The ASCE EMI-Structural Health Monitoring and Control Committee is pleased to announce the Annual Student Paper Competition in the areas of structural health monitoring, system identification, smart materials and structures, and structural control. 

Purpose:

• To increase the involvement of younger professionals in the EMI conferences, particularly in the area of structural health monitoring and control.
•  To allow them to interact with the SHMC committee members and to promote further growth as engineers, develop stronger bonds within the SHMC community, and take responsibilities within the technical community.
• To improve their technical writing and presentation skills, as well as to promote high-quality submissions to the flagship journal of EMI, the Journal of Engineering Mechanics.

Requirements:

• Be the lead author of an abstract in the areas of structural health monitoring, system identification, smart materials and structures, and structural control submitted to the EMI abstract submission website by January 31, 2018. Submission to a SHMC sponsored mini-symposium is encouraged but not required.
• Express interest in participating in the competition by sending an email to Prof. Hae Young Noh (noh@cmu.edu) by January 31, 2018.
• Forward the abstract acceptance notification within one week of receipt from the organizers.
• Submit a 4-page full paper to the competition organizing committee. Email to Prof. Hae Young Noh (noh@cmu.edu) by April 1, 2018. Prof. Noh will send the student participants a template for the papers by February 15, 2018. The student must write the paper as the leading author and should conduct the majority of the work associated with the manuscript.
• Be a student at the time of submission.
• Register and present the paper at the EMI 2018 conference.

Deadlines:

• January 31, 2018 – abstract submission deadline; Express interest in participating by emailing Prof. Noh at noh@cmu.edu.
• April 1, 2018 – 4-page full paper due (see #4 under “Requirements”) to noh@cmu.edu.

Prizes:

• Three winners will be selected and named as the SHMC Student Paper Competition Winners.
• The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will each receive an EMI certificate and cash award of $500, $300, and $200 respectively.
• A letter of commendation shall be sent to the winner and department head by the SHMC committee.

Process:

• A panel of three expert judges nominated by the committee chair will review the manuscripts. To avoid conflict of interest, the judges shall not be co-author of any of the competing papers.
• The selected top five papers will be presented by the student participant in a special session at the EMI conference, which will be in addition to the regular presentation within the conference.  
• SHMC committee members, who are present at the special session and are not co-authors of the selected top papers, will vote anonymously to rank the papers. The vote will be based on the quality of both the paper and the oral presentation.

Awards will be presented to the competition winners during the conference.