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Yuhao Li in a suit on left and Muhammet Cuneyt Sakonder in a gray shirt and dark gray pants on right stand to the left of their poster in a conference room.
Ocean engineering graduate students Yuhao Li, left, and Muhammet Cuneyt Sakonder received the Best Student Poster Award at the 28th Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers Offshore Symposium. | Image: Courtesy of Marcelo Paredes Tobar

Two graduate students in the Department of Ocean Engineering at Texas A&M University returned home triumphant after receiving the Best Student Poster Award at the 28th Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) Offshore Symposium.

Yuhao Li and Muhammet Cuneyt Sakonder won the award for their poster titled “Plastic collapse analysis in multiaxially loaded defective pipe specimens at different temperatures.”

Li and Sakonder are both in the ocean engineering doctoral program, studying under assistant professor Dr. Marcelo Paredes at Texas A&M University at Galveston.

Li said receiving the award has given him a sense of accomplishment and confidence in his abilities as both a student and researcher.

“I am very honored to have received the Best Student Poster Award. It is a recognition of our hard work and dedication to the research, and it motivates me to continue striving for excellence,” Li said.

Sakonder said attending conferences, such as the SNAME Symposium, provides valuable practice for researchers to present their topics.

It is important to transfer our knowledge and work in an understandable, simple way to other people. In this way, society can have a better idea of what researchers are doing,” Sakonder said.

The SNAME Symposium is a maritime and offshore energy event that brings together industry and academia to exchange ideas in a full day of keynote speakers, panel discussions and technical sessions, among other items.

The symposium also offers a student program for both undergraduate and graduate students as a chance to present their research and gain exposure in the offshore industry.