 65th Annual May Conference, Microscopy Society of Northeastern Ohio
🏅
LBPF Printing
Haolin Zhang
University of Pittsburgh
Best MEMS Research Assistant Award
🏅
EMI Shielding
Mingxuan Li
University of Pittsburgh
Outstanding PhD Paper of Summer 2023 — Chemical Engineering Department
🏅
Binder Jet Printing
Pierangelie Rodriguez
University of Pittsburgh
2024 AIME Henry DeWitt Smith Scholarship
📋
Best Poster — Senior Design Project
RocketWatch Team
University of Pittsburgh — Nathan Carney, Lauren Hoge, Alison Linares Mendoza, Jessica Kneller
  • Best Poster Award — MDS-Rely Spring Meeting
  • Best Overall Project — Pitt Engineering Design Expo (out of 88 teams)
  • Advisors: Oliver Hinder & Scott Streiner (Pitt), Jason Bernstein (LLNL)
MDS-Rely proudly congratulates the Spring 2025 award recipients! We celebrate outstanding student and faculty achievements from our Spring 2025 meeting at the University of Pittsburgh.
Full Announcement →
Summer 2025
MDS-Rely's Best: Summer 2025 Awards Announced
Summer Meeting 2025  ·  Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL
Awards for the Summer 2025 meeting will be announced soon. Check back for updates recognizing outstanding research from our Summer 2025 meeting at Northeastern Illinois University.
Full Announcement →
Fall 2024
MDS-Rely's Best: Fall 2024 Awards Announced
September 18, 2024  ·  Fall Meeting
🏆
Best Paper
Emily Chen
Carnegie Mellon University
"Machine Learning Approaches for Predicting Corrosion in Steel Alloys"
📋
Best Poster
Raj Patel
University of Pittsburgh
"Residual Stress Characterization in Thin Film Solar Cells"
🎤
Best Oral Presentation
Sofia Martínez
Case Western Reserve University
"Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy for In-Situ Battery Diagnostics"
Congratulations to the Fall 2024 award recipients! The IAB commended the creativity and technical rigor across all presentations during the Fall 2024 Research Review.
Full Announcement →
Spring 2024
MDS-Rely's Best: Spring 2024 Awards Announced
Spring Meeting 2024
🎓 Student Awards
🏅
EMI Shielding
Mingxuan Li
University of Pittsburgh
  • Outstanding PhD Paper of Summer 2023 — Chemical Engineering Dept., University of Pittsburgh
  • Paper featured on cover: "Silver Meshes for Record-Performance Transparent Electromagnetic Interference Shielding"
🏅
Aerosol Jet Printing
Sylvie Crowell
Case Western Reserve University
2024 AIME Henry DeWitt Smith Scholarship
🏅
Binder Jet Printing
Pierangelie Rodriguez
University of Pittsburgh
2024 AIME Henry DeWitt Smith Scholarship
MDS-Rely congratulates the Spring 2024 award recipients! We recognize outstanding student achievements from our Spring 2024 meeting.
Full Announcement →
Fall 2023
MDS-Rely's Best: Fall 2023 Awards Announced
September 27, 2023  ·  Fall Meeting
🏆
Best Paper
Tyler Brooks
University of Pittsburgh
"Predictive Reliability Modeling of Photovoltaic Backsheets Using Statistical Learning"
🎤
Best Oral Presentation
Natalie Hughes
Carnegie Mellon University
"Fracture Mechanics Analysis of Thin-Film Adhesive Interfaces Under Cyclic Loading"
Congratulations to the Fall 2023 award recipients! MDS-Rely thanks all researchers who presented during the Fall 2023 Research Review.
Full Announcement →

No award cycles found for that year yet.