Dikovics earns first place in AIChE student poster contest

Kimberly Dikovics made the best of her one-night trip to Nashville, Tennessee by taking first place in the poster competition at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) National Student Conference on November 9. More than two hundred undergraduate students gathered at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel to participate in the competition, presenting research on a variety of subject matter. The research projects were separated into several categories. Dikovics placed first in one of the four groups within the Materials Engineering and Science category, which consisted of about fifty presenters.
The judging for the poster contest took place over a two-hour time period on the morning of November 9. Three or four judges for each category wandered through the crowd, mingling with students and listening to five-minute presentations about each poster. Dikovics was surprised by the judges' enthusiasm, saying they "were very nice and thoroughly engaged in the research." She explained her poster to about ten people that morning.
Dikovics' research, entitled "Nanocomposites of an Engineering Plastic: Poly(EtherEtherKetone) (PEEK) with Carbon Nanofibers," investigates the change in mechanical properties of a polymer that occur when carbon nanofibers are integrated into the polymeric structure. "I studied nanofiber dispersion and how it relates to a change in the strength and crystallinity of PEEK, which is already a high-strength polymer to begin with," says Dikovics. She has been working on this project, funded by Benet Laboratories and run by Professors Dilhan Kalyon and Frank Fisher, at Stevens' Highly Filled Materials Institute (HFMI) since February. Dr. Kalyon, Director of HFMI, believes that "Kim has played an important part in the research of dispersion, viscoelastic characterization, and the molding and shaping of nanocomposites." Her research will prove useful in various applications for the defense, manufacturing and aerospace industries.
Kalyon attended the AIChE conference last week. He was impressed by the student posters at the competition, saying "They were all very well done this year. They represented the high-level research being carried out by faculties at different institutions." He said the projects were so interesting that it took him nearly an hour to traverse only two rows of presenters. Kalyon praised Dikovics' presentation, saying her win resulted from "the combination of an important area of research, excellent results, and a multitude of enthusiasm."
Dikovics expressed appreciation for the help she received during the course of her research, stating, "I could not have completed my research without the help and guidance of the members of HFMI, particularly Halil Gevgilili, Seda Vural, and Shriraj Modi." Dr. Gevgilili is the laboratory manager at HFMI. Vural is a research engineer at HFMI, and Modi is a graduate student who has been working with her since the beginning of the summer.
Dikovics began doing research at HFMI through the Stevens Scholars Program in February of 2008. She now works there part-time while completing dual Bachelor's and Master's of Engineering degrees in Chemical Engineering. Dikovics plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering so that she can become a professor. When not working in the lab, she also participates in multiple musical ensembles, serves as Copy Editor of The Stute and is a campus tour guide.